The Delhi High Court on Tuesday, May 16, sought a response from the Delhi government, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on a petition seeking a common syllabus and curriculum for students of classes 1 to 8 across the country, including madrasas and vedic pathshalas.
The said petition also challenges certain provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, for being "arbitrary and irrational".
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad also issued notices to National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations on the petition and asked the parties to file their replies.
The court listed the matter for further hearing on August 16. Earlier, the High Court had issued notices to the Union ministries of Education, Law and Justice and Home Affairs on the petition and asked them to respond.
About the petition
The PIL said that the existence of sections 1(4) and 1(5) of the RTE Act and the absence of a common curriculum in the mother tongue leads to fostering and perpetuation of ignorance and also delays the attainment of fundamental duties.
Petitioner advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay added it is the duty of the Union to effectuate a common education system but it has failed in the fulfilment of this necessary obligation as it has simply adopted the pre-existing National Curriculum Framework (NCF) of 2005 which is very old.
The plea challenged the provisions under the RTE Act which exclude madrasas, vedic pathshalas and educational institutions imparting religious knowledge from its ambit.
"The injury caused to children is extremely large because rather than implementing a common education system for all the children upto 14 years, the Centre inserted sections 1(4) and 1(5) to deprive educational excellence to madrasas, vedic pathshalas and educational institutions imparting religious instruction,” the plea said.
The plea also added that the prevailing system does not provide equal opportunity to all children as the syllabus and curriculum vary for each stratum of society.
The petition said a common minimum education programme for children up to 14 years will achieve the code of common culture, removal of disparity and depletion of discriminatory values in human relations.
