The Supreme Court today decided to give a hearing to two more petitions filed by associations of unaided educational institutions challenging the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act.
The Supreme Court today decided to give a hearing to two more petitions filed by associations of unaided educational institutions challenging the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act.
A Bench headed by chief justice KG Balakrishnan said the petitions filed by the associations will be heard along with
the petition on which it had issued a notice to the Centre on
March 22.
The apex court had sought a response of the ministry of Human Resource Development on the petition filed by unaided private schools on the contention that the Act was "unconstitutional" and violative of fundamental rights.
Under the Act, free and compulsory education was made a fundamental right for children between 6-14 years and it mandated that even private educational institutions have to reserve 25% of the seats for children from poor families.
The petitions have claimed the Act violated the rights of private educational institutions under Article 19(1)(g) which mandated maximum autonomy to private managements to run their institutions without governmental interference.
The petitioners recalled the 11-judge Constitution Bench ruling of the Supreme Court in the TMA Pai case wherein it was ruled that maximum autonomy should be provided to private educational institutions.
According to the petitions, Section 3 of the Act imposed an absolute mandate on all schools, including private unaided
and minority institutions, to admit without any choice each
and every child whosoever comes to take admission in the
schools in the neighbourhood.
The Act was silent with regard to the fate of children between the age of 3-6 years which was in fact a crucial period for a child's education to commence, the petitions said.
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