A notice has been sent to the Central government by the Delhi High Court today on a public interest litigation petition filed by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay who asked for a common syllabus in the mother tongue across the various boards including Council For The Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) ,Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), and all the other education boards
Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla have given six weeks time to the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Social Justice, Delhi Government, CBSE and CISCE to file their responses on the said notice..
The counter affidavits, the bench said, should reflect the policy that the respondents have adopted and propose to adopt in light of the 2011 judgement of Supreme Court.
In the year August, 2011, the Supreme Court in its order (State of Tamil Nadu and Ors v K Shyam Sunder and Ors) mentioned that a common syllabus is needed to ensure no discrimination under articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution.
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The petition mentioned that the syllabus of ICSE,CBSE and state boards is contrary to articles 14, 15, 16, 21, 21A and other provisions of the constitution therefore void and inoperative
The petitioner Advocate Upadhyay mentioned that whereas the syllabus and curriculum for entrance examinations like JEE, NEET, NDA, CLAT is common for all, the syllabus and curriculum of CBSE, ICSE and State Board is totally different.
“Education Mafias are very powerful and have a very strong syndicate. They influence rules, regulations, policies & examinations. The questions asked in the competitive exams are not taught in government schools. So, parents are in double jeopardy. First, they ·have to pay massive fees to private schools… and then pay unbearable heavy fees to coaching centers too”
-the petition read.
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The petitioner mentioned that it is a sad truth that the school mafias are against the theory of One Nation-One Education Board. The one board theory can put the coaching mafias business in risk so they are against it. The book mafias on the other hand don’t want common books for their own vested interest.That is why uniform education system up to 12th standard has not been implemented yet.”
The petition suggests that a common to all syllabus and curriculum in mother language will not only achieve the code of a common culture but will also remove the disparity and depletion of discriminatory values in human relations and goal of equal society.
The petitioner states a bitter truth that the present education system is against the preamble that states ‘socialism secularism fraternity unity and integrity of the nation. It also mentions that it has broadly divided the students into EWS, BPL, MIG and HIG Elite Class
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The petition also draws attention on the fact
“it doesn’t provide equal opportunity to all students as the syllabus-curriculum of CBSE, ICSE & State Board is totally different. Although harmonious-purposive construction of Articles 14, 15, 16, 21, 21A with Articles 38, 39, 46 confirms that education is the most important fundamental right & State cannot discriminate on the grounds of region, religion, race, caste, class or culture. Petitioner submits that ‘Right to Education’ implies ‘Right to Equal Education’ and it is the most important fundamental right as other rights are meaningless without implementing it effectively.”
The Court will now hear the matter on August 30.
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