SC junks NGO’s plea on poor condition of Madhya Pradesh schools

PTI, Oct 26, 2024, 2:26 PM IST

The Supreme Court has refused to entertain an NGO’s plea on the condition of state-run schools in Madhya Pradesh.

A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked the NGO Social Jurist to approach the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

“The petitioner would be at liberty to move the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution. The petition is accordingly dismissed with the grant of liberty in the above terms,” the bench said.

The NGO, in its petition, attached several pictures to highlight the “poor” conditions, including dilapidated buildings, of as many as five schools in the Khajuraho district of the state.

“It is respectfully submitted that these are only samples which clearly indicate that lakhs of students enrolled with Madhya Pradesh government-run schools are studying not only in dangerous school buildings but also studying in school buildings not having adequate desks, benches and adequate water supply,” lawyer Ashok Agarwal, adviser to Social Jurist’, said in his PIL.

The plea said the government schools should have state-of-the-art buildings.

“It is also submitted that no sweeper is posted in any of the schools due to which all the washrooms remain in unhygienic condition…there is a severe shortage of teachers in the schools compared with numbers of students enrolled.

“The government of Madhya Pradesh must immediately make arrangements for teachers for students,” it said.

The poor and unhygienic conditions of schools in the state violate the right to education as guaranteed to students under Articles 14, 21 and 21-A (right to equality, protection of life and personal liberty and right to get free and compulsory education, respectively), the petition said.

The school uniforms are made of synthetic material which may cause skin problems, it said.

“The inactions as highlighted show the Madhya Pradesh government flagrantly violating the human and fundamental rights to education of students and therefore, by this letter, we are seeking the intervention of this Hon’ble Court to treat the present letter petition as a PIL and request your Lordships to issue necessary directions to the government of Madhya Pradesh,” the plea contended.