The Division Bench of Telangana High Court comprising Chief Justice M. S. Ramachandran Rao and Justice T. Vinod Kumar has ordered the Schools to not compel the students to come to school physically for attending the class as children are more prone to the virus and there is no vaccine invented as yet for use on children below 18 years.
The Court held that,
“No child studying in any class in any school (other than Govt. Residential schools. Social Welfare and Tribal Welfare schools with hostel facility) in this State shall be compelled by any School Management to physically attend offline classes if his/ her parent is not inclined to send the child to school.”
Facts of the Case
The petitioner has filed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the Memo issued by the Respondent directing all Public and Private Educational Institutions to re-open schools from 01.09.202 I in physical mode following COVID norms.
Aggrieved by which the Petitioner filed Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition, the High Court may be pleased to stay the operation of a Memo dated 24.08.2021 issued by Respondent No. 1 in so far as it concerns the Pre- Primary and Primary Schools in the State of Telangana, pending disposal of the WP(PIL) No. 98 of 2021. on the file of the High Court.
Reasoning / Decision of the Court
The Court considered the petitioner representation and expounded that the Petitioner in this PIL, no doubt, has confined his prayer to pre-primary and primary school children, but having regard to the issues raised in the writ petition, we propose to extend the scope of the case to cover all school-going children of all Private and Government Schools in the State.
The Court has issued certain guidelines which are as follows:
(a) No child studying in any class in any school (other than Govt. Residential schools. Social Welfare and Tribal Welfare schools with hostel facilities) in this State shall be compelled by any School Management to physically attend offline classes if his/ her parent is not inclined to send the child to school.
(b) No private School Management shall be subjected to any penal consequences of any nature if they do not comply with the impugned memo from 01.9.2021.
(c) No school-going child admitted in any private or Govt. school or his/her parent shall be subjected to any penalty or any nature by the school to which he/ she is admitted if the child does not attend school for online classes.
(d) The State Govt. authorities/respondents shall lay down SOPs to be followed by all School Managements who wish to conduct classes offline within one (01 ) week and give them wide publicity in print and electronic media.
The Court has also asked the State Government/Respondent to file a counter affidavit on the issues as what is the number of Govt. and Social Welfare Schools in the State and how many of them are with hostels.
The Court posted the matter on 04.10.2021 and directed the respondent to file Advisory Report in the Court.
Case Details
Case: WP(PIL) NO: 98 OF 2021
Petitioner: Bala Krishna Mandapati
Respondent: State of Telangana and others
Counsel for the Petitioner: Sri L. Ravichader
Counsel for the Respondent: Advocate General, Telangana
Quorum: Chief Justice M. S. Ramachandran Rao and Justice T. Vinod Kuma
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