Girls who are the only child of their parents may not have access to free education from Class VI upward, as announced by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in October last. The Delhi High Court has stayed the CBSE decision.
The CBSE circular, prompted by the HRD Ministry’s initiative for education of girls, was aimed at encouraging the enrollment of girls at schools. It was decided that all schools seeking affiliation to CBSE would have to provide free education to girls, who are the lone child of their parents.
Carmel Convent School, New Delhi, challenged the CBSE decision, following which a stay was granted by a single judge bench of Justice Vikramjit Sen, on Friday. The Central Government, CBSE and the director of education, Delhi government, have been issued notices in this regard. The matter will come up for hearing on March 27. The counsel for the petitioner said the circular was violative of Article 30 of the Constitution.
SMART BOX
Case history
• Order made it compulsory for affiliated schools to provide free education to single girl child of parents from Class VI onwards
• Carmel Convent School said it would incur additional expenditure of
Rs 20 lakh every year
• This would compel it to increase fee of other students to make up the cost
• School not receiving aid from govt, so providing freeship difficult for it
