HC notice to NCERT on national curriculum

An association of un-aided schools asks for important issues like AIDS awareness to be incorporated in syllabus.

The Delhi High Court has sought a reply from the NCERT and two others on a PIL filed by the association of un-aided schools, seeking permission to present their suggestions before the Professor Yashpal Committee set up by the Centre to modify the National Curriculum 2005.

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Issuing notices to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), and NCERT, a Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Kailash Gambhir asked them to file their replies within a month.

The association has asked for important issues like AIDS awareness, preservation of environment, importance of Yoga and population control to be incorporated in the school syllabus, the petitioner's counsel Ravi Prakash Gupta told the bench.

"If awareness is created from childhood, it would make tremendous impact on tender children and make them become sensible citizens of India," he said.

The counsel accused the NCERT of violating the fundamental rights of schools by not involving them in modifying the curriculum and said the association should be allowed to submit its representation to the committee.

"It is expedient in the interest of justice that issues raised by the schools in the petition may be referred to the committee where petitioner may be given an opportunity to place them before it," Gupta said.