HC asks state for list of Urdu medium schools in the city

Raising concerns over the high number of secondary school dropouts from the Muslim community, the Bombay high court on Monday asked the state to furnish a list of state-run as well as private Urdu medium secondary schools in Mumbai. HT reports.

Raising concerns over the high number of secondary school dropouts from the Muslim community, the Bombay high court on Monday asked the state to furnish a list of state-run as well as private Urdu medium secondary schools in Mumbai.

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A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and justice RP Sondur-Baldota was hearing a PIL filed by social worker Mirza Naheed Baig challenging the closure of an Urdu medium school in south Mumbai run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

According to an affidavit filed by the civic body, there are 208 Urdu medium primary schools and 39 secondary schools of the same medium, run by BMC. While there are more than one lakh students in the primary schools, the secondary schools have only around 13,000 students.

“Out of one lakh students, only 13,000 go to secondary school. Where do the others go? Do they drop out or go to some other school,” Chief Justice Shah asked. BMC counsel KK Singhvi said the remaining students might be attending the Urdu medium secondary schools run by the state government.