Counsel the student than to take punitive action against him – Delhi HC told school

In a case where 13 year old Mohan, a class X student of St. Gregorios School in Dwarka along with three of his classmates were handed over Transfer Certificates after four months they were indulged in “friendly banter” with a girl in their classroom, Delhi High Court initially by an interim order dated May 05, 2010 and subsequently by final order dated 17.08.2011 has allowed the student to continue his studies in the school. However, the High Court on one hand directed the father of the student to take care to see that his child does not indulge into any act of misbehavior so that the atmosphere of the school is not vitiated in any manner and on the other hand directed the school authority to counsel the child than to take any punitive action against him.

The school’s allegation against all these four students was that they told their classmate that “if she married one Shanker Raman (a South Indian boy in their class), she will be busy making dosa and idli etc. Then they changed their opinion and told her that another classmate Rakhi Sahni ( a Punjabi boy) is best suited for her and then she will have a hard life making rotis. On girl’s complaint, the school said their comments were “abusive and vulgar”.

While the other three boys quietly accepted the TC and left the school, Mohan’s father Paramjit Singh challenged the expulsion and his lawyer Ashok Agarwal told Justice Kailash Gambhir that the “school clearly over-reached by taking the extreme step and ruining his career in the name of enforcing discipline”. He said even it was assured that the student used abusive language, the school, instead of ruining his career, should have given him counseling. Mr. Aggarwal also submitted that it was also in violation of the Delhi School Education Rules, which says disciplinary measures such as fine, expulsion or rustication cannot be taken against a student below 14 years.

Finding merit in the argument, Justice Gambhir by interim orders dated May 05, 2010 stayed the expulsion and directed the school to admit Mohan into Class IX.

FOR SCHOOL EDUCATION REFORMS - 09 Oct 2011 DHARNA AT RAJGHAT

BE READY TO PARTICIPATE IN DHARNA ON SUNDAY 09 OCTOBER 2011 AT RAJGHAT FOR REFORMS IN SCHOOL EDUCATION – aipa extended core committee has today decided to hold a peaceful Dharna on Sunday 09.10.2011 at RAJGHAT from 10 am to 6 pm demanding (i) Upgradation of all Govt Schools all over the country to the level of Central Schools, (ii) Enactment of a Central Law to Regulate Fees in Unaided Private Schools, (iii) Resolutions by all State Assemblies in favour of the Bringing Central law to Regulate Fees in Unaided Private Schools and (iv) Initiation of criminal action against the all the unaided schools having been indicted by the recent ‘CAG Report on top 25 unaided schools’.