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BRIEF FACTS :-In the State of Tamil Nadu, there had been different Boards
imparting basic education to students upto 10th standard,
namely, State Board, Matriculation Board, Oriental Board and
Anglo-Indian Board. Each Board had its own syllabus and
prescribed different types of textbooks. In order to remove
disparity in standard of education under different Boards, the
State Government appointed a Committee for suggesting a
uniform system of school education. The said Committee
submitted its report on 4.7.2007. Then another Committee was
appointed to implement suggestions/recommendations made by
the said Committee.
During the intervening period, The Right of Children to Free
and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (hereinafter called the Act
2009), enacted by the Parliament, came into force with effect
from 1.4.2010 providing for free and compulsory education to
every child of the age of 6 to 14 years in a neighbourhood
school till completion of elementary education i.e. upto 8th
standard. The Act 2009 provided that curriculum and the
evaluation procedure would be laid down by an Academic
Authority to be specified by the appropriate State Government,
by issuing a notification. The said Academic Authority would
lay down curriculum and the evaluation procedure taking into
consideration various factors mentioned under Section 29 of the
Act 2009. Section 34 of the Act 2009 also provided for the
constitution of a State Advisory Council consisting of maximum
15 members. The members would be appointed from amongst
persons having knowledge and practical experience in the field
of elementary education and child development. The State
Advisory Council would advise the State Government on
implementation of the provisions of the Act 2009 in an effective
In order to give effect
to the said Cabinet decision, steps were taken on administrative
level and thus, the Tamil Nadu Uniform System of School
Education Ordinance, 2009 was issued on 27.11.2009 which
was published in the official Gazette on 30.11.2009. The
Ordinance was subsequently converted into the Act 2010 on
1.2.2010.
CHENNAI HIGH COURT :-writ petitions were filed in the High Court of
Madras challenging the validity of various provisions of the Act
2010. A Division Bench of the High Court vide judgment and
order dated 30.4.2010 held that the provisions of Sections 11,
12 and 14 were unconstitutional and struck down the same
while the Court issued elaborate directions for implementation
of the common syllabus and the textbooks for Standards I and
VI by the academic year 2010-11; and for all other Standards by
the academic year 2011-12 or until the State makes the norms
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and the syllabus and prepares the textbooks in advance for the
same. Further directions were issued by the Court to the State
Government to bring the provisions of the Act 2010 in
consonance with the Act 2009 and notify the Academic
Authority and the State Advisory Council under the Act 2009.
The State was also directed to indicate approved textbooks from
which private unaided schools could choose suitable for their
schools. The Court further directed the Government to amend
the Act to say that the common/uniform syllabus was restricted
to five curricular subjects, namely, English, Tamil,
Mathematics, Science and Social Science which the schools
were bound to follow, but not in respect of the co-curricular
subjects. The aforesaid judgment was duly approved by this
Court vide order dated 10.9.2010 while dismissing large number
of SLPs filed against the same by a speaking order.
SUPER SEEDING THE COURT ORDER :-However, there was a change of State Government following
the general elections of the State Assembly, on 16.5.2011. After
completing the formalities, the Government amended the Act
2010 by the Amendment Act 2011,
The High Court after considering
the said report, vide judgment and order dated 18.7.2011, found
fault with the report of the Expert Committee and struck down
Section 3 of Amendment Act 2011 with a direction that the
State shall distribute the textbooks printed under the uniform
system of education to enable the teachers to commence classes,
and complete distribution of textbooks on or before 22.7.2011.
The State has sought to achieve indirectly what
could not be achieved directly as it was prevented from
doing so in view of the judgment of the Division Bench
which upheld the validity of the Parent Act 2010.
The Amendment Act 2011 is an arbitrary piece of
legislation and violative of Article 14 of the
Constitution and the Amendment Act 2011 was
merely a pretence to do away with the uniform
system of education under the guise of putting on
hold the implementation of the Parent Act, which the
State was not empowered to do so.
If the impugned Amending Act has to be given
effect to, it would result in unsettling various issues
and the larger interest of children would be jeopardized manner.
JUDGEMENT OF APEX COURT :- Their lordships of apex court dismissed the case of Tamil Nadu State.
for details see my website - Apex court case law
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