Orissa HC upholds State policy on merger of schools with low enrolments

A division bench of HC says no substantive claim has been made indicating violation of fundamental right of any citizen under Article 21A of the Constitution or any provision under Right To Education Act

The Orissa High Court has upheld the Rationalisation and Consolidation of School Policy under which schools with low enrolments were merged with nearby schools to improve pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) and better utilisation of resources.

School management committees of different schools had approached Orissa HC challenging the policy of rationalisation of the schools.

A division bench of Orissa HC comprising Chief Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh and Judge M.S. Raman observed, “no substantive claim has been made by any petitioner indicating violation of fundamental right of any citizen under Article 21A of the Constitution or any provision under the RTE (Right To Education) Act or Odisha Right To Education Rules (ORTE).”

“The rationalisation policy cannot be held to be illegal merely on the ground that there is no such prescription under the RTE Act or ORTE Rules. The validity of such policy could be successfully challenged only when they were shown to be defeating the provisions of RTE Act or ORTE Rules and thereby Article 21A of the Constitution,” the division bench elaborated.

The School and Mass Education Department of Odisha had come out with a policy of the rationalization of schools in 2018. The policy postulates merger of schools which includes horizontal merger with same range of classes to be merged to form a single school, and up-gradation of schools.

It stipulates two kinds of merger - horizontal and vertical. “Merger of two or more primary schools, merger of two or more upper primary school of any range and merger of two secondary schools of any range is to be treated as horizontal merger under the scheme. The schools with different range of classes such as one with lower class range and the other with higher class range could be merged,” judges observed.

The objective of rationalisation was to make the schools aspirational with a larger peer group and adequate teachers per grade, improvement of PTR and teacher per grade ratio, better infrastructure facilities in consolidated schools, better academic environment with additional teaching learning material facilities, e-Learning and co-curricular facilities, vibrant parent community as enrolment increases and improvement in learning outcomes.  

A single judge court of Orissa HC had held the policy of rationalisation and consolidation of schools framed by the State government in 2018 illegal. The court had then quashed the policy.

Published - November 02, 2024 07:50 pm IST