Madras HC dismisses PIL seeking NCERT pattern of education

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday rejected a PIL plea for a direction to the Tamil Nadu government to introduce the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) pattern of education for State Board schools also.

The first bench of Chief Justice MN Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy rejected the plea while dismissing a writ petition from JA Joseph, who claimed himself as the founder-president of JJ Party, not yet registered by the Election Commission of India. He prayed for a direction to the State educational authorities to adopt the NCERT syllabus from elementary to higher secondary in all government and government-aided schools to enhance the education to meet all central and other state governments entrance, qualifying and employment exams, based on his representations.

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He contended that the existing Samacheer Kalvi system did not help students clear competitive examinations such as the Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE) and Common Law Admission Test (CLAT).

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Dismissing the petition in limine (at the admission stage itself), the bench said that it was a policy decision to be taken by the Tamil Nadu government. It was the government and not the court, to decide the right kind of school syllabus. The petitioner, who claimed himself as the president of a yet-to-be registered political party, had not cited any provision of law which mandated that State governments follow only the NCERT syllabus, the bench added.

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