No discrimination in education: Supreme Court on plea for schools to Rohingya refugees

NEW DELHI: No child will be discriminated against in education, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday while fixing for next week a plea seeking a direction to the Centre and the Delhi governments to grant Rohingya refugees in the city access to public schools and hospitals. The court just wants to know where these Rohingya families are living, in whose house and what are their particulars, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said while making the no discrimination in education point.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the NGO Rohingya Human Rights Initiative, said he has filed an affidavit giving the details and pointed out that the Rohingya refugees have UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) cards. It will be easier for the NGO to give the particulars if these Rohingya families have these cards, Justice Surya Kant said. Gonsalves then sought some time to furnish more details to the court. The top court posted the matter for further hearing after 10 days.

On January 31, the top court asked the NGO to apprise the court where the Rohingya refugees have settled in the city and the facilities accessible to them. It also asked Gonsalves to file an affidavit indicating their places of settlement in Delhi. Gonsalves said the NGO sought access to public schools and hospitals to Rohingya refugees as they were denied the access due to lack of Aadhaar cards. "They are refugees having UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) cards and therefore they can't have Aadhaar cards. But for want of Aadhaar they are not being granted access to public schools and hospitals," he submitted.

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Free school admissions for Rohingya children

Gonsalves said Rohingya refugees resided in Shaheen Bagh, Kalindi Kunj and Khajuri Khas areas of Delhi. "In Shaheen Bagh and Kalindi Kunj they are residing in slums and in Khajuri Khas they are residing in rented accommodation," he had submitted. The top court had said it asked the questions to understand if they lived in camps, the nature of relief would be different than the one mentioned in the PIL.

The PIL has sought a direction to authorities to grant admission to all Rohingya children free of cost irrespective of Aadhar cards and allow them to participate in all examinations, including Classes 10 and 12 and graduation, without government insistence on the ID proof. The PIL also sought extension of all government benefits such as free health services in government hospitals, subsidised food grains as available under Antyodya Anna Yojana scheme and benefits under the Food Security Act to Rohingya families as available to other citizens, irrespective of citizenship.