IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

(Special Original Jurisdiction)

W.P. No. OF 2010

Kancheepuram District Self Financing Schools Association Chrompet,CHENNAI-600 044.Rep by its Secretary S.Princebabu Rajendran    ...Petitioner

-Vs-

1. . The State of Tamilnadu, Rep. by its Principal Secretary to Government, School Education Department, Fort St. George, Chennai – 600 009.

2. The Director of Tamil Nadu Matriculation Schools, College Road, Chennai-600 006. ...Respondents

AFFIDAVIT ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER

I S. Princebabu Rajendran, S/o. Sri.M.Samuvel, Hindu, aged about 47 years,

Chrormepet, Chennai-44 do hereby solemnly affirm and sincerely state as

follows:-

1. I am the Secretary of the Kancheepuram District Self Financing

Schools Association the Petitioner herein and as such I am well acquainted with

the facts of the above case. I am filing this Affidavit on behalf of the Petitioner

herein.

2. The Petitioner Association is an organization formed to espouse the

cause of the Matriculation Schools functioning in the Kancheepuram District in

the state of Tamil Nadu. The Petitioner has members. The Petitioner

Association has been duly registered as a Society under the Provisions of the

Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975 as amended by Tamil Nadu Act 15

of 2002. The registration No is S. No.40/2010.

Page No.1No. of corn-

3. The Petitioner humbly submits that the Governor of Tamil nadu promulgated

Ordinance 4 of 2009 namely Tamilnadu Uniform System of School Education

Ordinance 2009 , to provide for uniform system of school education in the State

avowedly to ensure social justice and to provide quality of education . The said

Ordinance was passed by the State Assembly as  the Tamilnadu Uniform

System of School Education Act, 2010. .  The preamble to Tamilnadu Uniform

System of School Education Act, 2010 to the states that at present there are 4

streams of  school education in the State of Tamilnadu, namely Matriculation,

Oriental, State Board, and Anglo-Indian . These streams have separate syllabus,

textbooks and scheme of education and are under the control of different Boards

of Control . The preamble proceeds to state that on account of this there is no

uniformity in the standard of education and that the Government is of the view

that in order to ensure social justice and to provide quality education in the state

it is necessary to have uniform system of education in the state . Pursuant

thereto the Government constituted a committee to examine the issue and

submit a report and after studying the report the one man committee made

recommendation to the government and a team after visiting 4 states also

submitted a report on the administrative set up of the school education

department and Boards of education , examination systems and evaluation

methods adopted by those states and the government after studying the reports

accepted the idea that all schools having common syllabus , text books and

examination system will ensure social justice and provide quality education

and accordingly decided to implement the uniform system of school education by

passing the said Act .

4. The petitioner humbly submits that the “Tamilnadu Uniform System of

School Education Act, 2010” infringes the rights of the private unaided institutions

and the members of the Association of Matriculation Schools. 

5. The number of schools, students and teachers in schools functioning

under the various boards in the State of Tamilnadu are as given below . As per

the 2009 Statistics there are 4100 Matriculation schools and over 27 lakh

teachers in the said schools.

 

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TYPE OF BOARD NO  OF

SCHOOLS 

NO OF

STUDENTS

TEACHER

STRENGTH

1.           Matriculation  Board 1421 11,26,212 50,740

2.           Anglo Indian  Board 29

 

041,986

 

1,081

 

3.           Oriental  Board 10 6,205

 

170

 

4.           State Board  of

Education              

2990 35,74,402 94,518

5.           Central Board of

Secondary Education

6.           ICSE , International

Board

75 Details  are not available

Total ( excluding  the CBSE

Board,

ICSE , International

Board )

 

4,523 47,48,805 1,46,509

(Statistics supplied by the School Education Department as per 2005-06 

academic year ).The number of schools has increased considerably in the last 4

to 5 years.

 

6.              The Schools coming under the different Boards of Education are

distinct, unique and have their own identity. The salient feature of the school

education in Tamilnadu is the prevalence of various Boards of Education giving

wide choice of systems of education to parents and students. Each Board

adopts its own   system of education with different teaching methods, curriculum ,

languages, sport activities , co-curricular activities and extra Curricular activity,

religious study on the basis of expert advice and after due deliberation by the

managements of the respective schools .

7. The schools follow scientific method of teaching . The students have

good exposure to English language , Tamil and minority languages . The

respective codes of Education of the Board of Matriculation , Oriental, State

Board and the Anglo Indian System of education empower the affiliated schools

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to have their innovative system of education till the Class X. It is pertinent to point

out that the Common Prescribed books are used after the introduction of the

public exams at the Class X level in the state of Tamil nadu for the Matriculation,

Oriental and Anglo-Indian schools. The Schools coming under the Matriculation,

Oriental and Anglo-Indian Boards are autonomous except at the Higher Level of

education at Class X level in following common Prescribed Books .

8. It is submitted that Act … of 2009 under the guise of rationalizing the

education and bringing about a common curriculum in the state has tried to

encroach into the following rights of the Matriculation schools.

1.    Right to follow their own pattern of teaching, Training, imparting

education.

2.    Right to have their own system of examination and evaluation of

Students upto standard IX.

3.    Right to have their own co-curricular activities and extra curricular

activities

4.    Right to have their own innovative Systems of education and teaching

methods .

5.    Right to globalize and liberalize the system of Education

6.    Right to have infrastructure of their choice

7.    Right to maintain unique standard of education. 

 

9.    It is significant to point out that the Matriculations schools are mostly

charitable institutions run by minorities , both linguistic and religious minorities.

The Code of Matriculation, Oriental and Anglo-Indian Board has empowered the

minorities to have the institutions of their choice . They enjoy autonomy in

prescription of books, curriculum  as enshrined in Article 29 and 30(1) of the

Constitution . The following rights enjoyed by the institutions of linguistic and

religious minority has been recognized for many years.

1.    They were empowered to have their religious education or moral

science as a subject in the  curriculum

2.    Religious instructions can be taught without any restriction

3.    The religious instruction shall form as a part of daily affairs of the

institution.

4.    To propaganda religious faith and profess of Religious ideas

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5.    Any recognized Script , Language, form  of language can be taught

without  restriction.

6.    No compulsion inflicted  on the students to have a particular language

as a  subject.

8.    Equip the Student studying in the Tamilnadu to have his/her

education continued in any other part of country

It is necessary to take into consideration the history of 4 the streams and its

special features for the better appreciation of the identity enjoyed by the

institutions.

I)Matriculation Schools

10.              It is submitted that the Matriculation Schools in the State of Tamil

Nadu were originally affiliated to the Madras University.  When Madurai Kamaraj

University was established, the Matriculation Schools in that area were

transferred from Madras University to Madurai Kamaraj University for Affiliation. 

Later at the instance of the Madras University, the Government of Tamil Nadu

transferred the Matriculation Schools to the control of Director of School

Education with a separate Board of Matriculation Schools, by G.O.Ms.No.2816

Education Department dt.29.11.1976.  It is submitted that subsequent to adoption

of Code of Regulations for Matriculation Schools, Tamil Nadu with effect from

22.09.1980 the Matriculation schools are governed by the said code. 

 

11.              It is submitted that Matriculation Schools are allowed to retain their

original structure and hence they are permitted to fix the fees to be charged from

the students and as such they are not eligible for any grant.  The Matriculation

Schools have the freedom to adopt their own curriculum and make innovations

to meet the challenges of the modern world . During the last two academic years

of the students ie IX and X standard they have to adopt a common curriculum as

they have prepare their students for the public examinations. It is submitted that

the Matriculation examination, which was formerly conducted by the University is

now conducted at the end of Standard X by the Director of Government

Examinations, who will also conduct the Higher Secondary Public Examination at

the end of Standard XII for all types of schools . 

 

12.              It is submitted that the Government of Tamil Nadu by

G.O.Ms.No.188 School Education Department dt. 8.11.2001 decided to establish

a separate Directorate of Matriculation Schools and directed all the Matriculation

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Schools in the State of Tamil Nadu to share the administrative cost of the

department . It is submitted that the Government in its order in G.O.Ms.No.54

School Education Department dt.30.04.2002 fixed the contribution for the

schools according to its pupil strength ranging from Rs.10,000/- to Rs.1,00,000/-.

It is submitted that the Managements of Matriculation Schools are not getting

any grant from the Government of Tamil Nadu. Therefore the Directorate of

Matriculation Schools, established in the year 2002 is functioning out of the

capital contributed by the Matriculation Schools in Tamil Nadu.

 

13. It is submitted that English alone has been the medium of instruction in the

Matriculation Schools .  It is submitted that the total number of students who

wrote X standard Matriculation examinations during the Academic Year 2008-

2009 is around 2,00,000 .The number of students from the Matriculation Schools

in the state of Tamil Nadu who wrote XII standard Higher Secondary Public

examinations during the Academic year 2008-2009 is around 1,60,000.

 

            

II)NURSERY AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS

14. It is humbly submitted that primary schools comprise Standards I to V. 

Prior to that the children study for two years in classes known as Lower

Kindergarten and Upper Kindergarten in Nursery Schools.  Many primary and

nursery schools were started during 1980 without any recognition. The

Government in order to regulate all the unrecognized nursery and primary

schools brought them under the control of the Director of Elementary Education

and framed “the Code of Regulation for unrecognized Nursery and Primary

Schools”, as per G.O.Ms.No.484 (Education Department), dated 24.4.1991.The

said GO was subsequently amended in G.O.Ms.No.349, (Education

Department), dated 31.3.1993.  By these orders the approved nursery and

primary schools are allowed to retain their original structure and they are also

permitted to fix fees. They are not eligible for any grant in aid from the

Government.  As per Regulation 7 of the said Code, all the primary schools will

continue to use English or Tamil or any other (minority) language as medium of

instruction. 

15. Under Regulation 7(a) Tamil should be taught compulsorily in all Nursery

Schools. By G.O.Ms.No.421 (Education Department), dated 27.11.1998 the

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Government issued orders to the effect that the nursery and primary Schools

which are going to implement Tamil as medium of instruction in Part III subjects,

will get fifty per cent concession in registration/renewal fee and entertainment

fee.  Subsequently, the Government of Tamil Nadu passed G.O.Ms.No.6 (School

EdcuationC2 Department), dated 13.1.1999, directing that all Nursery and

Primary Schools to teach two subjects out of Mathematics, Science and Social

Studies (History and Geography) through the medium of Tamil and that approval

for the schools will be granted subject to the fulfillment of the aforesaid

requirements.

 

III)THE ANGLO-INDIAN SCHOOLS

16. The petitioner submits that  some where between 1820 and 1830, San

Thome , an Orphanage , was established by a Portuguese by name Augustinian

friar, Manuel de Ave Maria, Episcopal Administrator of the Diocese of Mylapore,

for poor children of European parentage and Anglo-Indians. It is one of the oldest

orphanages in India. At that time the orphans were accommodated in the lower

portion of the ancient palace of the Portuguese Governor of San Thome, then the

residence of the Bishop of Mylapore. A school was established  for the orphans

with just 15 inmates . But it marks the first step towards  an institution for Anglo-

Indian children. From then onwards thousands of Anglo-Indian children have

benefited from this great institution. Before the Santhome High School was

opened some time around 1886, the inmates of the orphanage attended St.

Francis Xavier's Middle School and later the Santhome High School.  In 1906-

1907 Lord Curzon announced the new scheme of European education for the

whole of India. His Lordship, Dr. Theotonius Emmanuel Ribeiro Vieira de Castro,

then Bishop of Mylapore, decided to open a school separate from the Santhome

High School for the benefit of Anglo-Indian children. Thus St. Bede's High School

was born. The first batch of high school students from St. Bede's appeared for

the European High School Examination in December 1909. Later the British

recognized  Anglo Indian Schools , Institutions and colleges basically to educate

the descendants of Anglo – Indian Community who identified themselves as a

British nationals. The Anglo-Indian Community consists of people from mixed

British and Indian ancestry whose native language is English.

17. The framers of the Constitution of India realised that a constitutional

protection is extended to Anglo Indian institutes. Article 337 of the Constitution

ensured educational grnts for the benefit of anglo Indian community for 10 years

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from the framing of the constitution . The State government passed the Code of

Regulation for Anglo-Indian Schools, Tamilnadu for protecting the European or

Anglo-Indian Right to education at their choice. The curriculum of study shall be

followed at their own with the sanction of the Inspector of Anglo Indians.

IV)ORIENTAL SCHOOLS

18. The oriental Schools are similar to the Madrassa School of  education

imparting Urdu and Sanskrit, Arabic as Language  to the students at all levels.

The Oriental Schools are run by the Muslim Minority Section of the Society in

order to propagate their religion and language at all levels.

19. Some of the linguistic Muslim minority settled in the state of

Tamilnadu .Some of the minorities of North India and  Hindi speaking

minorities while migrating to the State of Tamil Nadu preferred to have their

ward in the Oriental School.  The Oriental System of education patronizes Islam

and the ideas of the Scholars of the Islam.  The system is a stream of education

with the object of protecting the interest of the Linguistic and Religious muslim

minority.  The students takes the common examination at the X level and the

certificates  are issued on the examination system followed by the other stream

of education

V)STATE BOARD SCHOOLS

20. The petitioner humbly submits that the State Board Schools were started

around 1925 to 1926 .Initially the state Board Schools were charging fees from

student and later , after the government introduced the Free Education System,

the fees was abolished. The Students in the State Board School were

encouraged to write the Board Exams in their mother Tongue. At present the

students are allowed to write their exam in Tamil, English, Gujarathi, Kannada,

Malayalam, Telugu , French, Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit .The state Board

schools being instrumentalities of the state are run to fulfil the constitutional

obligations of universal education .

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EXAMINATIONS

21     It is vital to state that the 4 stream of educations  have different evaluation

process for promotion  of the students to Class X level. The Schools following

the Oriental, Matriculation, Anglo-Indian Board  are entitled to have a evaluation

criteria of their own to evaluate the students . After the introduction of the

common public exams in all 4 streams at the X level the Director of Examination

was vested with the duty to conduct the Public Examination in coordination with

the Directors of concerned stream or Board. The Directors of the Oriental,

Matriculation, Anglo-Indian Boards recommend the standard books and

curriculum for their schools. The pattern of the exams of the 4 streams is

enumerated bellow . The 4 streams concentrate on different subjects. For

instance , the Anglo Indian and the Oriental Boards focus on language and

religion .The Matriculation focus on academics.

 

S.No

 

Subject

                                   Boards

State Board Matriculation Anglo-Indian  Oriental

    Paper Marks Paper Marks Paper Marks Paper Mark

1. Language 2 100 2 200 1 100 1 100

2. English 2 100 2 200 2 200 2 100

3. Maths     1 100 2 200 2 200 1 100

4 Science

Practical 

1

-

100

-

2

2

200

100

2

2

200

100

1 100

5. Social

Science

1 100 2 200 2 200 1 100

Is not

compulsory

6 Oriental

Language

            2 200

  Total 7 500 12 1100 11 1000 8 600

SUBJECTS

22 The examination will be conducted for the following subjects on the dates

fixed by the Director of Government Examinations. The duration of each

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examination varies from stream to stream . The details of the subjects are

enumerated below.  The subjects are

Subject SSLC OSLC Matriculation AngloIndian        

                     

1st

Language

Paper-I

Tamil or

Mother

Tongue

Language

Paper I

Tamil or Mother

Tongue Language

Paper I

Tamil or Hindi

 

First Language,

Tamil, Telugu,

Malayalam, Hindi,

French

 

Paper-II

Tamil or

Mother

Tongue

Language

Paper II

Main Language Paper

I Sanskrit / Arabic /

Persian

   

 Paper-I English

Paper I

English Paper II  English

 

 Paper-II English

Paper II

Advanced Paper III    

   Main Language

English Paper I

 

 

 

 

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 Extra –III

paper

 English Paper II    

 MathematicsMathematics Mathematics- I,II

Mathematics

 Science Science Science Botany, Zoology,

Physics,Chemistry

(Practical in all

Science subjects

will be conducted

for 50 marks)  

Science

 Social

ScienceSocial

Science

Social Science

Compulsory subject

but not taken into

account for eligibility

purpose.

History & Civics ,

Geography

Social Science

The Petitioner submits that the 4 streams of education are formulated to cater

the needs of various sections of the society.   The schools affiliated to the State

Board of Education forms as a platform for imparting education with simplicity

enabling the down trodden, Adi Dravidars, Scheduled Tribes and others who do

not undergo proper system of education or schooling in the primary level to meet

the challenges of the modern world . 

23. The system of education of the Anglo Indian as stated above advocates a

strong knowledge of English and the allied subjects.  While so, the Oriental

Scheme of Education propagates the Islamic, Vedic and epic style of education. 

The epic language of Sanskrit is being taught at the lowest level in the Oriental

stream of education.   

Medium of Instruction:

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24.   It is humbly submitted that the 30% of the population of the State of

Tamilnadu are of linguistic minorities.  The Telugu speaking population amounts

to 10% of the total population of the State.  The migrated population of the other

States constitute rest of the 20% of the population .  It is pertinent to point out

the State of Tamilnadu has enabled the migratory population of the different

States to continue their education in their own medium of education.  The State

Board of education is characterized of different medium of instruction.  The

students are permitted to write non language subject exam in Urdu, Sanskrit,

Hindi, French, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and other languages.  On the other

hand, the Matriculation Board students have English as a medium of education

and have the first language in Tamil, Hindi, French or German or any other

language as per their wish. 

25. The diverse pattern of medium of instruction and the Second Language

found in Tamilnadu are enumerated as per the statistical report of the

Government in the year 2004-05.

Subject State Board Matriculation Anglo-Indian Oriental Total

Tamil 7,28,427 87,499 3504   8,19,470

French 226 1,754 161   2141

Gujarathi 14       14

Hindi 1,440 87,307 947   10,694

Kannada   448   15     463

Malayalam 2,067 310 7   2,384

Telugu 3,923 94 79   4,096

Urdu 2318 229     2,547

Sanskrit   648   330 978

Arabic   167   645 812

Total 7,38,903 99,023 4,698 975 8,43,599

 

The Gujarathi as a first language was recently included in the State Board of

Education enabling the migratory population from Gujarat to continue their

studies in their own mother tongue as enabled for the other migratory

population. 

 

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26.` The details of the First Language of the students who appeared for the

public examination of 2005-06 are enumerated as under.  The details of the

various first language show the liberalized system of education prevalent in the

state of Tamil nadu protecting the rights of the linguistic minorities.

Language State Board Matriculation Anglo Indian Total

Tamil 6,50,700       42   6,50,742

English    81,817 98,981 4,689 1,85,496

Gujarathi           14               14

Hindi         179              179

Kannada         397              397

Malayalam      1,876           1,876

Telugu      3,726           3,726

Urdu      1,169           1,169

Total no of

students

7,39,878 99,023 4698 8,43,599

 

27. It is submitted that the success of the Matriculation Institutions, Anglo

Indian Institutions is apparent from the public examination results .   The

Matriculation system of education have been patronized by many of the parents

from the other States as well and even the foreign nationals have their wards

admitted to the Matriculation and the Anglo Indian boards of education founded

in the State of Tamilnadu.  It is submitted that on a comparative evaluation of the

results published every year, the results of the matriculation board are

comparatively very encouraging in contrast to the state board of education.  It is

seen from facts and figures that parents desire to send their wards to 

Matriculation or other Board Schools rather than public schools following the

State Board of education.   

 

 

28 It is humbly submitted that the common curriculum system consolidating the

above 4 streams will not achieve the desired result of improving the standard of

education . 

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29. COMMON CURRICULUM BOARD

(has been constituted to serve the needs of all the schools including linguistic,

religious minority institutions )

The common curriculum system was evolved on the recommendations of the

committee headed by Muthukumaran and M.P.Vijayakumar, IAS. A reading of

the minutes of the meeting and the recommendations, consultations made by the

committee, make it clear that none of the concerns of the minorities or their

grievances have been taken into account while drafting the recommendations for

the common curriculum system.  The rights of the religious minorities are not

taken into account , the fact that the religious instructions are part of the system

of education has not been taken into consideration while evolving the system of

common curriculum.  

 

STATE BOARD ANGLO-INDIAN IOSE MATRICULATION

 

 

Government board Private board

constituted by code

Private board

constituted by code

Private board

constituted by code

State run school Basically  of

catholic minority

Constituted for the

Muslim Minority

All sections of the

Schools are found

 

Syllabus are

common

prescribed

Syllabus are

prescribed by the

concerned school

Syllabus are

prescribed by the

concerned school

Syllabus are

prescribed by the

concerned school

Language taught

Tamil English Tamil, Telugu,

Malayalam, Hindi,

French

Main Language

Paper I Sanskrit /

Arabic / Persian

Tamil, Telugu,

Malayalam, Kannada,

Urdu & English.

 

Subjects 5 5

5 10

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29.    The students at the age of 3 are admitted in the nursery schools for 2 years

in a kindergarten classes.  The present common curriculum system will disable

such a system of kindergarten.  The kindergarten system is attached to all

matriculation, CBSE, ICSE, Anglo Indian institutions.  These institutions enrich

the kindergarten system to see that students get exposed to a different

methodology of education by visual reading and recognizing methods.  The

present system of common curriculum has not ensured that the above system of

kindergarten to be continued. 

 

30 .    It is humbly submitted the present system of a common curriculum

education will be in a pattern of consolidating all the 4 streams under the direct

control of the authorities in all aspects of prescription of curriculum, qualification

of teachers, teaching of language, extra-curricular activities .  On the other hand,

the CBSE system of schools and the ICSE schools will be in a position to have

the innovative class rooms with liberty and autonomy in prescription of books,

languages.The autonomy enjoyed by the Matriculation and the Anglo Indian

schools till this date will be taken away by the impugned legislation .

31. The petitioner submits that imposing of Common Curriculum will constrain

the Matriculation , Anglo Indian and Oriental board schools from imparting quality

education while their counterparts following the CBSE, ICSE, IB, GCSE and

American board will have the freedom to impart quality education, curriculum,

teaching methodology, books, other teaching material, locally adaptable, time

table, individual attention (extra coaching) and introduction of other co-curricular

activities and skill development programme putting the former schools at a

disadvantage. A common curriculum will result in the students migrating to the

CBSE mode of education and ICSE system of education.

The Petitioner is aggrieved by the impugned Tamilnadu Uniform System of

School Education Act, 2010.. In the above circumstances the Petitioner has no

other alternative efficacious remedy except to invoke the extraordinary

jurisdiction of this Hon’ble Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, for

a WRIT OF DECLARATION or any other writ ,order or direction to declare

Tamilnadu Uniform System of School Education Act, 2010 as unconstitutional

and violative of the right of private educational institutions including minority

institutions to establish and administer Educational Institutions of their choice

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and constitutes unreasonable restrictions on the private educational institutions

on the following among other grounds:

 

GROUNDS

 

A. The “Tamil Nadu Uniform System of School Education Act , 2009 is

violative of the rights of private unaided institutions as it imposes unreasonable

restrictions on the administration and management of those institutions.

B. The Committee submitted its recommendation after a study of the

common syllabus system in the states of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh…. The

committee failed to appreciate that the said states did not have several streams

of education which were abolished to introduce a uniform system of

syllabus .Thus the case study was faulty and could not have formed the basis

for the recommendation     and the state government erred in law in accepting

the said recommendation without noticing that the system of education in the

state of Tamil nadu is unique in so far as there are several streams of education

in the system of education in the state of Tamil Nadu and the parents have a

wide choice of education system to follow and such a choice which promotes

competition in the pursuit of excellence cannot be taken away by introducing a

uniform system of education. In the circumstances the impugned legislation is

unconstitutional .

C. By introducing the uniform system of education the impugned legislation

along with the legislation to control the fee structure in the private educational

institutions the state has attempted nationalization of private educational

institutions by an indirect route which is impermissible under the constitution. By

taking away the autonomy of the private educational institutions both on the

aspect of curriculum and fee structure the state is attempting to control private

educational institutions and encroach into the freedom of such educational

institutions to administer their institutions to subserve the interest of the student

community in the manner they choose .

D The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Convention on the Rights of

the Child) was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 20th

November, 1989 and the Government of India became a signatory to this

Convention on 11th December, 1992. According to the said Declaration every

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one has the right to education; and Article 26(3) of the said declaration is to the

effect that the parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that will

be given to their children. Article 51(c) is of the Constitution of India is to the

effect that the State' shall endeavour to foster respect for International Law and

treaty obligations in the dealings of organized peoples with one another. The

Apex Court in Vishka and others v. State of Rajasthan and others, 1997 (7)

Supreme 323 has ruled that once the Indian Government accepts the

International Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the same shall have the

force of law. That being the present legal position, the State legislature cannot

pass the impugned Act which compels the private un aided educational

institutions to adopt the Uniform system of School Education as the Syllabus for

all the schools .The impugned Act takes away the choice available to the

parents to educate their children in a method which they feel is the most suitable

form of education which will enable their children to meet the challenges of the

modern world . The impugned Act is per se arbitrary and violative of Articles 14

of the Constitution of India in so far as it impinges on the right of the parents to

give the type of education of their choice which is now available under the

various streams of education. 

E. The private unaided schools enjoy the autonomy to prescribe their own

text books and adopt their own method of teaching. The State Board conducts a

common 10th standard public exam. Till now the schools are allowed to prepare

their students to take the 10th standard public exam by adopting their own

methods of teaching to achieve the goal of getting high marks in the 10Th

standard exam. The state legislature cannot dictate the method to be adopted by

private unaided institutions to achieve the goal of preparing their students to

take the 10Th standard public exam. The impugned Act in so far as it interferes

with the method adopted by the private unaided schools to achieve the said goal

is a serious encroachment on the right of the private unaided schools to prepare

the students for the 10th standard public exam .

F. The state can impose minimum standards of education. But the state

cannot set the maximum standard of education under the guise of uniform

system of education. The private unaided schools have a right under the TN

Recognised Private Schools (Regulation) Act, 1973 to administer their institutions

in the manner they want. But the said right is being taken away by the impugned

Act by introducing a uniform system of education. The impugned Act in effect is

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imposing a maximum standard of education under the guise of achieving social

justice .The concept of achieving social justice through uniform system of

education and curriculum is misconcieved and the executive has been misled

into believing that social justice can be achieved through the uniform system of

education and under the wrong notion accepted the recommendation of the

committee and introduced the bill in the assembly. In order to achieve social

justice the state first abolished the concept of Common entrance test for

professional courses. But admission results for professional colleges showed

that abolition of CET did not achieve the desired result of more number of rural

students getting admitted to professional courses. Similarly the executive will

realise over a period of time that uniform system of education does not enable

the state to achieve social justice and the passing of the impugned Act was an

exercise in futility. Even though it should be constitutional goal and obligation of

each state to achieve Social justice the state of Tamil nadu should not be

under an illusion that social justice can be achieved by uniform system of

education . Social justice can be achieved by the policy of reservation and by

making the weaker section of the society economically independent by

imparting quality education in the rural schools and make them equipped to

meet the challenges of the modern world. Social justice cannot be achieved by

pulling down the educational standards of the entire student community in the

state of Tamil nadu under the guise of uniform system of education. The

impugned Act is totally irrational and unconstitutional .

G. The students of the various streams of education in the state of Tamil

Nadu have to compete with CBSE students and ICSC students while writing the

common entrance tests for admission to professional colleges and IIT and IIMs

etc. But if the uniform system of education is introduced then definitely the

standard of education will be much lower than the standard of education now

being imparted by private unaided schools in the state of Tamil nadu and the

students will not be able to compete for the limited seats in the professional

colleges along with the CBSE schools. Thus the policy behind the uniform

system of education should be declared as irrational.

H. The preamble to the Act states that the uniform system of education is

being adopted to achieve social justice. Thus it is apparent that the state

government is of the opinion that students from private unaided schools are

getting superior standard of education vis a vis the students studying in

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panchayat schools and corporation schools. Thus the whole objective of the Act

is to lower the standards of education in the private unaided schools so that the

students studying in private unaided schools do not steal a march over the

students studying in panchayat schools and corporation schools . Instead of

analyzing the reason for the poor performance of the students studying in

panchayat schools and corporation schools and improving their standard the

impugned Act attempts to bring down the standard of education in the private

unaided schools so that the so called social justice can be achieved . It is a

well known fact the teachers in panchayat schools and corporation schools are

getting huge salary and do not concentrate in preparing the students to compete

with the urban students. Instead of addressing the said problem the impugned

Act aims to introduce uniform system of education which will prove counter

productive in the long run .The objective of the Act is irrational and will not

achieve the avowed objective of improving the standard of education in the

state schools.

I. The social justice which the impugned Act seeks to achieve will not be

achieved by introducing the uniform system of education since even with the

uniform system of education the urban students will always steal a march over

the students studying in panchayat schools and corporation schools in view of

their exposure to various extra curricular activities . Thus the objective of the Act

namely social justice cannot be achieved at all without improving the standard of

education in the rural schools.

J. As long as CBSE schools are allowed to function in the state of Tamil

Nadu the concept of uniform education in the state of Tamil Nadu will be a

myth. Seats in the professional colleges being few in number, over a period of

time it will become apparent that all the professional seats are cornered by CBSE

students. Of course by abolishing the CET the state government can counter

this argument by stating that only the marks obtained in the public exam will be

counted for the professional colleges .But as far as IIT and IIM and other state

seats are concerned the students studying the uniform system of education will

not be able to compete for the said seats. Thus the uniform system of education

will deprive the students under going the uniform system of education of the

competitive edge vis a vis the CBSE students.

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K The Committee report on the Uniform System of School Education states

that the main objective of the uniform system of education is to improve the

standard of education uniformly for the schools in the State and to improve the

infrastructure facilities in all the schools in order to give high quality education.

The State Government announced that initially the Uniform Education will be

introduced in 1st and 6th standards. From the said Syllabus, it is found that

“alphabets” are introduced only from the 1st standard level. On the other hand

the Matriculation, and other board schools introduce alphabets and words in the

kindergarten level itself with advanced mode of teaching methods and staffs. If

the said Samacheer Syllabus is introduced with such low standards, then the

Tamil Nadu State children will find it hard to compete with the other State

children. Since the standard of education in the Samacheer Syllabus is low,

the interest of the students will be gravely prejudiced . 

L. As per the ruling of the High Courts and the Supreme Court Linguistic

Minority institutions have complete autonomy in the matter of establishment

and administration of educational institutions. The impugned Act , under the

guise of regulation , is in fact interfering with the administration of the

educational institutions run by minorities by forcing the said educational

institutions to adopt a uniform system of education . Imposing Common

curriculum would impinge on the rights of the minorities to administer the

institutions by prescribing their own curriculum .

Under these circumstances it is prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to

pass an AD-INTERIM INJUNCTION restraining the respondents from imposing

the common curriculum for class 1 & 6 as per the provisions of the Tamilnadu

Uniform System of School Education Act, 2010 and shall direct the State to

follow the curriculum of the four streams in their respective schools in all the

classes for the next academic year 2010 -2011 pending disposal of the writ

petition and thus render justice.

Under these circumstances, it is humbly prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be

pleased to grant an order of INTERIM STAY of the implementation and the

operation of Tamilnadu Uniform System of School Education Act, 2010 in so far

as the Members of the Petitioner Association are concerned, during the

pendency of the above Writ Petition and thus render justice.

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Under these circumstances, it is prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased

to issue a WRIT OF DECLARATION or any other writ , order or direction

declaring the Tamilnadu Uniform System of School Education Act, 2010. . as

irrational , unconstitutional, ultravires and violative of the right of private

educational institutions including minority institutions to establish and administer

educational institutions guaranteed under the Constitution of India and thus

render justice.

 

Solemnly affirmed at Chennai                                   BEFORE ME

on this the 1st day of February, 2010

and signed his name in my presence.                ADVOCATE,  CHENNAI             

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