Can't throw students out of schools, grant re-admission: HC to Delhi govt

Students cannot be thrown out of government schools, the Delhi High Court on Friday said while hearing a plea seeking direction to the government to grant readmission to 42,503 children, who failed the Class X CBSE exams this year.

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao asked the counsel for the Delhi government to seek instructions on the matter and inform it on August 28.

The court asked how could the authorities throw out students and where will they go.

The court was hearing an application filed by NGO Social Jurist in a pending petition highlighting the denial of admission to students in government schools in the national capital.

Advocate Ashok Agarwal, appearing for the NGO, claimed that there was a violation of the Delhi School Education Rules in refusing readmission to 42,503 students who had appeared for the Class X examinations this year, but failed.

The plea alleged that instead of granting them readmission in the same government school, the students were forced to take transfer certificate (TC) and opt for the National Institute of Open Schooling instead.

It said that out of the 1,36,663 government school students who took the Class X exams this year, 94,160 passed and 42,503 failed. The students took a compartmental examination, but failed in that too.

Agarwal said he had sent a legal notice to the heads of the schools on August 20 with a copy sent to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, but readmission was not given to the students.