Delhi HC seeks Centre's response on uniform syllabus for children

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought response from the Ministry of Human Resource Development and Ministry of Law on a plea seeking uniform education syllabus for all children aged 6-14 years across India.

A division bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath issued notice to the ministries on a public interest litigation filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, which said that discrimination in quality of education violates Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution.

The plea said: "Right to Education under Article 21A has to be read in conformity with Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution. There must be no discrimination in quality of education."

"The right of a child should not be restricted only to free and compulsory education, but should be extended to have equal quality education without any discrimination on the ground of a child's social economic and cultural background. Thus, a common syllabus and common curriculum is required."

The children should be provided not just free and compulsory education but also value-based uniform education, said the plea.

The plea also sought an authoritative textbook on environment, health and safety, a standard textbook on socialism, secularism and nationalism, and a reliable textbook on the aims and objectives of the Constitution having chapters on Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties, Directive Principles and the Golden Goals as set out in the Preamble of the Constitution for all the children aged 6-14 years.