Not providing devices, the Internet to poor students for online classes is digital apartheid, the court said.
New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court has ordered private and government schools like Kendriya Vidyalayas or KVs to provide devices and an internet package to poor students for online classes, saying that failure to do so amounts to “discrimination” and creates “digital apartheid.” .
Separating those students from others in the same class due to the unavailability of a gadget or device would create “a feeling of inferiority” that could “affect their hearts and minds that will likely never be undone,” the court said.
A bench of judges Manmohan and Sanjeev Narula said that if a school voluntarily decides to provide real-time synchronous face-to-face online education as a teaching method, “they will have to ensure that students belonging to the economically weaker section (EWS) or the category of disadvantaged group (DG) also has access and can make use of it “.
The court said: “Segregation in education is a denial of the equal protection of the laws under article 14 of the Constitution and, in particular, of the Right to Education Act (RTE) of 2009.”
By not providing the required equipment to EWS / DG students, private schools were putting up a financial barrier preventing them from continuing and completing their primary education in the current pandemic, he said.
This is a violation of the provisions of the RTE Act, said the bank, which rejected as “misinterpreted” the argument by private schools that they should provide the equipment to EWS / DG students only if they are doing so in case they the fee is paid. students.
The bank said section 12 (1) (c) of RTE requires private schools without assistance to provide free and compulsory primary education to 25% of EWS / DG students and that means “education without financial barriers.”
“The obligation of Article 12 (1) (c) does not depend in any way on what the school gives to the children who pay the fees, free or otherwise. For example, the uniform, reading materials and textbooks are provided free to 25% of EWS / DG students, even though students who pay the 75% fee have to pay for them, “the court said in its 94-page ruling.
“Consequently, discrimination within the classroom, especially among students paying a 75% fee, that is, EWS / DG students 25%, alters the level playing field and amounts to discrimination, in addition to creating a vertical division, a digital divide or digital divide or digital apartheid in addition to segregation in a classroom that violates the RTE Law of 2009 and articles 14, 20 and 21 of the Constitution ”, added the bench.
The ruling came in a PIL of the NGO Justice for All, represented by defender Khagesh Jha, who was seeking directions to the Center and the Delhi government to provide free laptops, tablets or mobile phones to poor children so they can access online classes during COVID. 19 lock.
While ordering private schools single-handedly to provide the necessary equipment and internet package to EWS / DG students, the court said they will “be entitled to claim reasonable cost reimbursement” from the state for acquiring the same under of the Right to Education (RTE) Law of 2009, “although the State did not offer the same to its students.”
The bank also led the formation of a three-member committee, comprised of the Center’s education secretary or his nominee, the Delhi government secretary of education or his nominee, and a representative from private schools, to speed up and streamline the process. identification and provision of devices to poor and disadvantaged students.
The court said the committee will also develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) to identify the standard of equipment and Internet package to be provided to poor and disadvantaged students.
This would ensure consistency in the devices and Internet package used by all poor and disadvantaged students, the bank said.
The NGO had argued that the decision of private schools without help to teach classes through videoconferencing would affect more than 50,000 students belonging to the economically weaker sections (EWS) and they cannot afford laptops, telephones and high Internet service. speed to attend classes.
The petition argued that not providing a laptop, telephone and high-speed Internet, free of charge, to poor children would amount to a violation of their fundamental right to education guaranteed by the Constitution.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated channel.)
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