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Synopsis

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) letter has been moved by Social Jurist, an organisation of practicing lawyers, before the Bombay High Court, alleging utter violation of the Fundamental Right to Education of lakhs of students studying in Maharashtra Government-run schools.

The plea, filed through Advocate Ashok Agarwal, Advisor at Social Jurist which is an organisation dedicated to the cause of the common man, particularly children's rights to education and health care, stated that during their team's visit to 18 State government-run schools from September 30, 2022, to October 4, 2022, they discovered that the schools are working in a blatant violation of thousands of students' fundamental right to education, as guaranteed to them under Articles 14, 21, 21A, and 38 of the Indian Constitution, read with the provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education.

The plea stated that the buildings in which students were discovered studying are dilapidated and dangerous and that the government has taken no steps in years to construct state-of-the-art school buildings for the benefit of students.

It stated that hundreds of students enrolled in these schools are studying in dangerous school buildings that require immediate reconstruction by the Maharashtra government and unusable toilets are a major issue that can obstruct a student's path to school. "Children can feel reluctant to come to school because of it. They have to be fixed on an urgent basis," the plea read.

“Most of the schools did not have benches for the students to sit upon. Another major issue about the schools was the unavailability of electricity in most of the schools which can make studying really difficult in summer. It was also seen that the electricity cut was there because the electricity bills were not paid. In most of the school’s students of different classes are forced to sit together due to lack basic infrastructure,” the plea further stated.

Moreover, the plea contended that the right to education entails a quality education that must include a conducive and safe environment in every school for children's education and the aforementioned action/inaction by the State of Maharashtra completely and shamelessly violates the constitutional and statutory rights of children attending school.

The plea added, “The students coming to Government School are coming from downtrodden sections of the society and are voiceless regarding their basic human and fundamental rights. This necessitates the State of Maharashtra to rise to the occasion and ensure students coming to their Government Schools should not be without basic infrastructure and basic physical and academic infrastructure".