'Motherhood Not a Bar to Education': Madhya Pradesh High Court Grants Attendance Relaxation to Student

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that pregnancy and motherhood cannot be treated as obstacles to a woman’s pursuit of higher education, and directed academic institutions to meaningfully accommodate female students seeking maternity and childcare leave.

Allowing a writ petition filed by a Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery (BUMS) student, the division bench comprising Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Pradeep Mittal ruled that rigid attendance norms cannot override constitutional commitments to equality, dignity and educational access for women.

The case arose from a petition filed by Rumaisa Arwa, a student of Hakim Syed Ziaul Hassan Government Autonomous Unani College, Bhopal, M.P. who had taken admission to the BUMS course in 2022. After successfully clearing her first year examinations, she progressed to the second year. During this period, she got married, conceived, and gave birth to a child on November 20, 2024. Owing to pregnancy and childbirth, she was unable to meet the mandatory 75 per cent attendance requirement prescribed for appearing in the second year examination.

Despite applying for maternity leave, the college authorities granted her only a 10 per cent relaxation. As her attendance stood at 56.64 per cent, she was initially barred from appearing in the examination. Challenging this decision, she approached the high court seeking maternity leave and permission to take the examination. By an interim order, court allowed her to appear in the examination, though her result was withheld.

Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Ahmad Shahid Hushain placed reliance on a 2021 communication issued by the University Grants Commission directing all higher educational institutions to frame policies for maternity and childcare leave for female students. It was argued that the respondents had failed to formulate any such policy, leaving women students subject to rigid attendance rules. The petitioner also relied upon a decision of the Delhi High Court in Renuka v. University Grants Commission and ors. passed in WP(c) 3559/2023, where the right of women to avail maternity benefits was recognized in the context of employment.

Opposing the plea, Additional Advocate General Janhavi Pandit submitted that attendance norms were uniformly applicable to all students and that the petitioner had already been granted permissible relaxation.

The division bench rejected the State’s narrow approach and emphasized that the principles underlying maternity benefits cannot be confined only to the workplace. Court observed that “there is no reason not to extend such a principle to women who want to pursue higher studies,” adding that marriage and pregnancy should not come in their way to complete education.

The judges noted that institutions are duty-bound to adjust and accommodate women students to enable them to meet attendance requirements. In the absence of any institutional policy despite clear UGC directions, court held that study material and extra classes should be provided during pregnancy or after delivery, and childcare leave extended as far as possible.

Terming the matter a special case, court granted relaxation in attendance up to the required 75 per cent and directed the authorities to declare the petitioner’s second semester result and permit her progression if successful.

Case Title: Rumaisa Arwa v. The State of Madhya Pradesh and Others

Date of Order: February 2, 2026

Bench: Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Pradeep Mittal