New Delhi: In a bid to ease the burden on students, the Madras High Court has directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to warn its affiliated schools to either follow the court diktat and ban homework for Class I and II students or be ready to face strict action.
On May 30, Madras HC had instructed the CBSE to reduce the weight of bags of school children and do away with homework for classes I and II. The court went to the extent of asking CBSE to set up flying squads in schools to check if there is any violation of the court order.
On Monday, the court directed CBSE to issue advertisements in all leading newspapers warning schools affiliated to it, across the country, of strict action if they violate court order banning homework for students of the said classes.
Justice N Kirubakaran, while referring to the government orders (GOs) issued by governments of Telangana and Maharashtra, had earlier directed the Centre to direct the state governments and governments of Union Territories to formulate a "Children School Bag Policy", reducing the weight of the satchels in line with the guidelines issued by either state.
Besides, the court directed the CBSE, the regional officer of CBSE and the Association of Management of Private Schools to prescribe and use NCERT books alone.
On August 10, the court lashed out at CBSE for not issuing a circular to all affiliated schools to implement the court's recent order banning homework for students of classes I and II.
"The Central Board of Secondary Education has not understood the seriousness of this case and the directions issued by the court. CBSE authorities think they are like CBI but that's not so," Justice N Kirubakaran said.
The case is posted for Tuesday for the central government to present the response of other states on this issue.
Petitioner M Purushothaman, an advocate, had moved the Madras High court questioning why Class I and II students are given homework and also taught more subjects than what is prescribed by NCERT.
Speaking to CNN News 18, Purushothaman said: “When NCERT is giving such well researched books, why are private CBSE schools forcing children to buy private publishers’ books. In General Knowledge book, children are asked to identify celebrities, including Rajinkanth. Since private schools are charging more and they don’t have experienced teachers, they are not able to comprehend students. This is spoiling the entire education system.”
In 2017, HRD Ministry mandated CBSE schools to purchase books published by NCERT. That was challenged by a private management in Tamil Nadu and a stay was granted. Based on that stay, CBSE permitted private publishers to sell books for CBSE schools.
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