Reopening Schools Without Providing Textbooks To Children Is Meaningless: Karnataka High Court Directs State To File Status Report

A division bench of Justice B V Nagarathna and Justice P Krishna Bhat were informed by the government that textbooks would be distributed in a phased manner by the end of September.

To this the court said, "Notebooks and textbooks are very important. The printing of the textbooks have to be in consonance with the opening of schools. You cannot open schools and not give the paraphernalia."

In its order, the bench noted that,

"The AGA submitted that textbooks will be provided in a phased manner and by end of September it will be distributed. We are not satisfied with the answer of the AGA. When schools have commenced from August 23, it is necessary concomitant to have textbooks so that their attendance in schools will be meaningful and imparting of education will be fulfilled. In the absence of textbooks the presence of students in schools is meaningless and purposeless."

The court orally observed that, "Concentrate on this first (printing of textbooks/notebooks). When you open schools, textbooks should go hand in hand. Otherwise, it will be futile. Printing of textbooks must keep pace with the opening of schools."

The state government was further asked to consider directing taluka education officers to make sufficient numbers of textbooks available by taking a printout. "This will ensure that pressure for printed textbooks will become less and those having gadgets will be available with textbooks in the pdf format", the Bench said.

The directions were given while hearing a petition filed by A. A. Sanjeev Narrain, Arvind Narrain and Murali Mohan. The petition stated that the respondents were not providing adequate online resources to school children prior to resumption of online classes. This was alleged to be in violation of Article 21-A read with the provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education, 2009 ("RTE Act"), along with the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2010 ("RTE Rules"). The action of the respondents was also alleged to not be in line with the Karnataka Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2012 ("Karnataka RTE Rules").

The court has directed the state government to file a status report on August 30,  when the matter will be heard next. 

Case Title: A A Sanjeev Narrain v. State of Karnataka

Case No: WP 11708/2020