Necessary permission under the TN Recognised Private Schools (Regulation) Act is a must for nursery schools too, the Madras High Court has held.
Justice K K Sasidharan gave the ruling while partly allowing a writ petition from Acharya Educational Public Trust, running three children’s play schools in Ganapathy, Avarampalayam and Ramanathapuram in Coimbatore, on June 19 last.
According to senior counsel K Doraisamy, following a communication dated July 3 last year, the trust applied for recognition and the same was pending with the education department. While so, by June 10 this year the Elementary School Education Director ordered the closure of the three schools on the ground that they had failed to obtain recognition under Section 18 (1) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act. Doraisamy contended that the Act would not be applicable to nursery schools in view of the definition given for ‘school’ under Sec 2(n) of the Act.
The judge observed that in these days of mushroom growth of nursery schools, the petitioner’s contention could not be accepted. If it was accepted, it would create a situation where there would be numerous nursery schools without any kind of control. The State had witnessed several unfortunate incidents involving students, including one at Kumbakonam. The TN Recognised Private Schools (Regulation) Act was enacted for regulating educational institutions irrespective of the nature of course. “When the Act says that every educational institution including pre-primary should obtain recognition, there is no merit in the petitioner’s contention that the authorities have no authority to take action against the nursery schools,’’ the judge said.
At this stage, Doraisamy admitted that the TN Private Schools Regulation Act would be applicable to the three schools of the Trust.