CHENNAI: Fuming over the denial of admission to a child with special needs, the Madras High Court rapped a popular mission school in Vellore, saying the management failed to follow the principles set by Christianity and the missionary, whom the school is named after.
Quoting previous judgments on admitting children with special needs in schools under the Right to Education Act, Justice CV Karthikeyan, while disposing of a petition filed by a minor, represented by her mother from Katpadi in Vellore, on Wednesday said the courts have always been sensitive to children with special needs. “The school has failed not only in its duty but also betrayed the name of the missionary and their Christian faith,” he deplored.
The child, who behaves normally with peers, was earlier admitted to a CBSE school in Padur. However, after the Covid-19 lockdown in 2021, the child developed some difficulties and was taken to the National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMED) at Kovalam in Chennai and CMC Hospital in Vellore, where she was diagnosed with mild autism spectrum disorder.
After several schools denied admission citing a lack of special educators, the mother approached the missionary school in 2022, whose website mentioned having special teachers to support students with special education needs. However, after holding a written test and an interview with the child, the school refused admission saying that it had no special educators.
Aggrieved over the denial of admission, she approached government authorities concerned and later the high court, where advocate N Manokaran appeared for the petitioner. Meanwhile, the school offered admission during the later stages of court proceedings.
The judge said the sixth respondent (school) is ironically named after a third-generation American medical missionary in India and stated that it makes him wonder whether those in administration today are riding on that name without following her principles or the core conduct which the noble lady adhered to.
Saying that the missionary, who lived between 1870 and 1960 dedicated her life to assuaging the plight of Indian women and working tirelessly helping those afflicted with bubonic plague, cholera and leprosy, the judge said, “Unfortunately, her name is used by an institution which had taken a conscious decision to drive away a child and her parents, who had sought refuge and admission.”
Finding a touch of hollowness in the belated offer of admission to the school, the judge said the court would not stand in the way of any decision taken by the mother. “I hope that the management would prove my words false if the mother takes a decision to admit the child to the school, he said concluding the verdict.