Send your kids to state run schools, Allahabad HC tells government officials

Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court, in a path-breaking judgment on Tuesday, said that all government servants, elected representatives and judicial officers should compulsorily send their children to government schools.

The court said that this was the only way of improving the education system. The court has directed the UP chief secretary to consult other officials and ensure that all those who draw their salaries from the state exchequer should send their children to government schools.

The court said that those who do not comply with this order should be ready to face punitive action. “If any government servant continues to send his child to private school, he will have to deposit the same amount of fees in the state exchequer every month. Besides, the increment and promotion of such officers may also be stopped from a limited period of time. The state government is being given six months’ time to work out the modalities so that this order can be implemented from the next academic session,” said Justice Sudhir Agarwal while hearing a petition filed by one Shiv Kumar Pathak.

The court also expressed displeasure at the over two lakhs posts of teachers lying vacant in junior and senior basic schools. “The state at present has a three-dimensional education systems — English medium schools, private schools and government schools — and the government education can improve only if the government servants are made to send their children to these schools,” the court said.