Kozhikode: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed the petition filed by the manager of Malaparamba aided upper primary school against the government’s decision to take over the school. The manager of the 140-year-old school had planned to close down the school and sell its property triggering protests from the students, parents, teachers and the public.
The school was taken over by the government after it was closed down. Hence, till the court verdict on Wednesday, the students were accommodated in the congested space allotted at the district collectorate engineer’s hall.
The school, which was a polling booth for the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, was razed soon after the elections ended on April 11. The manager’s brother P.K. Ajith and two helpers were arrested following the incident. There are currently eight teachers, including Padmarajan’s wife Ajitha, and one peon. The school has a student strength of 60 and five students had joined the new kindergarten section last year.
“Earlier, a vacation bench of Justices P.C. Ghose and Amitav Roy dismissed an appeal filed by the Kerala government against the High Court order which said that the government was given enough time to initiate procedures for the closure,” said Mr A. Pradeep Kumar MLA. The bench rejected the government’s argument that the closure will affect the future of 60 students and that the move will violate the right to education. Now we are extremely happy that the verdict has come in favor of our students,” he added.
