Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday ordered a visual inspection of a school in Borivali, after parents of 2,500 students were told that classes would be shifted to another school as the first building is in a dilapidated condition.
A Division Bench of Justices Anoop Mohta and Bharti Dangre was hearing a plea submitted by the parents contesting a notice sent on August 16 by the Matushri Kashiben Vrajlal Valia International Vidyalaya in Borivali (West). The notice said that as the school building was in a “dangerous” condition and needs to be redeveloped, the children would be shifted to Sheth Gopalji Hemraj High School in Borivali (East), 4 km away.
The court was informed that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had ordered that the students should not be shifted, as the civic body had not declared the school building as dangerous or dilapidated.
The counsel appearing for the trust that runs the school said that it is affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education, which has inspected the school and said students be shifted.
As per a government resolution issued on July 13, 2013, schools must decide on migration of students before the start of the academic session, and inform parents a year in advance. It also says that primary and secondary sections should be shifted within one to three kilometres.
Requesting anonymity, the father of a Class II student, who was at the hearing, said, “The shifting of the school is going to cause us a lot of inconvenience, as the timing in the new school is from 7.15 a.m. And since the school is almost four km away, the school bus will have to come at 6.15 a.m. To be ready on time, my wife and son will have to wake up at 5.30 a.m. This is very unfair.”
Parents are also worried about the area where the second school is located.
Pragnesh Gopani, the petitioner in the case, said, “We have been asked to shift in the middle of the term, and the temporary school is in Borivali (East). That area is full of dance bars and wine shops. How can we send our children there?”
Parents have alleged that the school did not seek their consent for the migration of their children.
The mother of a Class III student said, “The management just decided to shift our children to another school. How can they do that? They have submitted some false document that shows that parents consented to the move, when the truth is that we did not.”
The court directed that the report of the engineer be submitted in a week, and adjourned the matter till September 9.
