A private high school following Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) syllabus till Standard X cannot insist upon the State government, as a matter of right, giving permission for starting higher secondary classes alone under the Tamil Nadu State Board syllabus, the Madras High Court Bench here has ruled.
Dismissing a writ petition filed by the principal of Raja's International School at Nagercoil in Kanyakumari district, Justice K. Chandru said that the petitioner did not have any fundamental right to start an institution of his own choice. An attempt to upgrade a high school to a higher secondary school would always be subject to the norms laid down by the appropriate government.
“If the State government had laid any norms that only high schools running Standards VI to X under the State Board will be upgraded as higher secondary schools for running XI and XII Standards, no fault can be found with the same,” the judge said and pointed that the government also feared degradation of education if there was a mix-up of syllabus. He recorded the government's apprehension that schools might become like tutorial colleges if they were allowed to follow one set of syllabus until Standard X and a totally different syllabus after that.
Further, a government order was issued as early as on July 26, 2001, stating that self-financing high schools in the State would not be given permission to start higher secondary classes.
In the present case, the petitioner stated that about 288 students were studying in his school started in the year 2004 under the CBSE stream. The students were desirous of pursuing higher secondary education under the State Board stream. Hence, the school submitted an application to the State government after the abolition of entrance examination for professional courses in the State. However, the Joint Director of School Education rejected the petitioner's request on June 12, 2009. The rejection order stated that the government had taken a policy decision not to allow high schools following CBSE curriculum to start higher secondary classes with the State Board syllabus. The petitioner wanted the court to quash this order and, consequently grant their plea for affiliation.
Claiming that already two schools — Adarsh Vidya Kendra in Nagercoil and N.V.K.S. Higher Secondary School in Athoor — in Kanyakumari district were conducting higher secondary classes alone under the State Board syllabus, the petitioner claimed that rejecting a similar permission for his school alone amounted to discrimination.
