School can’t penalise students for row with parents, says HC

MADURAI : A school management cannot prevent students from attending classes and tell them to get transferred to some other institution just because it does not enjoy a cordial relationship with the parents, the Madras High Court Bench here has observed.

Dismissing a writ appeal filed by a school based in Aruppukottai in Virudhunagar district, Justices S. Tamilvanan and V.S. Ravi held that the appellant could not insist on transferring two siblings, studying in classes VI and II, to another school, due to a skirmish with their parents.

The judges also held that they did not find any illegality in an order passed by a single judge of the High Court, on a writ petition filed by the children’s mother last year, directing the school management to allow the children to continue their education without any impediment.

Disposing of the writ petition, Justice T.S. Sivagnanam had said: “The test to be applied by this court is as to whether the children, who are not delinquents and who have not committed any misconduct, can be kept away from the school in the manner done by the respondent management.

“The answer to such question can only be in the negative… The interest of the minor children is paramount and idiosyncrasies of the parents or any other person cannot interfere with the right to education of the minor children, which is a fundamental right.”

In an affidavit filed in support of the petition, the children’s mother had claimed that the relationship between her and the management had strained because she lodged a complaint with the Inspector of Matriculation Schools accusing the school of collecting exorbitant fees.

On the other hand, the management contended that the writ petitioner was using her children to settle personal scores with the management since she was removed from service from the commerce department of a college run by the same educational trust.

“The interest of the children is paramount and idiosyncrasies of the parents cannot interfere with the right to education of the minor children, which is a fundamental right.”