Access to online education for EWS students cannot be denied: Supreme Court issues notice on plea

The Supreme Court on Friday called for the need to provide adequate computer-based equipment and access to online education for children from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and disadvantaged groups (DG) of society (Action Committee Unaided Recognized Private Schools v. Justice for All)..The Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Vikram Nath and BV Nagarathna was hearing a plea by Action Committee Unaided Recognized Private Schools seeking access to technology for children who are attending online classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic..The Court issued notice in the matter, and tagged it along with the pending Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) filed by the Central government and the Delhi government against a September 2020 judgment of the Delhi High Court..In its judgment, the High Court had directed private unaided schools and government schools like Kendriya Vidyalayas to supply gadgets and internet packages to students from the EWS category to facilitate online learning..Appearing for the petitioner today, Senior Advocate Shyam Divan submitted,"This is not just about EWS students, but about all. It's a global problem. Under RTI Act, there is no 100% compensation given to schools. Burden gets transferred to fee paying students."Justice Nagarathna responded,"State has to come forward and finance this, else children will drop out from school. In pandemic situation, this has to be taken seriously."Justice Chandrachud suggested that the government can tap into the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) amounts received from companies to fund this. .He went on to say,"I have seen this at personal quarters, it's heart wrenching. We are merging EWS with mainstream and on the other hand, there is such disparity. The mother who is a maid and the father is a driver - where will they get the laptop from? You have to upload homework on the laptop."Justice Nagarathna added that schools in rural and tribal areas have seen a large drop out rate owing to the lack of access to online education..The Court then pointed out that a Bench headed by then Chief Justice of India SA Bobde had stayed the Delhi High Court judgment in February this year. It thus ordered,"Since two SLPs are pending, notice is issued and tagged. The issues in the plea need early resolution even though there will be gradual reopening of schools as pandemic recedes."It went on to emphasise that the need to provide adequate computer-based equipment and access to online learning for EWS/DG children is of utmost importance."In this situation, needs of young children who are future of country cannot be ignored...solution has to be carved out at Centre and state level so that access to resources is not denied to EWS and DG students.".The Court further said that it was necessary for the Delhi government to come up with a plan to uphold the objective of the Right To Education (RTE) Act, 2009. The Centre was also called upon to coordinate with State governments and share concurrent responsibilities for the purposes of funding.To this end, it ordered,"The Registry may seek CJI's permission so that all the SLPs can be listed at an early date before an appropriate bench so that a workable solution can be carved out for providing education to younger citizens of India.".In its September 2020 judgment, the Delhi High Court held that the gadget and internet package shall be provided free of cost to students, and that schools could claim reimbursement from the State in accordance with Section 12(2) of the RTE Act, 2009.The High Court had clarified that imparting online education was, therefore, not a voluntary or social service, but part of a school's responsibilities under the RTE Act, 2009.It thus held that if schools decided to voluntarily provide "Synchronous Face-to-Face Real-Time Online Education" as a method/mode for teaching, they would have to ensure that the students belonging to EWS/DG category also have access and are able to avail the same..[Read Order].Digital divide violates RTE Act, Art 14, 20, 21: Delhi HC directs pvt unaided schools, KVs to give gadgets to EWS students for online class