The Calcutta Excessive Courtroom has held that the West Bengal Board of Secondary Training (WBBSE) can’t withdraw co-education amenities from a faculty merely to guard the enrolment of a close-by women’ faculty. The Courtroom quashed the Board’s orders, which restricted admission of woman college students in Lessons V to VIII at Sonamui Co-Training Faculty.
Justice Krishna Rao famous that Sonamui Co-Training Faculty has been a recognised co-educational establishment since 6 January 1965 and that no violation of statutory or regulatory situations by the varsity was established by the Board.
The dispute arose after a women’ faculty was established inside shut proximity of the co-educational faculty in 1988, following which the Board step by step withdrew permission for co-education on the center stage. The first motive cited by the Board was a pointy decline in enrolment within the women’ faculty, which was allegedly attributable to the continued operation of the co-educational establishment.
The Courtroom noticed that the sooner writ petition difficult the Board’s order dated 2 September 2004 was dismissed for default and never on deserves. Due to this fact, the dismissal couldn’t be handled as an affirmation of the Board’s choice to discontinue co-education.
Referring to Articles 14, 15 and 21-A of the Structure and the Proper of Kids to Free and Obligatory Training Act, 2009, the Courtroom emphasised that entry to high quality training and parental alternative can’t be curtailed by arbitrary administrative selections.
The Courtroom additionally relied on judicial precedents recognising the advantages of co-education, together with the Allahabad Excessive Courtroom’s choice in Rama Nath Tiwari v. Committee of Administration and the Supreme Courtroom’s judgment in State of Tamil Nadu v. Okay. Shyam Sunder, which underline the function of training in selling equality and social growth.
Paying attention to the infrastructure and amenities out there at Sonamui Co-Training Faculty, together with separate facilities for woman college students, the Courtroom discovered that the Board had failed to think about related components. It additional noticed that a number of different co-educational faculties had been functioning in the identical locality, making the Board’s motion discriminatory and with out cogent justification.
Holding that co-education promotes wholesome interplay, equality and holistic growth of scholars, the Courtroom put aside and quashed the Board’s orders dated 2 September 2004, 15 July 2014 and 11 April 2017. The writ petition was accordingly allowed, allowing the varsity to confess woman college students in Lessons V to VIII.
Case: Swapan Kumar Manna & Ors. Versus State of West Bengal & Ors.
Case No: WPA No. 29396 of 2024
 cannot withdraw co-education facilities from a school merely to protect the enrolment of a nearby girls'...){kind=link}