Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court has asked the state government and concerned authorities to file replies in response to a PIL seeking exemption of school fee of private schools during the ‘lockdown period’ and also promotion of students upto class 8 without conducting any examination until physical classes resume in the state.
Hearing a PIL filed by Masoom Bachpan Foundation, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Siddhartha Varma fixed December 4 as the next date of hearing of the case.
The petitioner had raised the issue of health hazards among the children caused by prolonged exposure to electromagnetic waves emitted by laptop/ computer/ mobile screens during online classes.
The electronic devices are having huge impact on anxiety or stress level, logical thinking, memory, mood and mental stability of the tiny tots. Therefore, several educationists have suggested “no examination system”. Hence, in this backdrop of the situation, the students upto class 8 should be promoted without conducting any examination till the physical classes are resumed in the state, it was stated.
It has also urged the court to pass a direction to the education authorities to promote the students of primary classes to next class for the educational session of 2020-21 without undertaking examinations.
According to the petitioner, during the period of lockdown, no educational institution remained open, therefore, no fee from the students for that period can be charged. “Certain instances have been pointed out where fee is demanded by certain educational institutions.”
The petitioner had also sought regulation of accounts of unaided schools, including fee of the students and salary of the teachers. This order was passed on November 17.