KOCHI: Children are not chattels or toys to be thrown around at the mercy of school authorities, the high court said while ruling that it was arbitrary and unreasonable for Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) to alter admission criteria after the admission process had begun, thereby denying admissions to some students.
After considering two petitions filed by students denied admissions to Kendriya Vidyalayas due to the change of criteria, Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V said in a judgment on Thursday, "While revising the admission guidelines, the respondents ought to have been fair and they should have ensured that the students like the petitioners, who were legitimately expecting that they would secure admission, were not thrown out. Children are not chattels or toys to be thrown around at the mercy of the administrators. Every action taken by the authorities having an adverse effect on a section of children ought to have been taken cautiously and with all the sensitivity that it deserves."
Secretary of Ministry of Education, KVS, and principals of Kendriya Vidyalayas at Payyannur in Kannur and Rubber Board in Kottayam were the respondents or opposite parties in the cases considered by the court.
The Union government had contended that the revision of guidelines was part of implementing National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) and that the admissions under discretionary quota stretches the class strength and adversely impacts students' learning.
However, the court said implementing the NEP may be laudable but the authorities should have been careful not to trample upon the rights of minor children while striving to uphold the rights of others.
