Plea asks for quick decision on reopening schools

Student approaches SC for directive to Centre, States

A Class 12 student from Delhi has moved the Supreme Court to direct the Union and State governments to stop vacillating and take a “holistic, equitable and speedy” decision on the reopening of schools that were closed due to the pandemic. The nearly two-year-long shutdown has affected students both physically and mentally. Children from underprivileged families, who cannot afford the electronic paraphernalia required for online classes, have been deprived of their fundamental right to education. Many, under pressure from their families to make end ls meet and with no regular physical classes, have slipped back into child labour, the petition points out. “Issue a writ, order or direction, directing respondents (Centre and States) to consider and take a time-bound decision in regard to the physical re-opening of schools in their respective areas, and conduct of offline teaching, which forms subject matter of the present petition,” Amar Prem Prakash said his petition.