Dont appeal against High Court ruling

CHENNAI: Samakalvi Iyakkam, a collective of educationists and child rights activists, has urged the government not to appeal against the Madras High Court’s ruling on the Uniform School Syllabus, on Monday.At the third state conference on Children’s Right to Education, Selva Kumar, State General Secretary of Samakalvi Iyakkam, said, “We welcome the High Court judgment on Samacheer Kalvi and also the directive to distribute the printed text books by July 22. But what is worrisome is the news that the state government is planning to appeal against this judgement at the Supreme Court. We strongly condemn such a position by the government and request them to go by the judgement, as this delay is already affecting the students’ education.”During the conference, they also raised other issues concerning the implementation of the Right to Education Act, 2009. Krishnamurthy, State Executive Committee Member of Samakalvi Iyakkam, said, “It is high time the government enforces the RTE Rules to facilitate the implementation of RTE Act.”The other prominent demand was for the enforcement of reservation in private schools. Private schools are reportedly reluctant to set aside 25 per cent of their seats for the children of weaker sections and the disadvantaged groups as per the RTE Act.Speaking at the conference, Professor Kaniappan, former V-C, Anna  University, Tirunelveli, said, “When we mean common education, it doesn’t mean less quality. We want free, quality and compulsory education for all.”