Allahabad High Court Dismisses Pleas Challenging UP Govt's Primary School Merger Plan

The Allahabad High Court has dismissed two petitions challenging the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Department's plan of merging government primary and upper primary schools that have less than 50 enrolled students.

A bench of Justice Pankaj Bhatia thus upheld the State Government's decision for 'pairing' of eligible schools with nearby educational facilities so as to make the education system "more functional and viable". A detailed order is awaited.

A total of 51 students from Sitapur, through their guardian, had approached the high court challenging the June 16 order of the state government, contending that the decision violates Article 21A of the Constitution. 

It was their contention that the decision would be detrimental to the interests of the children who would have to travel farther to reach their new schools. The petitioners were represented by Senior Advocate LP Mishra and Advocate Gaurav Mehrotra.

The state government, on the other hand, justified its decision by submitting that the step was in the larger interest of students and it would pave way for better utilisation of its resources.

It was apprised to the bench that the objective of the Education department is to make better use of resources, reduce the dropout rate, and ensure quality education, which is considered necessary to deal with the problem of quality of education and misuse of resources in schools with low enrollment.