Can a child be detained in same class over health issues: Delhi HC to hear plea

In the petition, the father said he requested the school to allow his child to continue in the same class on medical grounds as she needed time to learn the basics before being promoted to UKG.

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In school, the child was unable to cope and scored poorly in all assessments. (File)

The Delhi High Court is set to hear a plea on whether a child can voluntarily be detained in the same class on medical grounds, after the father moved a writ petition on the issue on Friday. In the petition, the counsel for the father, Ashok Agarwal, stated that the child was born premature, and her physical development milestones such as speech were delayed. As a result, she lagged behind other children her age in class.

The child was born on January 5, 2013, when her mother was in the sixth month of pregnancy, and weighed just 850 grams. She was kept in the intensive care unit for newborns in a private hospital at Shalimar Bagh. As the Delhi government rules on nursery admissions mandated that children up to age three join LKG, the father was “forced to admit her” in the last academic year to a public school in Shalimar Bagh.

In school, the child was unable to cope and scored poorly in all assessments. The teacher, on many occasions, met the father to discuss his daughter’s performance. He then consulted many doctors, including a child psychiatrist, and an occupational and speech therapist to help the child develop her speech and learn at pace with her peers. But she still lagged behind.

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In the petition, the father said he requested the school to allow his child to continue in the same class on medical grounds as she needed time to learn the basics before being promoted to UKG. But the school refused. He then sent representations to the director of education. Failing to get a reply, he moved the court.

Stating that failure of the school to retain the child in the same class was not only in contravention to the Delhi School Education Act, but also violated provisions of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, the petition said, “… In the present case, the director of education has acted as a mere spectator despite the fact that the petitioner had repeatedly highlighted the difficulties of the child….”

It added that inaction by the director meant “failure on his statutory and constitutional obligation to look after the interest of the child”. Justice V Kameswar Rao has posted the matter for further hearing on Monday.

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