THE STATE SHOULD ENSURE THAT CHILDREN FROM ECONOMICALLY WEAKER SECTIONS HAVE PROPER GADGETS FOR ONLINE EDUCATION - SHOULD BE NOT DEPRIVED OF EDUCATION

The Supreme Court bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Vikram Nath and BV Nagarathn said there is a need for adequate computer-based equipment and access to online education for students from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and disadvantaged groups (DG) of society. The bench was hearing a plea by the Action Committee Unaided Recognized Private Schools seeking technology for children who were attending schools through online classes. The bench issued a notice and tagged the matter to the pending Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) filed by the Central and Delhi government against a September 2020 judgment of the Delhi High Court in September 2020.

In its judgment, the Delhi HC directed private unaided schools and government schools to supply gadgets and internet packages to students from the EWS category for proper access to education.

The Sc bench said that the State has to finance this or else children will drop out of school. The Delhi government needs to come up with a plan to support the objective of the Right To Education (RTE) Act, 2009. The Centre was also called upon to share mutual responsibilities for funding with State governments. 

The Sc further held that the HC, in its September order, had clarified providing gadgets is not a social service but part of responsibilities under the RTE Act, 2009. Therefore, if schools decided to voluntarily provide "Synchronous Face-to-Face Real-Time Online Education" as a mode of education, they would have to ensure that the EWS/DG category students also have access.

Author: Papiha Ghoshal