The Kerala High Court has called upon the State Government to respond to a Public Interest Litigation that seeks the establishment of comprehensive guidelines regulating pre-primary institutions—including preschools, daycare centres, and anganwadis. The PIL, filed by a lawyer and mother of a four-year-old child, raises concerns about the absence of uniformity and regulation in early childhood education in Kerala, particularly for children aged three to six years. The bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji granted time to the state to file its counter to the petition.
In her petition, the claimant references a 2021 judgement of the Kerala High Court in Pretty Rachal Koshy v. Social Justice Department & Ors. in which the government had assured the court to issue an executive order regulating daycare centres and creches within two months. However, replies obtained through the Right to Information Act from both the Department of Women and Child Development and the Social Justice Department show that no regulation had been put in place. The petitioner also notes that administrative responsibility for pre-primary education (other than anganwadis and creches) has been shifted to the General Education Department, creating what she terms a regulatory vacuum for the foundational stage.
According to RTI responses, neither the Education Department nor other relevant respondents had formulated uniform rules or implemented a standardised curriculum. The petitioner points to the National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Policy, which mandates that states establish clear standards and regulatory frameworks for early childhood education, and also references the National Education Policy of 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage (2022). She highlights that rules under these policies have not been framed in Kerala. The petition asserts that failure to frame such regulations deprives thousands of children of equitable access to foundational education, amounting to a breach of constitutional mandates, including Article 45 of the Constitution.
Among the reliefs sought are time-bound directions to the State to frame uniform regulation covering curriculum development, monitoring, and quality assurance for all pre-primary institutions in alignment with ECCE and the National Curriculum Framework. The petitioner seeks a mandate that all pre-primary educational institutions must be registered with a competent regulatory authority. Further, she contends that failure to implement regulatory frameworks violates fundamental rights of children under Articles 14, 21, and 21A, as well as directive principles under Articles 39(f) and 45, and represents non-compliance with earlier court orders in WP(C) No. 18027/2017.
When the matter came up in court, the High Court observed that while earlier assurances had been made by the government in 2021, including in relation to that 2021 petition, the admitted position then was that no policy existed. The bench noted that, given that earlier commitment and changes in the national education policy landscape, the State could initiate formulation of such policy even without further orders. The court listed the case for further hearing on November 10, directing that the State file its counter affidavit by then.
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