Syed Sujeel Ahmed | India Tomorrow
BENGALURU—In response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Students Islamic Organization of India (SIO), Telangana unit, the High Court (HC) of Telangana in its ruling on Wednesday has ordered the Telangana government to conduct online classes for Urdu medium students too, as it is being done for Telugu and English media students.
The PIL was filed by a member of the SIO Hyderabad City, Muhammed Abdul Sami Bagdali, a law student. The ruling has brought relief and cheers to scores of Urdu medium students who were otherwise left without any teaching assistance in the absence of on campus studies in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking to India Tomorrow, Sami said, “Before approaching the HC, the SIO contacted Education Minister of Telangana P. Sabitha Indira Reddy, Director of Education, and Secretary of Education Telangana through emails but to no avail. Hence we decided to approach the HC.”
Sami informed that the Chief Justice of High Court Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan appreciated and lauded the efforts of the SIO in filing the petition and he himself heard the case along with another judge. The PIL was filed in September and the order was passed on Wednesday in a single hearing. After hearing both the sides, the bench of two judges passed order to the state government to immediately start the online classes in Urdu language too. Advocate Uzair Ahmed Khan was counsel for the SIO. It is unknown why in first place the Telangana government did not start online classes for the Urdu medium students along with Telugu and English media.
“The education department has started preparation for sending notifications to government Urdu medium institutions”, Sami added.
Experts in the education field are skeptical about conducting the online classes for the school going children as it can leave adverse effect on them. Several NGOs have raised questions on benefits of the online classes for students coming from economically weaker sections of the society who cannot afford smart phones or an internet connection. Several students and parents have committed suicide over past few months for not being able to arrange resources for the online classes. A farmer from Karnataka had to sell his cow to buy mobile phone for his daughter. Calling online classes by the private schools as an excuse to collect fees, a Supreme Court (SC) lawyer had filed a petition in the SC asking the court to ban the online classes conducted by the private schools. He had also demanded reduction in school fee due to deficiency in services provided by the private schools.
However, Sami is of a different view and sounded more concerned about selective application of a government policy rather than its feasibility, he said, “If a benefit is passed on to schools, it should be equally beneficial to all medium of instructions, irrespective of how many would get benefitted out of it and how many left out. Why Urdu medium students were ignored is unknown,” he said.
