Courts cannot decide school curriculum: Supreme Court

Source – indiatimes.com

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has ruled that judiciary is not the forum to decide what should be included or excluded from school syllabus or what should be taught in educational institutions.

Refusing to entertain a PIL seeking inclusion of teachings of ten Sikh gurus in school curriculum, a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and A M Khanwilkar said: “What shall be taught in schools or what should be included in the syllabus of all classes cannot be directed by this court in exercise of power of judicial review.”

The PIL petitioner had sought a direction to the Centre and states to “incorporate detailed life history and teachings of all ten Sikh gurus along with Guru Granth Saheb in the syllabus of all the classes in history books for teaching”. The petitioner had complained that teachings of Sikh gurus and history of Sikhs had not been given appropriate place in history books.

The court lamented that PIL petitioners, taking advantage of the lax insistence about their locus standi by constitutional courts, have over the years attempted to stretch boundaries of judicial scrutiny to make the courts the panacea for all real and perceived ills in the society.

The bench said despite the expanded horizon, PIL had its limitations. A PIL litigant should not feel that his hope and aspirations for anything and everything deserves to be crystallised by the courts, it said.

“The broad canvass sought to be painted in this petition, as it appears to us, does not come within the domain and sphere of the PIL. We do not perceive any merit in this petition and accordingly the same stands dismissed,” it said.