Supreme Court agrees to hear plea against Uttar Pradesh govt’s decision to merge primary schools

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea against the Uttar Pradesh government's plan to merge over 100 low-enrolment primary schools. The petitioner argues the move violates children’s right to education and could harm access to schooling in rural areas

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea challenging the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to merge over 100 primary schools with low student enrolment.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi agreed to list the matter in the week after advocate Pradeep Yadav, appearing for petitioner Taiyyab Khan Salmani, sought an urgent hearing.

---

Yadav said that over hundreds of government schools would be shut and thousands of primary students would be out of school, being forced to study in neighbhouring schools, if the government order of June 16 was not stayed.

He said the State government’s order was challenged before the high court, but it dismissed the pleas on July 7. Justice Kant said though a policy decision, it was ready to examine the issue if government schools were being shut.

The plea said that on June 16, the additional chief secretary of State’s Basic Shiksha Department issued an order directing for taking of steps for pairing of the schools managed under the supervision and control of the Basic Shiksha Adhikari and owned by the State government.

“Consequent to which, on dated June 24, 2025, the actual list of the schools which are being paired, being 105 in numbers, has been issued,” the plea said. The high court dismissed the petitions on July 7 without considering the true facts and circumstances of the case that the said merger order will directly affect and destroy the already vulnerable education system in the state, it added.

The petitioner argued that the policy decision was arbitrary, unreasonable and violative of Article 21A of the Constitution as it offended the provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and the rules framed by the State government.

The plea referred to Rule 4(1)(a) and said it was incumbent for the state government to establish a school with respect to children from Class 1 to 5 in the habitation where there was no school within a distance of a kilometer and the habitation having a population of at least 300 people.