TOI : Can a girl school be converted to a coed one? : Feb 27, 2007
HC hears case against AVM school
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: Is a school management legally allowed to turn a girl’s school into
a coed school? Can it shift more than half the classes in the school from
one location to another?
These are the questions that the high court on Monday asked the deputy
education secretary to answer in an affidavit. The high court was hearing a
petition filed against Arya Vidya Mandir (AVM) school by parents of the
Santa Cruz branch of the school. These parents are upset with the school
management for issuing a circular saying the Santa Cruz branch of AVM,
currently a girl’s school, will be converted into a co-educational institute
from June 2007.
Currently, AVM runs a coeducational school from nursery to Class X in
Bandra and a girl’s school in Santa Cruz. Not only does the management want
to turn the Santa Cruz branch into a co-ed school, but also wants the Santa
Cruz school to run only from nursery to Class II. Hence all the girls from
classes III to X, studying at the Santa Cruz branch will have to go to
school in Bandra from June 2007.
“Many parents have sent their daughters to AVM because it is a girl’s
school. It is unfair for the school to suddenly turn co-ed,” said MM Vashi,
the lawyer on behalf of the parents.
“I do not like the manner in which the school took such huge decisions
without taking the parents into confidence,” said a Class VI parent, adding
that a shift to Bandra would mean that her daughter will have to travel a
greater distance to school.
In January 2006, the school had sent a similar circular to parents,
saying the school would turn co-ed and Classes III to X would be conducted
in the Bandra school. There was a hue and cry amongst parents, who took the
school to court over the matter. The management then announced that the
decision had been deferred by a year, and hence the petition fell through in
court last year. When the school once again announced its decision this
year, the parents filed a fresh petition against the management.