Madras High Court: While hearing a suo motu writ petition initiated following the Kallakurichi Hooch Tragedy in Kalvarayan Hills, the division bench of S.M. Subramaniam and C. Kumarappan, JJ., while noting that Government Schools were functioning in the name of “Government Tribal Residential School”, said that the usage of the term “Tribal” along with the name of the Government School is unwarranted. The Court directed the Chief Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu to initiate appropriate action and remove prefixes like “Tribal” from the names of the Government Schools in the state.
The Court said that such usage of the word “Tribal” in School’s name, would result in stigmatising the children studying in Schools. They will get the feeling that they are studying in a “Tribal School” and not in a School on a par with the other children in nearby localities. Stigmatisation of children under no circumstances be approved by the Courts and by the Government. Wherever such names are used indicating a particular community / caste are to be removed and the Schools must be named as “Government School” and children residing in that locality must be granted admission in the School to pursue their education.
The Court said that State of Tamil Nadu, being a fore runner State in social justice, cannot allow such stigmatic words be added as “prefixes” or “suffixes” in the name of the Government Schools or any Government institutions.
The Court asked the Chief Secretary to Government of Tamil Nadu to initiate appropriate action.
The Court noted that the socio-economic development in Kalvarayan Hills and the actions taken by the Government are monitored by this Bench with the assistance of the Advocate General. Thus, the Court directed the Registry to place the papers before the Acting Chief Justice for passing appropriate orders to list the matter before this Bench.
The matter will next be taken on 02-08-2024.
Also Read:
[In re, Kallakurichi Hooch Tragedy, 2024 SCC OnLine Mad 3433, decided on 26-07-2024]
