Taking cognisance of The Hindu’ s report about a 12-year-old Afghan refugee being thrown out of a government school here for want of an Aadhaar card, the Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the State government to ensure that she is taken back in the school.
A Bench of Acting Chief Justices Gita Mittal and Anu Malhotra said so after advocate and social activist Ashok Aggarwal brought to its notice a news item published in The Hindu on Thursday about Hadya, a student of Class VI, fighting for her right to education. Hadya had also appealed to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for intervention.
“We don’t want the child to lose a year. Please sort it out and tell us what you have done,” said the Bench.
Later, government counsel Peeyosh Kalra assured the Bench that the needful would be done. Hadya was studying at a government school in Tilak Nagar. At the beginning of this academic session, the principal told all Afghan students to bring their Aadhaar cards. However, as Hadya didn’t have one, she was told that she could not continue in the school.
Similar complaints
Mr. Aggarwal told the Bench that he had been receiving many complaints about students being denied admission in Delhi government schools for want of Aadhaar cards. He, therefore, requested the Bench to ensure that “no child is thrown out of school or denied admission due to lack of Aadhaar card”.
CM approached for help
In another case, Mr. Aggarwal had written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after a student was denied admission to a government school in Mandoli over discrepancy in his birth year records. While the school records showed his year of birth as 2005, his Aadhaar card showed it as 2006.
“What is the child’s fault if the date has been wrongly recorded by the authorities?” Mr. Aggarwal said.
