The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the Uttar Pradesh government’s “silence” on ensuring that schools in the state inculcate the importance of core constitutional principles of equality, fraternity and secularism in students, The Hindu reported.

The court noted that there can be no quality education “unless there is an effort made to inculcate the importance of constitutional values in the students, especially the core values of equality, secularism and fraternity”.

In this regard, “the state’s response is silent”, it added.

The bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih was hearing a public interest litigation about the 2023 Muzaffarnagar student slapping incident.

On August 24, 2023, Tripta Tyagi, a teacher and owner of Neha Public School in Khubapur village, had instructed a seven-year-old Muslim student’s classmates to hit him after he failed to complete his homework. On December 6 this year, the teacher surrendered before a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Court, but was released on bail, PTI reported.

Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, had filed the public interest litigation in the case in September 2023 seeking a speedy investigation into the case.

On Thursday, the court questioned why the Uttar Pradesh government had not complied with its directions in its September 2023 order about inculcating the importance of constitutional values in children, Live Law reported.

The bench emphasised on the importance of instilling constitutional values in students and said the state “cannot ignore the fact that [the] ultimate object of rendering quality education is to ensure that the children become good citizens”.

It added that “there cannot be quality education if, in a school, a student is sought to be penalised only on the ground that he belongs to a particular community”.

The Uttar Pradesh government has been given one month to take decisions in the matter and file an affidavit within six weeks.

The affidavit must detail the steps it has taken to ensure strict compliance with Section 17(1) of the Right to Education Act, which prohibits physical punishment and mental harassment of children.

The state’s affidavit must also outline how local authorities would be held accountable for preventing discrimination in schools on the basis of caste, class, religion or gender.

The Uttar Pradesh government was further directed to promote grievance redressal mechanisms for parents and ensure their active involvement, including through regular parent-teacher meetings.

Also read: Muzaffarnagar slapping case should ‘shock conscience’ of Uttar Pradesh government, says SC