"Every private school must have special educators for differently-abled children who are studying," a division bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said adding "a detailed order will be passed later."
The bench gave the order, rejecting the argument by the schools that appointment of special educators would be a waste of money if there were no such student in the school.
"Private schools must appoint special educators in all the schools where such children are studying. They must appoint teachers in order to provide proper education to the differently-abled children, irrespective of the dispute of who would bear the financial burden of paying for such teachers," the bench also said.
The bench was hearing a PIL, filed by Social Jurists through counsel Ashok Agarwal that private unaided schools in the city lacked basic physical as well as academic infrastructure, including special educators, as required for education of the children, particularly those suffering from blindness, hearing impairment or mental retardation.
"The failure on the part of the unaided and aided schools to have these facilities in place violates the fundamental and human right to education of the children with disabilities as guaranteed to them in the Constitution, RTE Act, 2009 and UN Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities (2008)," said the petitioner.