HC seeks AAP govt reply to PIL against its education policy

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the AAP government's stand on a PIL against its education policy replacing languages like Sanskrit with vocational subjects as the sixth compulsory discipline at secondary level.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra also issued notice to the Centre and sought its stand on the plea.

The public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a society claims that the policy decision, which would be applicable on government schools, would result in extinction of languages like Urdu, Sanskrit and Punjabi.

According to the petitioner society, Sanskrit Shikshak Sangh Delhi, the AAP government's decision to substitute languages with vocational subjects was against the National Policy on Education.

The petition also challenges a CBSE circular which has remodelled the scheme of assessment for Class X for schools enrolled under the National Skills Qualifications Framework.

In such schools, students have to compulsorily study a sixth subject, which would be a vocational subject, along with the five core subjects of two languages, social science, mathematics and science.

The NSQF, notified in India in 2013, is a competency- based framework that organises all qualifications according to a series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude.