Lack of basic facilities such as toilets and drinking water in government schools is forcing the poor parents to admit their children in private schools and encouraging establishment of private schools, the High Court of Karnataka said on Monday.
This scenario, the court said, is resulting in failure to implement the constitutional mandate of providing free education to children up to the age of 14.
“If a parent, who does not earn enough to have two meals a day, has to compromise on the meals to put his children to private schools, is it not that the situation is being created due to lack of basic facilities in government schools?... fortunately, the situation right now is that haves get basic facilities and have-nots have nothing at all. This is unfortunate,” the court observed orally.
