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Supreme Court directs Kerala to set up state-run primary schools in all areas lacking facilities

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Kerala government to establish state-run lower and upper primary schools in all areas where none are functioning. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act mandates access to neighbourhood schooling for every child, a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi observed. The bench was hearing the appeal of the state government against the High Court order on a petition that sought setting up of a school in Elambra in Manjeri municipality, where there were no primary educational institutions within a 3-4 kilometre radius. The high court had directed the Manjeri municipality to take urgent steps for the construction of necessary buildings for the school. The apex court upheld a Kerala High Court direction asking the state government to set up a school in an area that had no educational facility within a 3-4 kilometre radius. Asking the state government to take a holistic decision, the court said, in all such areas with difficult geographical terrain, schools must be established without delay. The bench laid down a twophase approach. In the first phase, the government will have to identify all regions without any lower or upper primary school. In the second phase, schools must be established in all areas lacking a lower primary school within a radius of 1km or an upper primary school within 3-4km.