The Delhi High Court in a recent order pulled up G.D. Goenka Public School, Model Town, for “creating a hostile and unsupportive environment” for a child with special needs (CWSN) and directed it to readmit the student, who had left the school two years ago.

Aadriti Pathak, the eight-year-old girl, was diagnosed with ‘mild autism’ in 2021. She left the school in 2023, with her mother approaching the High Court over “lack of support from the school”.

The school had said it tried to accommodate the child “fairly”, but she exhibited “severe behavioural issues”. It also argued that since 2023, the student had stopped attending the school and participated in a Directorate of Education (DoE)-conducted draw of lots under the CWSN category, and was allotted another school.

“Her behaviour, flagged by the school, rather than invoking apprehension should have triggered support. Instead, the school’s response seems to have been one of distancing, resulting in what was effectively a deprivation of the petitioner’s statutory rights, albeit without a justifiable premise,” said Justice Vikas Mahajan during the hearing on Tuesday.

‘Integrate student’
Noting that the student can “flourish in the right environment” and should be integrated into the school community, Justice Mahajan ordered the student’s readmission and assistance of a parent-appointed shadow teacher, subject to the school’s basic norms of decorum and safety.

“The judgment will guide all schools to pay special attention to students with disabilities and the DoE to take action against violations,” the girl’s mother told The Hindu.

During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer, Ashok Agarwal, submitted that none of the doctors whom the petitioner approached suggested that the student needed a special school, and instead recommended an integrated school.

“The student lost out on two years because the school misled us into believing that the student should go to a special school,” stated the petitioner.

Citing the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the court said, “The right to inclusive education under the Act is not symbolic but an enforceable right, and no child can be deprived merely due to the institutional unwillingness to adapt.”