Allahabad HC junks petitions against merger of UP schools

In a major relief to the state government, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has rejected the petitions filed against the merger of 5,000 primary schools in Uttar Pradesh on Monday.

The court justified the government’s decision, saying the decision is in the interest of children. In such cases, policy decisions cannot be challenged unless they are unconstitutional or malicious, the order said.

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The single bench of the court of Justice Pankaj Bhatia gave the verdict on two petitions. The first petition was filed on July 1, on behalf of 51 children, including Krishna Kumari, a student of the Sitapur district, while another was filed on July 2.

Justice Pankaj Bhatia heard the arguements of both sides on July 3 and 4 before reserving his judgement. He had a debate till 3 and 4 July.

The UP Basic Education Department issued an order on 16 June 2025 that says thousands of schools in UP will be merged with the nearest upper primary or composite schools based on the number of children aged between 6 to 14 years. The government argued that this would improve the quality of education and better use of resources.

However, the petitioners argued since it will be difficult for young children to reach a new school, the move is bound to spike dropout rate and thereby create inequality. They also said that the government order violates the provision under the RTE Act that guarantees free and compulsory education to all children till 14 years of age.

The court made it clear that there has been no violation of the right to free and compulsory education of children. The decision taken by the government for better use of resources and quality education is constitutional and valid.

Utsav Mishra, the counsel for a petitioner, said since the petition has been rejected, a decision on the future course of action will be taken after reading the order and interacting with the clients.

The uproar over the move had provided the Opposition political parties with an ammunition to attack the the state government. Samajwadi Party had already announced programmes at all the closed schools on Independence Day to protest against their merger.

Meanwhile, reacting to the court order, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP and UP incharge Sanjay Singh said in a social media post, “I am surprised by the decision of the High Court. The children of Uttar Pradesh had requested the judge to save their studies, the government snatched the school. Is this ‘right to education’? Will take this fight to the Supreme Court”.