The Supreme Court of India has asked the Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD) to take a decision on a petition regarding the teaching of the Indian Constitution to primary school children.
It also sought directions for the MHRD to provide standard textbooks with chapters on socialism, secularism, unity and integrity along with fundamental rights, directive principles of state policy, fundamental duties which along with the basic structure of constitution should be made compulsory for students in Classes from one to eight across the country.
Petitioner advocate Ashwini Upadhyay had filed a request to open central schools in every administrative division (tehsil) for better access to education. The request to make teaching the constitution compulsory in primary classes is a part of his main plea.
Debates on Indian Constitution have rocked the country since December when the Indian Parliament introduced an amendment to the citizenship law and granted citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from Muslim-majority countries from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, while not extending the same rights to Muslims.
The Act has been slammed by protesters who allege it is discriminatory towards Muslim immigrants and a violation of the Indian constitution - something the government denies.
