New Delhi Feb 22 PTI The Delhi High Court Tuesday sought the Centres reply on a plea challenging certain provisions of the Right to Education Act 2009 for allegedly being arbitrary and irrational and seeking introduction of a common syllabus and curriculum for children across the countryA bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notices to the Union ministries of Education Law and Justice and Home Affairs on the petition and listed the matter for further hearing on March 30The PIL said existence of Sections 1 4 and 1 5 of the RTE Act and the absence of a common curriculum in mother language leads to the fostering and perpetuation of ignorance and delays the attainment of fundamental dutiesPetitioner advocate Ashwini Upadhyay said it is the duty of the Union to effectuate a common education system but it has failed in the fulfilment of this necessary obligation as it has simply adopted the pre-existing National Curriculum Framework NCF of 2005 which is very oldThe plea challenged the provisions under the RTE Act which excludes madrasas vedic pathshalas and educational institutions imparting religious knowledge within its ambitThe injury caused to children is extremely large because rather than implementing a common education system for all the children up to 14 yearsthe Centre inserted sections 14 and 15 to deprive educational excellence to madrasas vedic pathshalas and educational institutions imparting religious instructionThe Petitioner submits that Sections 14 and 15 not only offend Articles 14 15 16 21 21A but are also contrary to Articles 38 39 and 46 and Preamble the plea saidSection 14 of the RTE Act states Subject to the provisions of articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution the provisions of this Act shall apply to conferment of rights on children to free and compulsory education Section 1 5 of the Act states Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to Madrasas Vedic Pathsalas and educational institutions primarily imparting religious instruction The plea said the prevailing system does not provide equal opportunity to all children as the syllabus and curriculum varies for each strata of the societyIt is necessary to state that the purposive and harmonious construction of Articles 14 15 16 21 21A with Articles 38 39 46 confirms that education is a basic right of every child and the State cannot discriminate against this most important rightRight of a child should not be restricted only to free education but must be extended to have equal quality education without discrimination on the ground of childs social economic and cultural background Therefore the court may declare Sections 14 and 15 arbitrary irrational and violative of Articles 14 15 16 and 21 and direct the Centre to implement common syllabus and common curriculum for the students of I-VIII standard throughout the country the plea saidThe petition said that a common minimum education programme for the children up to 14 years would achieve the code of common culture removal of disparity and depletion of discriminatory values in human relations PTI SKV SA