While considering a Public Interest Litigation seeking a framework for early childhood care and education, the Kerala High Court has observed that the completion of the draft guidelines should fructify into final guidelines, and it should be issued in the public domain at the earliest.

The Kerala High Court was considering a writ petition (Public Interest Litigation) seeking a direction to the Official Respondents to file a consolidated status report on the current status of policy formulation, inter-departmental coordination, and curriculum development for the foundational stage (ages 3–6).

The Bench took note of the fact that till now, no guidelines have been issued.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Syam Kumar V.M. thus observed in an interim order, “The Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development Department, and the Secretary, General Education Department have submitted that the work of framing the draft guidelines is in progress. Considering the fact that a direction was issued as far back as in 2021, we expect the completion of the draft guidelines to fructify into final guidelines to be issued in the public domain at the earliest.”

In an earlier interim order, the Court had noted, "Though the statement relates to the position as of the year 2021 and there have been certain changes in respect of the National Education Policy, the learned counsel for the Petitioner submits that according to information obtained under the Right to Information Act, the policy which the Petitioner seeks in respect of providing regulatory and a curriculum framework for early childhood care and education has not yet been framed by the State".

Cause Title: Mehna Ibrahim v. State Of Kerala (Neutral Citation: WP(PIL) NO. 126 OF 2025(S))

Appearance:

Petitioner: Advocate Leos Lukose, Enoch David Simon Joel, S. Sreedev, Rony Jose, Karol Mathews, Sebastian Alencherry, Derick Mathai Saji, Karan Scaria Abraham and Ittoop Joy Thattil

Respondent: Standing Counsel Thoufeek Ahamed, Advocate M. Krishna Priya, Central Government Counsel Gayathri Krishnan, Senior Government Pleader V.Tekchand

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Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.