By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Declining early hearing on the petition to make Yoga as compulsory subject in schools, Supreme Court has said it cannot force people to do it.
On Monday, Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice A K Sikri said this while hearing a request by 85-year-old advocate petitioner J C Seth.
It also said that the question of fundamental right would arise only if somebody is prevented from doing it.
“Who is preventing you (petitioner) from doing Yoga? You can claim violation of your fundamental right only if somebody prevents you from doing it…you cannot force people to do Yoga,” said Chief Justice of India T S Thakur.
Seth has made all the state governments and their education boards, in addition to the CBSE and the ICSE, as parties to his plea and was requesting court for early hearing, which it declined, and posted the matter on January 12. The court has a winter break from mid-December till the first week of January.
In Lok Sabha on December 7, Smriti Irani, Minister of Human Resource Department, avoided directly answering the question raised by BJP MP Virendra Kashyap whether the government is planning to make Yoga as compulsory in schools and just sighted National Curriculum Framework in regards with Health and Physical Education at all level of school education.
Replying to the question she said, “As per the National Curriculum Framework (NCF)-2005, Yoga is an integral part of Health and Physical Education at all level of school education. For schools affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which has adopted NCERT curriculum and syllabi, Health and Physical Education is compulsory from Classes I to X and optional at classes XI and XII. On the eve of the International Yoga Day, held on 21st June, 2015, NCERT brought out two textual material called “Yoga : A Healthy Way of Living” for Upper Primary (VI to VIII) stage and Secondary (IX & X) stage.