The government is considering setting up a government lower primary school at Elambra in Manjeri municipality of Malappuram district, Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty has said.
The Supreme Court had at the end of November upheld a High Court directive asking the State government to set up government lower and upper primary schools in all areas where none were functioning.
The court was hearing an appeal of the State government against the Kerala High Court order on a petition seeking the setting up of a school at Elambra where there were no primary educational institutions within a 3-4-kilometre radius. It had directed the State to comply with the order within three months.
Replying to a question in the Assembly recently on areas that lacked lower primary schools within a radius of 1 km and upper primary schools within 3 km and if new schools were proposed to be opened there, particularly in Elambra, the Minister said a mapping done in the wake of a High Court order of 2015 had found only four areas with urgent educational requirements.
Upgrade of schools or opening new institutions considering only distances was impractical in the State. Nevertheless, the government issued an order in 2017 to make available transport facilities with the support of local self-government institutions in 82 areas where it was found that students were having difficulty in nearby schools.
The Minister said that in 2012, the court had observed in a case that schools should be opened not only considering distances; it was enough to ensure that students were able to travel safely. The court had said that school upgrade should not become a reason to increase the number of uneconomic schools.
The Minister’s reply, though, made no explicit mention of any review petition.
In the wake of the Supreme Court judgment in November, the Minister had said that the State was considering filing a review petition in the Supreme Court. He had also argued that schools existed within a radius of 1-2 km of a majority of populated areas, and that the State’s low dropout ratio and high literacy rate were indicators that education was not being denied owing to lack of schools, he had said.
Published – February 04, 2026 08:12 pm IST
