The Kerala High Court has overturned a single judge’s ruling that permitted a Muslim girls’ higher secondary school in Kottayam district to admit male students, ordering a fresh review of the matter on its merits. A division bench, however, directed that the status quo be maintained to protect 28 boys recently enrolled in the school, allowing them to remain in their classes while the legal challenge is reassessed.
A bench comprising Justices Anil K. Narendran and Muralee Krishna issued the order on October 8 while hearing appeals filed by administrators of two neighbouring schools against the co-educational transition of Muslim Girls’ Higher Secondary School in Erattupetta. The court observed that the 28 boys had gained admission to classes 5 through 10 without any awareness of the ongoing litigation, justifying interim protection for their studies pending a conclusive verdict.
Rival Schools Challenge Lack of Hearing
The appeal arose after the management of two regional institutions, including a school manager from Poonjar, contested the single judge’s directives. The appellants argued that allowing the Erattupetta girls’ school to enrol boys would draw pupils away from existing schools in the surrounding locality.
They also contended that the school management secured the single-judge ruling during summer vacation without impleading adjacent schools or providing them an occasion to place their objections on record.
The division bench noted that the single judge had disposed of the matter at the admission stage itself, preventing the respondent authorities and affected parties from presenting counter-affidavits. The judges pointed out that a separate, related petition contesting the conversion to co-education was already pending before the High Court and should have been heard alongside the new plea because both actions involved identical subject matter.
Dispute Over Local Body Clearances
The dispute traces back to February 17 this year, when the managing trustees, parent-teacher association, and general body of the Erattupetta school resolved to adopt a co-educational structure starting from the 2026–27 academic session.
Under a Kerala government directive issued on June 21, 2022, any school wishing to introduce co-education must secure approval from its local governing body before submitting an application to the General Education Department. The school manager applied to the Erattupetta Municipality for a no-objection certificate on February 18.
According to the school management, the municipality did not resolve the request within the required timeframe, pointing to objections from a competing institution and restrictions under the model code of conduct in place for the Assembly election.
Following a court ruling instructing the civic body to rule on the submission within three weeks, the school approached the High Court again. On April 28, a single judge ordered the municipality to issue an approval within three days and granted the school permission to implement co-education independently if the local authority failed to act within the deadline.
Statutory Rules and Ongoing Reconsideration
Following that directive, the Erattupetta Municipality granted a no-objection certificate on May 2, and the Director of General Education formally permitted the change to co-education on May 14, after which the school enrolled the 28 male students.
In setting aside the single-judge decision, the division bench emphasized that provisions under the Kerala Education Rules mandate specific factors that the Director of General Education must examine before authorizing co-education.
The bench also observed that significant legal questions remained to be settled, including whether the school management had pursued conflicting reliefs and whether the claims should have been brought forward in earlier proceedings, potentially barring them from being raised in the current litigation.
