CHENNAI: The Madras High Court recently lamented that education was being prioritised only for admission to medical or engineering seats, and the parents were making their kids run a rat race.
A petition filed by B Shajimon challenging the order of the CBSE Regional Director refusing permission to his daughter to write the Maths examination as an additional subject in the Senior School Certificate Examination 2025-26 as a private candidate.
According to the petitioner, his daughter was admitted to Class XI in a CBSE school and was studying English, Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. She continued to study Mathematics in Class XI and for some time in Class XII.
However, since she intended to write the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and pursue medicine, she was made to opt for Physical Education while submitting details to CBSE.
After she was unsuccessful in NEET and realised that she could seek admission in engineering if she had studied Mathematics, an application was submitted seeking permission to study it as an additional subject under Rule 43. As the request was rejected, the present plea was filed.
While considering the matter, Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy lamented that education was increasingly being equated only with admission to medical or engineering seats and that parents were forcing children to run a 'terrible rat race'.
The justice observed that parents were making children choose easier subjects so that they could focus only on three subjects for NEET preparation, and that in high schools, even the mother tongue was sometimes sacrificed in the pursuit of clearing the examination.
The court directed the father to appear before the Regional Director along with his daughter and produce proof that she had studied Mathematics in Class XI, after which she must be permitted to write the supplementary examination if the claim was verified.