R. S. VERMA, J. - (1.) THIS writ petition apparently raises a very minor and insignificant controversy. However, a false step by this Court here or there may lead to grave and serious evil consequence resulting in irremediable damage to the 'child' of the State, the future citizen and indeed a sacred charge entrusted to the care and custody of the Nation. Hence, this short preface to put the controversy in a clearer perspective.
(2.) PRIMARY Education in Rajasthan has two distinct sectors. The urban sector is looked after by the Director of PRIMARY & Secondary Education, under whose control and supervision are run government primary schools in cities and towns of the State. The rural sector of primary education is controlled and supervised by the various Panchayat Samities. For Panchayat Samities in a district, there is a statutory autonomous body known as District Establishment Committee (for short DEC) which recruits primary schools teachers and after initial recruitment allots them to various Panchayat Samities within its territorial jurisdiction. Petitioners before me claim that they possess requisite qualification for being appointed as teachers in Panchayat Samiti Schools. All of them, as stated at the bar by their learned counsel Shri P. P. Chaudhary, have passed Higher Secondary Examination conducted by the Rajasthan Board of Higher Secondary Education, an autonomous body. The said examination is admittedly equivalent to matriculation or matric examination. Admittedly, the petitioners have not been trained as teachers at any institution imparting training for teaching However, each one of them possesses a State Trade Certificate, each one of them having completed and passed a course in cutting and tailoring run by various institutions in the State, which are recognised by State Vocational Training Council Certificate Ex. P. 1 to Ex. P. 7 evidence this fact. The DEC, Zila Parishad, Churu (respondent no. 2) issued advertisement (Ex. P. 12) No. 5 of 1991 whereby it invited applications for a specified number of posts of teachers for Primary Schools under its control, the number of posts being liable to variation as per administrative exigencies. All the petitioners applied in pursuance of this advertisement. However the DEC refused to consider their cases on the ground that they did not possess requisite qualification viz the teachers, training certificate. The petitioners contend that the State Govt. has recognized the State Trade Certificate as equivalent to B. S. T. C. (the recognized teachers training course run in the State) and hence they possess the requisite qualifications and are eligible to be considered and appointed. It is on these premises that they have come to this Court interalia seeking a direction that 'the respondents may be directed to consider the petitioner's candidature for appointment on the post of General Teachers in primary schools treating the State Trade Certificate as equivalent to B. S. T C. with all consequential reliefs. A reply to show cause notice issued by this Court has been filed by respondent No. 1. Since both the respondents are represented through a common lawyer, the stand taken by respondent no. 1 has been adopted by respondent no. 2 also and it is urged that the petitioners, not being trained teachers, have no right to be considered and the DEC rightly refused to consider their candidature. I have heard the learned counsel for both the parties and have best-owed my earnest consideration to the rival contentions. In the forgoing paragraphs I have briefly outlined the rival stands and shall deal with various contentions raised on behalf of either side.
(3.) HERE, I may reiterate and repeat that today's child is tommorows citizen and the nation owes a special responsibility toward the children of today so that they shape as ideal citizens and serve the nation in this fast moving world, which is full of competition in all walks of life. The founding fathers of the Constitution of India were aware of the special responsibilities and obligations that the nation owed to its children, the citizens of future, a sacred trust in every sense of the term so that the nation could redeem its pledge, which it took on 15. 08. 1947. The preamble to the Constitution promises to usher in a welfare State where shall be secuied to all its citizens, Justice, Social economic and political; liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship and equality of status and of opportunity. I may here state that in our Constitution children have been bestowed special care and attention and rightly so. Article 15 (3) enables the State to make special provisions for women and children. Articles 24 mandates that no child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment. Article 39 (f) mandates that the State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment. Article 45 mandates the State to provide for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years. Now, education in this context means a purposeful and meaningful education which allows a child to develop its personality in all its dimensions and faculties. Such education is expected to develop cognitive skills and motivation for higher learning so that the curiosity of an impressionable mind is satiated and he seeks further knowledge and advances on the social, moral and physical planes. Children reading in Primary Schools are like soft clay, which can be shaped and moulded by a master craftsman; they are like newly budding saplings, who need tender care and attention by persons specially trained in child psychology and modern techniques of teaching. It is rather unfortunate that over the years, we have failed to give a fair treatment to the primary school teacher. The apex Court in Andhra Kesari Education Society vs. Director of School Education (1) had to make this observation: " Before parting with the case, we should like to add a word more. Though teaching is the last choice in the job market, the role of teacher is central to all processes of formal education. The teacher alone could bring out the skills and intellectual capabilities of students. He is the engine of the educational system. He is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values. He needs to be endowed and energised with needed potential to deliver enlightened service expected of him. His quality should be such as would inspire and motivate into action the benefiter. He must keep himself abreast of ever changing conditions. He is not to perform in a wooden and unimaginative way. He must eliminate fissiperous tendencies and attitude and infuse nobler and national ideas in younger minds. His involvement in national integration is more important, indeed indispensable. It is, therefore, needless to state that teachers should be subjected to rigorous training with rigid scrutiny of efficiency. It has greater relevance to the needs of the day. The ill trained or such standard teachers would be detrimental to our educational system, if not a punishment on our children. The Government and the University must, therefore, take care to see that inadequacy in the training of the teacher is not compounded by any extraneous consideration. " The aforesaid observations are all the more pertinent and germane to the training of primary school teachers, who have to handle very young, delicate and impressionable minds. In Ram Sukh vs. State of Raj. (2), the apex Court was dealing with cases of untrained teachers who claimed to be continued as teachers, even when they did not possess any training as teachers. The apex Court, though having ?11 sympathies for the plight of the hapless teachers who had been thrown out of jobs, refused to mandate their continuance in service and after referring to the observations made in Andhra Kesari Education Society's Case (supra) observed:- "The primary school teachers are of utmost importance in development of a child's personality in the formative years. It is not just enough to teach the child alphabets and figures; but much more is required to understand child psychology and aptitudes They need a different approach altogether only trained teachers could lead them properly. The untrained teachers can never be proper substitute to trained teachers. We are therefore, unable to give them any relief." ;