The Supreme Court declined to hear a public-interest petition seeking mandatory biometric attendance in schools. The petition argued that biometric systems could help prevent dummy schools and fake admissions.
A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said the petitioner could approach the relevant High Court and declined to entertain the matter under Article 32.
The petition also sought limits on coaching hours and a mandatory code of conduct for coaching centres, including restrictions on misleading success advertising and the use of toppers’ images.
The order is not a ruling that biometric attendance is either necessary or unlawful. It is a decision about the forum and route through which the claims should be examined.
For education policy, the larger questions remain practical: how to verify attendance without excluding students, how to protect personal data and how to regulate coaching claims without weakening legitimate academic support.