Include animal welfare as subject in schools: Madras High Court

Chennai: In a landmark directive that facilitates in instilling compassion among students, Madras high court on Monday ordered the Tamil Nadu Curriculum Frameworks committee to incorporate a subject on animal welfare.

The first bench of the court comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M. Sundar passed the direction, in response to the petition filed by an animal welfare organisation, People For Cattle in India (PFCI), last week.

The judgment had come at an apt time, when the state government has proposed to upgrade the syllabus at the earliest. Arun Prasanna, founder of PFCI and the petitioner said, “If the subject is not included now, it may not be a part of curriculum for another ten years. The rise in the number of incidences of cruelties against animals in the country is due to the fact that there is an ignorance of all the laws that protect animal welfare.”

Even though the Central Board of Secondary Education consented to the petitioner’s suggestion to include a subject on animal welfare, the state government failed to respond. Kaushik N. Sharma, lawyer for the petitioner, said a representation has been made to the Tamil Nadu Curriculum Frameworks committee in July. Having received no reply, we sought the assistance of high court.”

The court has disposed of the petition, after passing the direction.

After this correspondent spoke to about 15 children in the age group of 8-16 years, it was evident that those without pets at home are not compassionate towards animals. “We often pelt stones on stray dogs and tie their tails with stones. It is our favourite past time,” admitted a student 
outside Don Bosco School, Egmore.

The petitioner has also quoted various research studies, which prove that children abusing animals turn violent criminals as they grow.

Since 1970s, research has consistently reported childhood cruelty to animals as the first warning sign of later delinquency, violence, and criminal behavior.  In fact, nearly all violent crime perpetrators have a history of animal cruelty in their profiles,” mentioned Psychology Today.

Academicians and animal welfare activists applaud the judgment, as they hope the move would reduce the cases of abuse and harm against animals. “With the introduction of a subject, children could be taught the values of compassion. However, apart from the academic syllabus, children should also be taken to field visits to animal welfare organisations,” said Mohan Chander, Principal, Rajkumar Sulochana Matriculation Higher secondary school.