Madras High Court: Include Animal Welfare As A Subject In Schools

On Monday, in a remarkable decision made by Madras high court, the Tamil Nadu Curriculum Frameworks committee was asked to include a subject on animal welfare that will instill compassion among students.

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

The judgment had come at an apt time when the state government proposed upgrading the syllabus. Founder of PFCI and the petitioner Arun Prasanna said, “If the subject is not included now, it may not be a part of the 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.”

In his petition, Arun also mentioned various research studies proving that children abusing animals become violent criminals as they grow.

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

Animal welfare activists and academicians praise the judgment, hoping the move would lessen the cases of harm and abuse against animals. Mohan Chander, Principal, Rajkumar Sulochana Matriculation Higher secondary school, said, “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.”