THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Child Rights Commission has come up with an important order that there should be no more male-female discrimination in the state. The Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has ordered that from the academic year 2023-24, boys' and girls' schools should be abolished, all schools should be converted into mixed schools and co-education should be implemented.

Anchal native Dr. K. Sudhakar said that gender justice is being denied by running separate schools for boys and girls and that co-education should be implemented in such a way that boys and girls study together in the same class. The commission's order came on a petition filed by Isaac Paul.

Ahead of this, the Commission also directed the Education Department to take necessary steps to improve the conditions including toilets in schools and to create awareness among parents about the need for co-education.

There are 280 girls' schools and 164 boys' schools in the state. The principal secretary of the department of public instruction, the director of general education and the director of SCERT should reply within 90 days of taking action on the order. Earlier, Education Minister V. Sivankutty had said that more schools in the state would be made mixed.