Mumbai, Sept. 30: Bombay High Court has issued notices to the education secretary and three city schools on the issue of the institutions separating students into different sections on the basis of marks.

The notices, sent to education secretary Jairaj Pathak and Parle Tilak Vidyalaya, Vile Parle, Balmohan Vidya Mandir, Dadar, and King George School, Dadar, and its sister schools under the management of the Indian Education Society, were issued following a letter submitted by leading psychiatrists and educationists of the city.

The high court converted the letter, written to the Chief Justice and the Maharashtra Human Rights Commission, suo motu into a public interest litigation.

The institutions, which are reputed for their good academic results, did not comment on the notices.

But the high court?s notices were greeted with enthusiasm by students and the associations that are behind the move to eradicate segregation.

?Segregation is a very big issue and is so deeply entrenched in the school system in Maharashtra that many people, some of those in positions of authority, think that there is nothing wrong with it. Or actually, it is good for the students,? said Anuradha Chauhan of the Parent Teacher Association United Forum, one of the signatories to the letter.

?We had almost lost hope, as we had filed the letter in March, but the high court has revived our enthusiasm,? she added. ?Segregation is bad not only for those it is discriminating against, but also for those who are put in Section A.?

Segregation is a standard practice in Maharashtra schools. In several institutions, it is a given practice that the students will be grouped together according to their marks and put in separate sections.

But in March this year, Dr Harish Shetty of the Counsellors? Association of India, an organisation of psychiatrists and counsellors, Dr H.. Kaila of the department of psychology, S..D.T. University, and Chauhan wrote to the human rights panel, saying that segregation is a ?gross human right violation?.

The associations that came together on the issue said they received complaints of this practice at 76 schools from all over the state, including three premier schools in Mumbai.

The letter said segregation caused psychological damage and a sense of inferiority in children and often forced them to go to counsellors. It said children being discriminated by this marks-obsessed system did not get the opportunity of indulging in or enjoying extra-curricular activities, often lacked emotional health and fellow feeling for others and suffered from stunted creativity and imagination.