New Delhi: Accusing various unaided private
schools of admitting children below four years in age in their
pre-primary classes, a petition has been moved in the Delhi
High Court seeking a direction to government to stop this
practice.
The petition filed by civil society 'Social Jurist' has
accused the city government of not enforcing the court's
September 2007 order, which had asked it to implement Ashok
Ganguly Committee recommendations.
The Ganguly Committee had fixed four years as the minimum
age for admission in a pre-primary classes so that children
get prepared for admission to Class I in primary schools after
the age of five years and without undergoing more than a year
of schooling at pre-primary stage, the petition, filed through
advocate Ashok Aggarwal, submitted.
Seeking directions to all unaided private schools to
follow an uniform age criteria of 4 plus to admit students in
nursery classes, the petition said it is a must to meet the
statutory stipulation under Section 16 of Delhi School
Education Act, 1973 that no child below five years in age
should be admitted in Class I of a recognised school.
The Delhi government has failed to frame guidelines in
terms of Clause 21 of the Recognised Schools (Admission
Procedure for Pre-primary Class) Order, 2007, it claimed.
It said the state's non-action is violative of
fundamental rights of the children as guaranteed under
various articles of the Constitution and also the provisions
of Delhi School Education Act, 1973 and Right of Children to
Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, November 01, 2011, 16:43