NGO drags govt to court on nursery admission for 3+ kids

A Bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw is likely to hear on December 21 the plea of NGO, Social Jurist, that the order of the Directorate of Education of the Delhi government was violative of an earlier judgment of the high court, which said no child below the age of four years would be admitted for formal schooling.

“The petitioner, by the present application, is seeking a stay on the order dated December 16, 2011, of the government of NCT of Delhi to the extent it permits unaided recognised private schools of Delhi to conduct admission to pre-school (nursery) as entry level class in the academic session 2012-13,” the plea, filed through advocate Ashok Agarwal, said.

The NGO, in its PIL, had alleged that the government failed to prevent “unaided recognised private schools from admitting children below four years age in formal school”

The government also failed to ensure the schools of Delhi have only one year pre-primary class in formal schools where children of four-plus age are admitted directly and are not promoted from nursery/pre-school.

The NGO demanded that the pre-school (nursery) class should not be allowed to admit three-plus children and formal education should start with the pre-primary class where four-plus kids be admitted.

The application contended that the government order, passed on December 16, was issued “in haste and in great disregard to the orders having been passed by this court in the PIL and also with a view to frustrating the present proceedings” as the next date of hearing is on December 21.