New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court today directed Delhi government to take a decision within three months on a plea for an amendment in admission procedure for nursery to bring it in line with the Right to Education (RTE) Act which prohibits screening of children for admissions.
A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Manmohan disposed of a PIL while directing Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor (LG) to take a decision within 12 weeks on the representation of Social Jurist, a civil rights group, seeking amendment in the Recognised Schools (Admission Procedure for Pre-Primary Class) Order, 2007.
The plea sought amendment in clause 14 of the order in the nursery admission process, to bring it in line with Section 13 read with Section 2(o) of the Right to Education (RTE) Act which prohibits screening of children for admissions.
According to the PIL, Delhi government had in its 2007 order given freedom to private unaided recognised schools here to frame their own guidelines for nursery admissions.
Petitioner NGO's counsel Ashok Agarwal, argued that by giving a free hand to the private unaided recognised schools to formulate their own guidelines for nursery admissions, the government had violated Section 13 of the RTE Act.
The lawyer argued the High Court had in its February 19, 2013 judgment on another petition, said "though we have held that the RTE Act is not applicable to nursery schools, in our opinion there cannot be any different yardstick to be adopted for education to children up to the age of 14 years irrespective of the fact that it applies to only elementary education".
"It is the right time for the government to consider the applicability of the RTE Act to the nursery classes as well, as in many states admissions are made right from the nursery classes and the children so admitted are automatically allowed to continue from Class I...," the bench had stated, according to the plea.
The lawyer submitted the High Court had also stated that the petitioner was asked to give a representation to the LG for making an appropriate amendment in the government order granting autonomy to unaided schools to frame guidelines for nursery admission.
Claiming that a representation was made to the LG, the counsel said there was no response from the government so far.