New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court will today hear a petition filed by an NGO asking for a stay on the Delhi government's order allowing private schools to consider children who are over three years of age for admission in pre-schools (nursery).
The High Court had refused to stay the nursery admissions while hearing the petition in December following an order from the Delhi government.
The Delhi government had recently allowed unaided private schools to go ahead with the admission of toddlers aged three years and above in pre-schools. Approaching the Delhi High Court, the NGO said that the order of state government's Directorate of Education (DoE) was violative of an earlier judgment of the court which said no child, below the age of four years, would be admitted for formal schooling.
The NGO also alleged that the government did not bother to wait for the "outcome of the hearing of the PIL" and allowed the private schools to conduct admission to pre-school (nursery) class as entry level class.
The NGO has raised apprehension that the act of the government would lead to continued admission of children below four years in pre-schools, "treating it as an entry level for the academic session 2012-13 and thereafter promoting them to next class that is pre-primary class and in the next academic year of 2013-14".
The petition comes up for hearing as the mad scramble for nursery admissions begins in the national capital. Application forms for nursery admissions have been underway from January 2.
(With IANS inputs)