HC hearing on schools 'violating' age rules today

At a time when nursery admission frenzy has touched its peak, an affidavit has been filed in the Delhi High Court on Monday listing the names of schools which have allegedly "violated" the age norm by offering to admit kids below four years. Harish V Nair reports.

At a time when nursery admission frenzy has touched its peak, an affidavit has been filed in the Delhi High Court on Monday listing the names of schools which have allegedly "violated" the age norm by offering to admit kids below four years.

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The court, set to issue directions on the age issue on Tuesday, had sought the list on December 23, 2010 from civil rights NGO Social Jurist.

In the affidavit, carrying a "sample list" of 21 schools, lawyer Ashok Agarwal, founder of the NGO, contended that all schools have given advertisements in newspapers, offering admissions for children aged three plus, which violated a 2007 court ruling that the child should have turned four as on March 31 of the admission year.

"Schools in Delhi are admitting children aged 3+ in their formal schools, in violation of the Delhi High Court order dated September 26, 2007. The schools mentioned in the affidavit are only a few examples. The fact is that almost all schools in Delhi are running two years of pre-primary classes below Class 1 and admitting children of 3 + years of age in nursery/pre-school classes..," Agarwal said.

The court is hearing a contempt petition filed by the NGO against Delhi chief secretary Rakesh Mehta, saying it was wrong on the part of the Delhi government to have remained silent on the age rule and allowed the schools to act as per their will, when the court had fixed the age at four.