HC refuses stay on nursery admissions
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, December 22, 2011

The Delhi high court on Wednesday refused to stay the nursery admission process. It said it would decide on January 6 whether pre-school admission should be regarded as entry level, in which only a child above the age of 4 years can be enrolled. A Bench headed by Acting Chief Justice AK
Sikri also directed the Delhi government to file its reply within three weeks, while hearing a plea filed by an NGO against the government’s recent order, allowing unaided private schools to go ahead with the admission of 3+ toddlers in pre-school (nursery) class.

The bench, however, refused to grant stay on the admission process, which is scheduled to start from January 2.

Advocate Ashok Agarwal, appearing for the NGO, Social Jurist, said the government should not be allowed to frustrate the collective exercises, including court directions, while drawing nursery admission guidelines. However, it was opposed by the Delhi government, which said it had done nothing wrong and the guidelines were as per the law and requested the court to dismiss the plea with heavy cost.

-yr-olds eligible for nursery: Delhi HC

Times Of India
Abhinav Garg, TNN | Dec 22, 2011, 01.52AM IST
NEW DELHI: Three-year-olds will continue to be eligible for admission to nursery in 2012-13 session with the Delhi high court deciding on Wednesday not to tinker with the present age criteria for school admissions. While parents can apply to schools starting January 2, the high court will decide only on January 6 if nursery should be considered as an entry to the formal school or if KG (pre-primary) should be the only class before Class I.

A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw also refused to stay the nursery admission process, slated to begin on January 2. The bench also directed the state government to file its reply within three weeks, while hearing a plea by an NGO against the city government's recent order allowing unaided private schools to go ahead with the admission of 3+ toddlers in pre-school (nursery) class.

Advocate Ashok Agarwal appearing for the NGO, Social Jurist, stated that the government should not be allowed to frustrate the earlier directives of the court to bring proper guidelines for nursery admissions. The NGO alleged that the order of the Directorate of Education (DoE) violates the Ganguly Committee recommendations on pre-primary and pre-school admissions which state that no child below the age of four years would be admitted for formal schooling. As of now, any child completing three years of age by March 31, 2012 will be eligible for admission to nursery.