Appeal in SC against RTE order

Nursery admission: Seeks govt response on a plea against screening of students

The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the Delhi government on a petition contesting the governments stand that screening procedure for nursery admissions in unaided private schools cannot be prohibited since the Right to Education (RTE) Act applied only to children aged between six and 14 years.

A bench of Justices H L Dattu and Dipak Misra issued a notice to the government against an order of the Delhi High Court,which accepted the governments stand that RTE was not applicable to admissions in pre-primary and pre-school stage.

As RTE was not applicable to children below six years,the judgment had held,a provision in the Act prohibiting screening could not be invoked against unaided private schools.

Advocate Ashok Aggarwal,appearing for NGO Social Jurist,questioned the rationale of the High Court order and said the prohibitory provision of the Act would apply if a child is admitted in Class I or at the age of six,but it would not apply in nursery or at the age of 3+years.

The High Court has erred in law in not appreciating the fact that unaided private schools start admitting children in nursery/pre-primary classes at the age of 2 and above and,thereafter,promote them to higher classes. Thus,if Section 13 of the RTE Act is not made applicable for admission to nursery classes,the objective and purpose of Section 13 would be completely defeated, the petition said.

It pointed out that Section 13 was inserted in the Act to curb the mischief of rampant screening practices adopted by the private unaided schools in nursery admissions and,hence,the law must be interpreted to serve the benevolent purpose.

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