Is Right to Education Act applicable to nursery admission, high court asks Centre

Indicating a sense of urgency, the Delhi high court on Tuesday began a special hearing on the nursery admission case and gave the Centre a day to clarify its stand on whether the Right to Education Act is applicable to nursery classes.

"Two things you need to make clear. Is the Right to Education Act applicable on nursery admission or not and if not applicable, then what is the procedure to be followed for the nursery admission?" said a bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice V K Jain. The court made it clear that in case no affidavit is filed by the Centre, it will pass an order as the admission process is on hold and it can't afford any further delay.

The court had earlier reserved its verdict on a PIL challenging two government notifications that gave powers to unaided private schools to formulate own criteria for nursery admissions. But the bench explained why it decided to hold a special hearing. "We had reserved our order. We could have taken a stand on the applicability of the Act on the nursery admission, but we wanted to know your (Centre) views also."

Seeking an affidavit, HC pointed out if the RTE Act should start from Class I, what will happen to Section 13 which may be redundant as seats in school is exhausted at the entry level in private schools, making it difficult for new students to enter at the age of 6.

"If it is not applicable (to nursery admission), what is the purpose," the bench said and fixed the matter for hearing on Wednesday.

Additional solicitor general Rajeeve Mehra, arguing for the Centre, had sought two days' time to respond to queries. He, however, argued that RTE Act stipulates that a child, between the age group of 6 to 14, would be treated as a child covered under the legislation and, hence, the nursery admission would not be under its purview. But the court was unhappy with the delay by the Centre in clarifying its stand and said it should file an affidavit.

Earlier, the court had reserved its order on the PIL, filed by NGO Social Jurist, against two notifications, issued by the HRD ministry and Directorate of Education of the Delhi government, respectively. The notifications gave schools the power to formulate their own admission criteria, the PIL said.

During one of the hearings, HC had made it clear that its decision on the PIL would also affect nursery admissions for the 2013-14 academic session. Filed by Social Jurist, the PIL alleged that the notifications gave "a totally free hand to all unaided recognized private schools to formulate their own nursery admission criteria based on categorization of children...". However, the categorizations of children in admission have specifically been barred by the RTE Act, it said, adding that some schools still give preferences in admission on grounds such as religion, alumni and sibling.

A federation of private schools, however, opposed the PIL, saying that the private institutions cannot be forced to "toe" the diktat so far as the admission process is concerned.

Nursery point system set for rehaul on new directive

Parents on the hunt for nursery seats will no longer have to grapple with ambiguous parameters such as "noble cause" while negotiating the points system or the different upper age limits fixed by different schools. Heeding complaints on the ongoing admissions, the directorate of education has issued a seven-point directive to private, unaided schools in the capital, warning that any violation "will be viewed seriously and strict action against school management will be taken".

The directives, issued late Saturday night, are likely to put many schools in a spot as they will not only have to revise their admission criteria — which includes overhauling the point system — but also the eligibility conditions.

The DoE reiterated that it had only "defined the minimum age for admission" and the issue of uniform upper age limit was under deliberation. One school had dropped the age ceiling after a parent took it to court. Other schools said they would reconsider the issue only if the DoE cleared the air.

Issuing point-wise clarifications against grievances cited by parents, the DoE said schools could not force parents to buy the prospectus or charge processing fee, except the Rs 25 admission registration fee.

The directives also took cognizance of a complaint by activists, including the Social Jurist lawyers, that "schools are following separate admission process for their main school and montessori/ pre-school". The DoE said schools would "have to follow single admission process for their pre-school and main school considering them as one institution."

The DoE also said schools should not go by "unreasonable parameters" such as "noble cause" and "representative affirmative action" as they were not well defined. The number of seats at entry level "shall not be less than the highest number of seats in the entry class during the previous three years".

There were complaints against some schools that were refusing forms of EWS category applicants as they lived more than a kilometre away from the school. For such complainants, a circular clarified that no school could refuse to accept forms from all applicants under EWS and disadvantaged group, "irrespective of distance of residence from schools".

Some issues, however, remain. With just two days - Monday and Tuesday - left for the registration process, activists are hoping that the period will be extended.