Right to Education Act (RTE) : Delhi HC verdict on nursery admission challenged in Supreme Court
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court verdict on nursery admission has been challenged in Supreme Court. The court had ruled that the Right to Education (RTE) Act is not applicable to nursery admission in unaided private schools. An NGO, Social Jurist, has approached the apex court, saying that the high court erred in law in holding that the Act applied only in the matter of admission of children between the ages of 6 years to 14 years and is not applicable to nursery admission.
"The Delhi High Court has clearly erred in law in holding that the provisions of Section 13 of the Right ofChildren to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 apply only in the matter of admission of the children between the age of 6 years to 14 years and are not applicable to the admission of children below 6 years in unaided private schools," the NGO submitted in its petition.
"Section 13 of the Act was formulated in the context of rampant screening practices being adopted by the private unaided schools in nursery admissions which had resulted in a comprehensive round of litigation in the high court. It was to correct this mischief that the said provision was incorporated," the petition said while challenging the high court verdict.
In its petition before the apex court, the NGO stated that the HC was not correct in declaring that Section 13 of the Act was formulated in context of rampant screening practices adopted by private unaided schools in nursery admissions. “It was to correct this mischief that the said provision was incorporated,” the appeal states.
The HC had on February 19 dismissed its petition which challenged the points-system followed by schools in nursery admissions. The high court bench headed by the Chief Justice had, however, asked the Centre to consider amending the Act to include nursery education and said that the schools cannot be allowed to run as ‘teaching shops’ as it would be ‘detrimental to equal opportunity to children’.
“Though we have held that the RTE Act is not applicable to nursery schools, in our opinion there cannot be any different yardstick to be adopted for education to children up to the age of 14 years irrespective of the fact that it applies to only elementary education,” the court had noted in its verdict.
"It is the right time for the government to consider the applicability of the Right to Education Act to the nursery classes as well, as in many of the states admissions are made right from the nursery classes and the children so admitted are automatically allowed to continue from class-I.”
"In that sense, the provisions of Section 13 would be rendered meaningless insofar as it prohibits screening procedure at the time of selection," it had said.
