By IANS
New Delhi : Tiny tots will have only one year of nursery class at age four before they go straight to Class I, according to the new guidelines for admission to nursery classes in private schools which the Delhi High Court approved Monday, virtually trashing the Ganguly committee recommendations.
According to the new guidelines, on which the court gave the city government permission to issue notification, school managements will not be allowed to interview tiny tots or their parents, though it has allowed “interaction” with the parents.
The court Monday granted permission to the government to issue notification on the new guidelines from Dec 15.
After the Department of Education (DoE) submitted the revised guidelines, a bench headed by Chief Justice M.K. Sarma said: “The state government can introduce the new guidelines by issuing a notification.”
Extending the date of admission from Nov 30 to Dec 15, the court directed private schools to submit their criteria of admission before the DoE immediately and the authorities have been directed to clear it within a month.
“The authorities are directed to approve or disapprove them within four weeks,” said the court, adding that the government should take responsibility for smooth implementation of its guidelines.
With Monday’s order, the much-touted Ganguly Committee recommendations implemented last year have been shelved.
The court also rejected a plea of the Association of Private Schools on two years of nursery classes, saying that there was no need to make a child study two years in nursery classes and the Delhi Education Act has specified that the entry to Class I should be at the age of five.
Pre-primary education should be restricted to one year and a child should be four years of age at the time of admission to nursery class and five years at Class I, the order said.
The government will also set up a monitoring cell in every district to look into admission-related complaints. Further, it has asked schools to get their admission criteria approved by the managing committee of the school with the consent of the Director of Education.
The Delhi government had informed the court that it was in favour of giving private schools guided autonomy.
The government said keeping in view their separate identities, the schools should be allowed to develop their own criteria for admissions to these classes.
The court order said it favoured more freedom for schools in admissions and schools have been told to consider children from all backgrounds.
In an application last week, the government submitted that it had issued guidelines and asked private schools to start the nursery admission process after devising their own admission criteria – an indication of the government’s rejection of the Ganguly Committee’s point-based admission system.
The high court had appointed a committee headed by Central Board of Secondary Education Chairman Ashok Ganguly to suggest modalities for admission of students in private schools in Delhi.
Admission of students took place last year on an experimental basis on the recommendations of the committee, with points given on the basis of proximity to school, siblings in school, children of alumni etc.