HC reserves verdict on reducing 2-yr nursery period to 1 yr

New Delhi, Mar 1 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today reserved its verdict on reducing the two-year nursery period for children seeking admission to schools to one year, as the Delhi Government refused to accept its proposal.

While hearing a PIL, a division bench of Chief Justice M K Sharma and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said it would pronounce the judgment later.

Senior Counsel K T S Tulsi appearing for Delhi Government said the schools in the capital did not agree to the suggestion to reduce the preparatory stage to one year.

Yesterday, the High Court had suggested the Delhi Government to reduce the two year period at preparatory stage for admission in class-I to one year admitting only four-year-old children in the schools.

The same Bench had refused to increase the age of entry level to three and half year at the nursery stage saying ''There was no need to admit a three-year-old child in the school.'' ''Why do you need nursery and kindergarten classes? One year at nursery level would be sufficient to prepare a child for admission in class one,'' said the bench The Delhi School Education Act says a child should be at least five year old as on September 30, for his admission to the formal school, said the bench.

Mr Tulsi submitted that during a meeting chaired by Delhi education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely it was decided that a three-year-old child was not fully grown-up to study in a school.

The child was not physically and psychologically fit to cope with the rigours of studies, said Tulsi quoting the minutes of the meeting.

UNI