HC refers nursery admission matter to Ganguly committee

New Delhi, Mar 7 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today referred the issue relating to the entry age of a child to nursery class to the Ganguly Committee for its recommendations.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice M K Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Khanna said the Ganguly Committe headed by CBSE Chairman Ashok Ganguly would look into the matter and submit its report by March 31.

On March 1, the Delhi Government refused to accept the proposal of the high court to reduce the two-year nursery period for children seeking admission to schools to one year.

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.

The Bench had suggested the government to reduce the two-year nursery period for children seeking admission to schools to one year, saying only four-year-old children should be admitted in Class 1.

''There is 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 1.'' the bench said while refusing to increase the age of children to three and half years for admission to nursery classes.

The Delhi School Education Act says a child should be at least five years old as on Sept 30 of a calendar year, for admission to any formal school, said the bench.

Mr Tulsi had submitted that during a meeting chaired by Delhi Education Minister Arvind Singh Lovely, it was decided that a three-year-old child was not fully grown-up to go to a school.

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

UNI