Contempt plea against Delhi govt dismissed

New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) A contempt plea against Delhigovernment for taking no action against some private schoolsfor their alleged failure to comply with its earlier orderfixing 4 years as the entry age of a child for admission inpre-primary class has been dismissed.

The Delhi High Court, however, accepted the government''sstand that it will not consider as a part of formal educationof a child in case he/she was given admission below the age of4 year in the pre-primary class.

The government also clarified that the pre-schooleducation should be for one year instead of two and the samestand was taken by it in 2007 before a division bench whichwas hearing the PIL on the age criteria for nursery class.

Justice G S Sistani, while dismissing the contemptpetition, filed by an NGO, said "no contempt petition ismaintainable against the respondent(NCT government).

Earlier, filing an affidavit on a contempt petitionby Social Jurists, an NGO, the Department of Education, NCTDelhi said it would lay down a regulatory mechanism forpre-school education.

"The Department of Education will establish amonitoring mechanism in each district to ensure that allrecommendations were effectively implemented and that childrenof pre-school stage should not get preference over otherchildren for admission in pre-primary class," said theaffidavit. (more) PTI PNM AAC