Delhi Govt's affidavit in Social Jurist PIL to Stop Unaided Schools Admitting child below 4 Yrs age in Nursery Class

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

WP (C) NO. 7802 OF 2011

 

 

Social Jurist, A Civil Rights Group                                                         ..… Petitioner

 

Versus

 

GNCT of Delhi                                                                                         ….Respondent

 

 

AFFIDAVIT ON BEHALF OF RESPONDENTS

 

 

I Shashi Kaushal D/o Sh. M. K. Kaushal, aged 48 years, posted as Additional Director (Act Branch), Directorate of Education, Govt. Of NCT of Delhi, Old Secretariat, Delhi-54,

 

I, the above deponent do hereby solemnly state and affirm as under:-

 

 

1.     That I am aware of the facts and circumstances of the case in my official capacity from the records kept in the ordinary course and am competent to swear this affidavit.

 

2.     That this short affidavit is being filed on behalf of the respondent No. 1, GNCT of Delhi, in reply to the above noted writ petition. That at the outset the averments made in the writ petition are denied and nothing stated therein may be deemed to be admitted unless specifically so stated herein.

 

3.     It is respectfully submitted that the issue of Nursery/Pre-Primary admissions has been dealt earlier by this Hon'ble Court in LPA No. 196/2004 WP(C) No. 12490/2006 wherein Ganguly Committee war constituted to try and find out a viable and all comprehensive policy for pre-primary education in Delhi so that admission to the pre-primary class/classes as the case may be is made homogeneous and uniform.

 

4.     That the Ganguly Committee had submitted its Report to the Hon'ble High Court. A Copy of the given Report was also furnished to the Government of NCT of Delhi to consider the recommendations of Ganguly Committee and to take a decision in accordance with law. Thereafter, a meeting of Delhi School advisory Board was held on 19-06-2007 with regard to issues relating to admission age for Class I and regulation of pre-primary schooling, wherein the said report was discussed threadbare. Thereafter, the proposals based upon the committee report, were put up before the Cabinet.

 

5.     That the Cabinet at its meeting date 3-09-2007 considered recommendations of the Ganguly Committee and accepted and approved that the minimum age for admission in Pre-primary and Class I will be 4+ and 5+ respectively. The cut off date for determining the age was fixed 31^st March of the year in which admission is sought. For Pre-school, the schools which have infrastructural facilities were allowed to open pre-school classes for children below the age of four years. However, the pre-school classes shall not be a part of the main school nor shall be treated as feeder class to the pre-primary class of the school. The children in the pre-school should be from immediate neighborhood and there should be no school bag for carrying any prescribed books in all such pre-school classes. Further, it was also approved that the Directorate of Education will introduce one year pre-primary in Government schools.

 

6.     The decision of the Government regarding acceptance of Ganguly Committee recommendations was placed before the Hon'ble High Court through an affidavit. The draft order of the decision of GNCT of Delhi, with regard to the procedure and criteria for admission to a pre-primary class in recognized schools of Delhi was also placed before the Hon'ble Court. The Hon'ble High Court took the draft Order on record and permitted the Government to issue the Notification in terms of the same. Thereafter, the Directorate of Education issued Order dated 24-11-2007 – The Recognized Schools (Admission Procedure for Pre-Primary Class) Order, 2007 wherein procedure and criteria for Pre-Primary admissions were laid.

 

7.     That in pursuance to the recommendations of the Ganguly Committee, as approved by the Cabinet, the Directorate of Education has already opened Pre-Primary classes in 331 out of 382 Sarvodaya Schools. And in the remaining Sarvodaya Vidyalayas also, after making the provisions for infrastructure, wherever possible, pre-primary classes will be opened in a phased manner.

 

8.     It is submitted that above mentioned Order dated 24-11-2007 along with the Judgments dated 26-9-2007 and 19-11-2007 passed by this Hon'ble Court in WP(C) No. 12490/2006 and LPA No. 196/2004 have been challenged before the Hon'ble Apex Court. It is submitted that batch of 5 SLPs(SLP(C)No.24617-18/2007,SLP(C)NO.24622/2007,SLP(C) NO.24624/2007,SLP( C ) NO.14833/2008 and SLP( C ) NO. 14839/2008)  are still pending consideration before the Hon'ble Supreme Court.

 

9.     The Section 11 of the RTE Act, 2009 which came into force w.e.f. 1-04-2010, provides that:-

 

" With a view to prepare children above the age of three years for elementary education and to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years, the appropriate Government may make necessary  arrangement for providing free pre-school education for such children."

 

10.                        That the Guidelines/Rules regarding Pre-school can be worked out after detailed discussions and consultations with experts and stakeholders and in view of the provisions of RTE Act and challenge against the order dated 24/11/2007 in the Hon'ble Supreme Court.

 

That in view of the submissions made above, it is most respectfully prayed that this Hon'ble Court may pass such orders and/ or directions as it deems fit, just and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case. The deponent is duty bound to honour the same.

 

 

 

DEPONENT

VERIFICATION

 

Verified at New Delhi on this 14   day of December, 2011, that the contents of my above affidavit are true and correct to my knowledge and belief, no part thereof is false and nothing material has been concealed there from.

 

 

 DEPONENT