Class 1 age criteria: Minimum age of 6 in line with NEP, HC told

New Delhi, March 26 Opposing the plea of age relaxation, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) has filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court, saying its fixed age of 6 years for Class 1 admission does not violate the right of children, and it is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

"The Right to Education Act recognizes the entry age of Class 1 to be 6 years or more. Further, the age criteria for admission in class/ grade-1 should therefore be in consonance with the NEP 2020 because it is settled law that the executive has the competence to decide how a policy should be shaped or implemented," the KVS stated.

The submission of the KVS before the bench of Justice Rekha Palli was in light of a recent plea in which the parent of a 5-year-old child challenged the criteria of KVS for Class I admission for 2022-23, in which the minimum age of a child has changed to 6 years instead of 5 years.

Earlier, the KVS had apprised the Delhi High Court that it has extended the online submission date of application for Class 1, from March 21 to April 11 this year.

In the plea moved through Advocates Ashok Agarwal and Kumar Utkarsh, the petitioner alleged that the admission criteria of KVS is arbitrary, discriminatory, unjust, unreasonable, violative of the fundamental right to education of petitioner as guaranteed to her under Articles 14, 21, and 21-A of the Constitution of India read with the provisions of the Delhi School Education Act, 1973 and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.

The petitioner through her father Pawan Kumar, submitted that as she would be 5 plus age as of March 31, 2022, she was desirous of applying for admission in Class I in respondent KVS in the academic year 2022-23.

However, on February 24, 2022, all of a sudden, the KVS has made changes in the minimum age criteria for admission in class I from 5 years to 6 years by uploading the impugned guidelines on the portal, just 4 days before the admission process starts.

The petitioner was shocked to find out by the impugned guidelines, that she has been made ineligible to apply for Class I in respondent KVS in the academic year 2022-23, as per the plea.

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