BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court refused to interfere with the age limit of 6 years fixed for admission of children to Class 1 in government, aided and unaided schools, with effect from the academic year 2025-26. Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum passed the order while dismissing the petition filed by Tishika Aniket, a 4-year-old girl, represented by her father, questioning the order dated July 26, 2022, and issuing a direction to the school education department to allow the petitioner to study in LKG for the academic year 2023-24.
Counsel for the petitioner contended that a school, after collecting a fee for admission, had sent a mail on May 27, 2023, indicating that the petitioner is not eligible to take admission to LKG as she has not completed 4 years as on June 1, 2023, and therefore, intimated that the petitioner has to be retained in Nursery. This was based on the communication dated May 23, 2018, fixing the age criteria to take admission for Class-I in government schools, and aided and unaided schools. In this background, the school said the petitioner has to be retained in Nursery as she would not complete six years for the academic year 2025-26.
The judge said the state government has come up with an age norm in accordance with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 guidelines, and rightly mandated that the minimum age limit for admission to Class I in schools should be 6 years as on June 1, while currently, the age limit is 5 years 5 months. The petitioner’s contention that guidelines have to be implemented prospectively cannot be acceded to. The NEP guidelines for fixing age criteria are based on overall global education standards, the judge observed.
“Though I find some force in the petitioner’s plea that this change in age criteria by NEP 2020 is found to be a little late in the day, cannot constitute a ground to interfere with the said policy... I am not inclined to grant any relief to the petitioner,” the judge said.