Recently, Gujarat High Court rejected multiple petitions challenging government's decision to implement a minimum age limit of six years for admission to Class 1 from the current academic year.

The division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice NV Anjaria held that forcing children to go to a pre-school below the age of 3 years is an 'illegal act' on the part of the parents.

The notifications in question, issued on January 31, 2020, and August 4, 2020, specify that a child must be six years old as of June 1, 2023, to be eligible for admission to the 1st standard.

The parents who filed the petition argued that their children, who are under the age of six, had enrolled in elementary schools during the 2020-21 Academic Session and had successfully completed their elementary education. Therefore, they believe their children should be allowed to seek admission to the 1st standard in the Academic Session of 2023-24.

The High Court observed that Rule 8 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2012 (RTE Rules), which is in accordance with the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act), explicitly prohibits the admission of a child to a preschool if they have not yet reached the age of three as of June 1 of the relevant academic year. In light of this rule, the High Court concluded that:

“As regards the cut-off date, there is no challenge to the rule fixing 1st June of the academic year for completion of 6th year of age to seek admission in 1st standard. The only argument is to grant leverage / leniency to those children who were admitted in preschools in the Academic Session 2020-21 and have completed 3 years of elementary education to be school ready,” the bench added.

"Three years’ ‘early childhood care and education’ in a pre-school prepares a child to take admission in 1st standard in a formal school...The petitioner – parents of children, who have not attained the age of 6 years as on 1st June of the year 2023, cannot seek any leniency or indulgence, as they are guilty of violation of the mandate of RTE Rules, 2012, which is in line with the RTE Act, 2009. Forcing children to go to a pre-school below the age of 3 years is an illegal act on the part of the parents who are petitioners before us. The contention that the children are school-ready as they have completed 3 years of elementary education in a preschool having been admitted in the Academic Session 2020-21, therefore, does not impress us at all.”

The challenge brought forth against the notifications issued on January 31, 2020, and August 4, 2020, pertaining to admission to the first grade, specifically contesting the June 1 cutoff date, was grounded in allegations of injustice, impropriety, illegality, and unconstitutionality. The parents who filed the writ petition urged the court to invalidate both notifications and direct the respective schools to admit their children into the first grade for the academic session of 2023-24, while granting an exception from the stipulated cutoff date.

Following a thorough review of the arguments presented by both parties and an examination of the relevant records, the Court observed that the legal representatives for both sides conceded that they could not dispute the necessity for a child to be six years old for admission to the 1st standard.

The Court further noted that the challenge focused on the cut-off date of June 1st for the current academic year, 2023-24, under the premise that approximately 9 lakhs children in the State (including the petitioners' children) would be deprived of their right to education in the current academic session due to denial of 1st standard admission.

The Court explained, “A conjoint reading of Sections 2(c), 3, 4, 14 and 15 of the RTE Act, 2009 makes it clear that a child above the age of 6 years cannot be denied in a formal school and the State is mandated to take all necessary measures that such a child who falls within the definition of ‘child’ under the RTE Act, 2009, completes his or her elementary education without any rider.”

“As regards the age of education below 6 years, the same has been recognised by the National Education Policy, 2020, framed by the experts in the field of elementary education, as the age of ‘early childhood care and education’,” the Court further explained.

The Court highlighted the National Education Policy, 2020, which revealed that over 85% of a child's brain development occurs before the age of 6, underscoring the critical need for proper care and stimulation during these early years for healthy brain development.

The Court said, “The children who are before us, have been admitted in a pre-school by their parents before completion of age of 3 years, prescribed minimum age for admission in a pre-school in the RTE Rules, 2012, which has been enforced in the State of Gujarat w.e.f. 18.2.2012. The challenge to Rule 8 of the Rules, 2012 has already been turned down by the Coordinate Bench of this Court in Special Civil Application No. 9879 of 2013, as noted above.”

“For the above discussion, we do not find any merit in the challenge to the Notifications dated 31.1.2020 and 4.8.2020. All the writ petitions, in this bunch, are found to be devoid of merits and hence dismissed,” the added said while junking the petitions