Refusing to interfere with the age criteria of six years fixed for admission to Class I, based on the National Education Policy-2020 in the State, the High Court of Karnataka has said that the courts, under the garb of judicial review, cannot alter the educational guidelines evolved by experts keeping in mind the overall growth of children.
“The NEP-2020 guidelines are brought into force with a hope that it will address multiple problem areas across educational institutions that require improvement. Prima facie, I am convinced that there is a core focus on enabling holistic development of students and therefore, one student’s inconvenience that he/she will be compelled to repeat the class cannot in itself constitute a ground to interfere with the guidelines,” Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum observed.
The court passed the order while dismissing a petition filed by a four-year-old, Tishika Aniket, represented by her father.
Petitioner LKG student
The petitioner, who is studying in nursery of a private school affiliated to CBSE, was denied promotion to LKG for the reason that she would not complete the age of six years when she becomes eligible for admission to Class I as per the new guidelines issued by the Government based on NEP and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act. It was contended in the petition that new age criteria can only be implemented prospectively.
However, the court said that the Karnataka Education Department has rightly mandated that minimum age limit for admission to class-I in schools in Karnataka should be six years as on June 1 while refusing to accept the petitioner’s contention that it has be implemented prospectively.
The admission guidelines issued by the school and the Government are found to be legal and in conformity with NEP-2020, the court said.
Global education standard
“The NEP guidelines in fixing the age criteria is based on overall global education standards. Following the adoption of Global Education Development Agenda, India is seeking to ensure inclusive and equitable education for all by 2030. The new 5+3+3+4 education system aims at developing individuals with emphasis on cognitive capacities,” the court observed.
This policy, the court said, proposes to replace the existing 10+2 structure of school education with a 5+3+3+4 education system covering ages 3 to 18 and includes kindergarten/play school education, and this classification of stages in NEP was done based on the intellectual growth of a student.
“In the earlier model, the age group of 3 to 6 was not covered. Therefore, experts have come up with a new guidelines with a hope that a strong foundation of early childhood care and education would be given to the students and this is obviously aimed at promoting play-based, activity-based, inquiry-based and flexible way of learning,” Justice Magadum observed.
“The courts cannot interfere when the experts are of the view that policy focuses on formative and holistic assessment to reduce exam-related pressure and fear among students as the students reach to a higher secondary education,” the court said.
