Gujarat HC seeks clarity on Class 1 age relaxation

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Monday sought a "clarificatory affidavit" from the state government on whether the existing Right to Education rules provide for a six-month relaxation in admission of a kid to Class 1, as the state government's decision to fix the minimum age of six years for admission has been challenged.
Representing 55 parents from Vadodara, advocate Hitesh Gupta submitted that rule 3(1) of the RTE rules was amended by the government to fix the age criterion, but rule 3(3) was not repealed - this rule provides for six months' buffer for admission to Class 1, making a child attaining an age of six by December 31 eligible for admission.
The challenge in the petitions was pertaining to the legality and validity of rule 3(1) of the RTE rule.
The government lawyer defended the decision by citing a notification issued by the Centre. The bench of Acting Chief Justice Ashish Desai and Justice Biren Vaishnav asked the state government to file an affidavit clarifying the issue by June 20.
The bench asked the government lawyer to discuss the issue with the top official of the education department.
The petitioners are seeking relaxation in the age limit and extension of the minimum age cut-off till December 31, 2023. The petitioners submitted that their children fall short of one day to six months in meeting the age criterion on June 1.
The lawyer submitted that nearly 7.7 lakh students will be affected and compelled to repeat senior KG.
The petitioners have also submitted that states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, and Jammu region have decided to grant relaxation of six months in age limit so that no child repeats a year in the pre-primary sections.