Minimum age for admission to Class 1 is 6 years: HC

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that the minimum age for Class 1 admissions in Haryana is six years. Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi directed the State to amend a provision in its rules, permitting even children below six to take admissions.

Justice Sethi noted that the provision in the Haryana Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2011, permitted admissions to Class 1 for children between five and six years. It contradicted the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, and the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, which made it clear that the minimum age for admission to Class 1 was six years.

Justice Sethi, at the same time, ordered that the petitioners would be treated eligible for admission as a one-time exception for academic year 2025-26 as the 2011 rules continued to prescribe aged between five and six years.

The direction came on a plea raising concerns over the conflicting position adopted by the state government in the 2011 Rules vis-à-vis the statutory mandate. The court found that permitting Class 1 admissions below the age of six violated the scheme of the parent legislation.

Justice Sethi said there was nothing on record to explain the reason behind prescribing a different age by the State while framing the 2011 rules to implement the 2009 Act. “The State should have removed the ambiguity and contraction in the 2011 Rules by amending the same once it decided in 2023 to implement the National Education Policy-2020,” the court added.

Justice Sethi said Education Department officers, asked to point out the difficulty in bringing 2011 Rules in conformity with the 2009 Act and NEP, stated that the matter was under consideration and would be done.

“Can an Education Department having a crucial role to play in the education of children linger on the issue to bring the 2011 Rules in conformity with the 2009 Act as well as the National Education Policy, 2020, by amending the Rule… It is not that the respondent-State does not know that the 2011 Rules need to be amended suitably but is moving at its own sweet pace, despite the fact that the same issue was raised before this Court for the Session 2024-2025,” he asserted.

Haryana Tribune