Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has fixed the minimum age for admission to class 1 in Haryana at six years. The court has ordered the state government to amend the provision made in its rules, which allows children below the age of six years to be admitted to class 1.
Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi clarified that this provision of the Haryana Right to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2011, which allowed admission to children aged five to six years in class 1, is against the Right to Education Act of 2009 and the National Education Policy of 2020.
The court said that both the Right to Education Act 2009 and the National Education Policy 2020 clearly stipulate that the minimum age for admission to class 1 should be six years. Despite this, the rules made by the state government in 2011, which allowed admission of children as young as five, are against the spirit of the original law.