The Hindu : Front Page : Plea for nursery admission interviews rejected

01,,01000,0,20 The Hindu : Front Page : Plea for nursery admission interviews rejected

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 12, 2006

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Plea for nursery admission interviews rejected

J. Venkatesan

Supreme Court asks counsel for school to seek intervention in Delhi High Court

Upholds Delhi High Court interim orders
Admission process stalled due to High Court orders, pleads counsel

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain an appeal against interim orders of the Delhi High Court restraining unaided recognised private schools from calling children or their parents for interview for kindergarten and nursery admissions.

A Bench of Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice K.G. Jain told senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi appearing for the SRF Foundation, running Shri Ram School at Vasant Vihar here in the Capital, that since the matter was pending before the High Court, he could seek an intervention in the High Court.

Mr. Rohtagi submitted that the entire admission process had been stalled due to the High Court order. When the Bench indicated that it was not inclined to entertain the matter, counsel said he would withdraw the petition and accordingly the Bench dismissed it as withdrawn.

In December last year the High Court called upon the schools to evolve a methodology to ensure that admissions were not based on interview of the child or the parents. The Court restrained the schools from issuing interview cards. The Court said that it would be appropriate to constitute a committee of experts to go into the matter and to resolve the issue of admission of children to private schools.

In May this year the Court, while granting further time for suggestions, directed that no school should call children or their parents for interview without the Court's permission.

Assailing this order, the petitioner said that it was in complete conflict with the observations made by the Supreme Court in the T.M.A. Pai Foundation case and the Delhi School Education Rules, which empowered the Principal to regulate the admission process and procedure.

It contended that the aim of the interview with parents was only to gauge their interest in education, development of their child and whether the parents accepted the school's philosophy, values and role in the growth and grooming of their children. The aim of the session was not to test the academic skills of the young ones, but only to observe their basic age-appropriate skills, the petitioner argued.

The Foundation also submitted that the High Court had upset the system, which had been prevalent for the past 50 years, most successful and universally accepted. It prayed for a direction to quash the order and an interim stay of its operation.

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