Delhi HC Seeks Govt’s Reply On Six-Year Age Rule For Class 1 Admission

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Delhi Government to respond to a plea challenging the new rule that fixes the minimum age for admission to Class 1 at six years from the next academic session.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed against a circular issued by the Delhi Government in June 2025, which introduced a new pre-school structure and revised the admission age. The admission process for the next session is expected to begin in December.

A division bench led by Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyay issued a notice to the government and sought its response. The counsel representing the Delhi Government requested more time to file a reply, following which the court listed the matter for hearing on November 26. Advocate Vaibhav

Sharma appeared on behalf of the petitioner, Deepika Sharma.

The plea argued that the new policy requires children to complete three levels of pre-school education before entering Class 1. Earlier, the schooling pattern included only Nursery and Kindergarten, but under the new system, children must go through Pre-school 1, Pre-school 2, and Pre-school 3 before Class 1 admission.

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According to the petitioner, this policy will cause hardship for parents and students. It would increase the financial burden by adding an extra year of pre-school fees and make direct admission to Class 1 more difficult because of limited seats. The plea also raised concern that students already in the system might have to repeat pre-school, disrupting the current academic structure.

The petitioner suggested that the rule, if implemented, should only apply to new admissions from the 2026-27 academic year and not affect students already enrolled. It was also recommended that the minimum admission age for nursery be revised to four years, with corresponding changes for the next levels, to make the transition smoother for parents and schools.

The plea further pointed out that private schools charge around Rs 60,000 per quarter, adding up to approximately Rs 2.4 lakh annually, which would place an unnecessary financial strain on parents if another year of pre-school becomes mandatory.