New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday gave the go-ahead to the existing nursery admission process in the capital's private unaided schools, allowing them to admit children aged three-plus years.

A bench of Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Shah Endlaw said: "Those schools where pre-school (nursery) education is imparted, it has to be treated as entry level and entry level would not start from pre-primary in respect of such schools."

The court ordered that the nursery would continue to be treated as the entry point of education and promotion to kindergarten (KG) for all such schools which have higher classes was valid.

The court further said: "Children admitted at pre-school at the age of 3-plus will get promotion to pre-primary in the next year and for that, they will not have to undergo the admission process all over again."

"However, in those schools where there is no pre-school level, it would be pre-primary which would be treated as entry level where admission is to be given to the children at age of 4-plus," the court ordered.

Disposing of the petition of NGO Social Jurist, the court said: "Pre-school is not to be treated as part of formal education and at that stage, education has to be only informal."

The bench also had a view that promotion from nursery to KG and so on was an "integral" part of the "developmental continuum" that a child needs at his early age of education.

"Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) which has been globally recognized as critical for human resource development starts from the period of conception to age 8. This entire period presents a developmental continuum and the pre-school care and education has to be treated as part of this developmental continuum. It, thus, becomes an integrated process," its order read.

At the level of pre-school, curriculum has to be such which should ensure that child gets interested in education when he is to take next step at pre-primary level and thereafter, formal education from class 1, the court observed.

With a view to reducing burden of toddlers, the court observed: "We want to make it clear that the focus on 'care' and 'education' at pre-school level has to be altogether different. The children are not to be burdened with any textbooks or home works."

The court's order came on a plea filed by Social Jurist, against the city government's recent order allowing unaided private schools here to go ahead with the admission of 3-plus toddlers in pre-school (nursery) class.

The NGO in its petition said that the order of Delhi's directorate of education (DoE) violated an earlier judgment of the court which said that no child below the age of four years would be admitted for formal schooling.

It sought a "stay of the order dated Dec 16, 2011, of the Delhi government, to the extent it permits unaided recognised private schools of Delhi to conduct admissions to pre-school as entry level class in the academic session 2012-13".

Ashok Agarwal, counsel for the NGO, had alleged that the government had failed to prevent unaided recognised private schools from admitting children below four years of age in formal school.

Seeking a ban on the pre-school class where kids aged above three years but below four years, were admitted, the NGO had pleaded that formal school education should start with the pre-primary class where children above four years were admitted. IANS