Students who are under the age of six years and have completed pre-school educational curriculum will not be denied admission to Class 1 for academic session 2024-25, the Himachal Pradesh High Court said.

The division bench of Chief Justice Rajiv Shakdher and Justice Satyen Vaidya on Wednesday passed an order on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Monika Sharma and few others in related cases.

The PIL said students who were below six years on September 30, 2024 but have already completed their pre-school curriculum are being denied admission to Class 1.

The high court also said that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has to be implemented in a phased manner.

In 2023, the state government had approved six years age as the criteria for anyone who seeks admission into Class 1 in Himachal Pradesh from academic session 2024-25 onwards.

The Himachal government said a child must be aged six on March 31, 2024 to get admission into the Class 1 and gave a one-time relaxation of six months up to September 30 to be allowed for admission.

Any student who is below six years of age and has qualified Upper Kindergarten Class (UKG) would be promoted to Class I in the current academic session, advocates of the petitioner said, adding that the decision would benefit roughly 50,000 students in both public and private schools in the state born between October 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025.

Repeating Upper Kindergarten Class (UKG) would have not only impede their intellectual and psychological development but would have also put a financial burden on the parents as education is costly, they added.

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