(Reopens DES36)

Earlier, the court had asked the Centre to clarify its stand as to whether the RTE Act is applicable to nursery admission or not. The Centre had responded by saying the Act stipulates that the free and compulsory education would be provided to a child between the age group of 6 to 14 and that the states were free to formulate policies to govern pre-school (nursery) admission. The court, during the hearing, had made it clear that its decision on the PIL would also affect the nursery admission for the 2013-14 academic session. The PIL had alleged that the notifications gave "a totally free hand to all unaided recognised private schools to formulate their own nursery admission criteria based on categorisation of children...". However, the categorisations of kids in admission have specifically been barred by the RTE Act, it submitted, adding that some schools still give preference in admission on grounds such as religion, alumni and sibling. A federation of private schools, however, opposed the PIL, saying that the private institutions cannot be forced to "toe" the diktat so far as the admission process is concerned.