Forcing children to go to school below age 3 is an illegal act, rules Gujarat HC

New Delhi, Sep 05, 2023: The Gujarat High Court has made a significant ruling, declaring that parents who compel children below the age of three to attend preschool are committing an “illegal act.” This judgment came as the court dismissed a series of pleas challenging the Gujarat state government’s decision to set the minimum age limit for Class 1 admission in the academic year 2023-24 at six years.

A group of parents had sought to challenge the state government’s notification that set the age limit for Class 1 admission. The court’s division bench, consisting of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice N V Anjaria, asserted, “Forcing children to go to a preschool below the age of 3 years is an illegal act on the part of the parents who are petitioners before us.”

The court emphasized that the parents could not seek leniency as they had violated the Right to Education Rules, 2012, of the Right to Education Act, 2009. Quoting Rule 8 of the RTE Rules, the court underlined that no preschool should admit a child who has not completed three years of age by June 1 of the academic year.

The court further stated that three years of “early childhood care and education” in a preschool prepare a child for admission to the 1st standard in a formal school. The parents who filed the plea had admitted their children to preschool before they turned three, thus violating the minimum age requirement for preschool admission.

Despite the parents’ arguments that denial of admission would infringe upon their children’s right to education under Article 21 A of the Constitution and the Right to Education Act, the court upheld the minimum age requirement. It clarified that a child’s right to free and compulsory education under Article 21A and the RTE Act begins after turning six years old.

This ruling reinforces the importance of adhering to age-related educational regulations and ensuring early childhood care and education for children under six, as emphasized in the National Education Policy, 2020.