11-Year-Old Moves Court Against Class 6 Entrance Test in Delhi Govt Schools

An 11-year-old student has taken the legal battle over admissions in Delhi’s CM SHRI Schools to the next level, approaching a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court to challenge the government’s policy of holding an entrance test for admission to Class VI.

The appeal has been filed against a recent ruling of a single judge of the High Court that upheld the Delhi government’s decision to conduct the test. The student, represented by senior advocate Ashok Agarwal, has argued that subjecting children to an entrance exam at the elementary stage goes against the spirit and provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009.

According to the appeal, the RTE Act clearly bars schools from conducting any form of screening or selection test at the elementary level. The student has contended that this safeguard was built into the law to ensure that every child has equal and non-discriminatory access to education, as guaranteed by the Constitution. Allowing entrance tests, the plea argues, defeats this objective and creates an unfair barrier for children seeking admission.

The challenge arises from a Delhi government circular issued on July 23, 2025, which set out the admission process for Classes VI to VIII in CM SHRI Schools for the current academic year. Earlier, the same student had moved the High Court against this policy, but the petition was dismissed by Justice Jyoti Singh, who held that the entrance test did not violate the RTE Act.

In that ruling, the court relied on an earlier 2012 judgment that had allowed selection-based admissions to Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalayas at the Class VI level. The single judge held that CM SHRI Schools fall under a special category and that the ban on screening under the RTE Act applies only at the initial entry point to school, such as Nursery or Class I, and not at the Class VI stage.

The court had also noted that the RTE Act does not give students a legal right to demand admission into specialised government schools that offer enhanced facilities, especially when the number of applicants is far higher than the seats available.

Disagreeing with this interpretation, the student has now argued before the Division Bench that such reasoning weakens the protections provided under the RTE Act and opens the door to screening of children at the elementary level. The appeal seeks to overturn the earlier judgment and to have the Class VI entrance test in CM SHRI Schools declared illegal.

The matter is expected to be taken up by the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court later this week.

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