New Delhi, Jan 18 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday reserved its order on the admission process for pre-school (nursery) classes in city schools which are scheduled to put up Feb 1 the first list of selected toddlers for the 2012-13 academic session.

Hearing a plea challenging the Delhi government’s guidelines on admissions to schools, the court reserved its order after arguments were presented before it.

NGO Social Jurist had moved the court against the government order that permitted unaided private schools to proceed with the admissions of children aged three years and above in pre-school classes.

The bench of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice R.S. Endlaw directed the Delhi government to file its reply on the issue.

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.

The petitioner 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, 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 pleaded that formal school education should start with the pre-primary class where children above four years were admitted.