The student claims that the policy violates Article 21-A of the Constitution and Section 13 of the RTE Act
An 11-year-old student has approached the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi government’s policy mandating an entrance test for admission to CM SHRI schools.
The petition filed by Janmesh Sagar, a Class VI student of Government Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Delhi, contends that the policy violates Article 21-A of the Constitution and Section 13 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act).
Article 21 guarantees the right to free and compulsory education for all children between the ages of six and 14 years.
Section 13 of the RTE Act states that no school should subject a child to any screening procedures. The objective of the provision is to ensure that “schools adopt an admission procedure that is non-discriminatory, rational and transparent, and that schools do not subject children and their parents to admission tests and interviews in order to decide whether they will admit a child or not”.
Sagar, in his petition, claims that he had applied for admission to a CM SHRI school for the academic year 2025-26. However, in compliance with a government circular, he was subjected to an entrance test on September 13.
The petition contends that such tests are “unlawful” and “discriminatory”. It says CM SHRI schools fall under the “specified” category defined in Section 2 (p) of the RTE Act, which does not exempt them from the applicability of Section 13, reported ANI news agency.
The Delhi High Court, in an earlier case, had held that the RTE Act does not apply to specified category schools. Sagar, in his petition, claims that this interpretation contradicts the mandate of Article 21-A of the Constitution and Section 13 of the Act.
Announced in the 2025-26 Delhi budget with an outlay of Rs 100 crore, CM Shri Schools are modelled on the Centre’s PM Shri Schools and aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The initiative aims to strengthen the public education system and provide students with access to modern, well-equipped campuses.
The schools will feature AI-powered libraries, smart classrooms with augmented and virtual reality tools, biometric attendance systems and robotics labs. They are also planned as green campuses, running on solar energy and following zero-waste practices.
