``Since the legislation has been kept in abeyance, I feel that the schools should not delay admission to KG classes,'' School Education Minister Sudhir Joshi said.

Joshi said though the Maharashtra Pre Scool Centres (Regulation of Admission) Act, was passed in 1996, it was not implemented following protests lodged by a section of the schools, particularly the convent schools. ``The legislation clearly provides that it will not be implemented unless a special notification is issued for the purpose. As such, so long as a notification is not issued, it has no legal Admissions to KG validity,'' Joshi pointed out.

Joshi said though hewas against a complete repeal of the act, he was prepared for a fresh round of discussions with the heads of schools. ``I am prepared for a discussion with them. I feel since the notification has not been issued, they should immediately start admissions,'' Joshi added.After the alliance government came to power in March 1995, it had set up a high-level committee headed by former vice-chancellor, Ram Joshi, to make recommendations on admissions to pre-primary classes. The committee unanimously recommended regulation of admission to KG classes and suggested that 80 per cent of the students admitted to pre-primary schools should be exclusively from designated local areas, while the remaining 20 per cent seats could be reserved as management quota. Subsequently, on the basis of the recommendations made by the Joshi Committee, the alliance government introduced a legislation which was unanimously passed by both the Houses.

Convent schools, particularly those run by missionaries, however, strongly objected to thelegislation, saying it was unconstitutional and a direct encroachment on their fundamental rights. Subsequently, almost all eductional institutions suspended admissions to pre-primary classes. Last year, the students were admitted in June, against the normal practice of granting admissions in December and January. This year too, so far, the admission process has not started.

Now, it remains to be seen if educational institutions, particularly convent schools, respond to Joshi's appeal to start admissions. It would also be interesting to see what methods Director of Education and BMC Education Officer adopt in implementing the education minister's order. As far as convent schools are concerned, they are adamant: nothing less then a complete repeal of the Act would do for them.