'Gifted' 8-year-old girl allowed admission in Class VIII by HC

Legal Correspondent

Shimla, March 23

In an exceptional case, the High Court today permitted an 8-year-old girl Kashvi, a Class III student of Rainbow Public Senior Secondary School, Palampur, to take admission provisionally as a day scholar in Class VIII in the school.

The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua passed this order where the father of the girl wanted her to take the final exams of Class VIII.

Kashvi was born on March 12, 2014, and is studying in Class III currently. In the petition filed through her father, it has been claimed that Kashvi is an extraordinary, exceptional and intellectual child blessed with skill of grasping things quickly.

It has been claimed in the petition that at the age of 3, she learnt about the capitals of states/UTs and neighbourhood countries and to this effect, her first video was uploaded on YouTube by her father. In 2019, she had knowledge of the solar system, important days and districts of the state.

In 2020, she had knowledge about the national parks, regular and irregular forms of verbs, India and world organisations, rivers, general knowledge of the world and new folk and classical dances and these videos are available on the internet.

After considering the pleas, the court has directed the state authorities on March 2, 2022, to constitute a medical board consisting of three experts to assess her IQ level. A test was conducted on March 4 and based on assessment, her average IQ was reported by medical board as 128.

Taking stock of every material aspect, the court doesn’t deem it appropriate to permit Kashvi to straightaway take the final examination of Class VIII. However, the court directed the authorities to provisionally admit her as a day scholar in the class.

The court clarified in its order that her overall progress would be monitored on a regular basis by the school authorities. She had been allowed to provisionally appear in the class tests, term exams and school activities, etc.

The court directed the Secretary, HP Board of School Education, and the school to file their reports regarding her overall progress in every field before the next date and listed the matter for hearing on April 28.

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