Education department makes 6 years minimum age for class 1 in Karnataka

Education department makes 6 years minimum age for class 1 in Karnataka

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, July 27, 2022: The state government has increased the age of enrolment in primary schools from 5 years and 5 months to 6 years for all schools — government, government aided, and unaided. This will be applicable from the next academic year.

 

The Department of School Education and Literacy has withdrawn the orders of 2017, 2018, and 2020 on the age of enrolment. The new order issued on Tuesday said a child who enrols in a primary school should be of six years as of June 1 of that academic year. However, the order makes no mention of the cut-off age for pre-primary schools.

Since 2016-17, the government has issued five orders on the fixation of minimum age for school enrolment and the order on Tuesday is the sixth one.

Vishal R., Commissioner, Department of Public Instruction, said, “According to the RTE Act, 2009, the directions of the Government of India and the NEP 2020, children should be aged six by June 1 for Class I. We had submitted the proposal to the government as per this. Already, 21 States have done it. This age bracket will ensure that catch-up learning is proper among children of the appropriate age. This order will be applicable from the next academic year for all the schools.”

He added that this rule would be strictly followed. “In case a child is 5-years-and-11-months old, he/she will have to wait for one year to enroll."

However, some activists feared that increasing the enrolment age could drive children towards private schools since only a handful of government-run schools have pre-primary classes. Niranjanaradhya V.P., development educationist, told to The Hindu, “In the absence of pre-primary classes in government schools, this kind of rule will lead to further decline in strength in such schools. Therefore, age 5+ should be the right for admission in government schools.”

Courtesy: The Hindu