Age of admission to Class 1 in the State will remain five, Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty has said.
Any sudden change in the minimum age of admission to six years will create social problems, the Minister said at a press meet here on Wednesday.
The Union Ministry of Education had a few days ago written to States and Union Territories to fix six years as the minimum age of admission to Class 1 this year.
The Ministry’s latest missive, dated February 15, is the third time that States and Union Territories have been asked to align the age of admission to Class 1 at six in line with the National Education Policy (NEP).
Similar notices were issued last year and in 2021 in the wake of the NEP launch. The Ministry’s directive also points to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, that covers education of children from the age of six to 14.
Last year too, the State had decided against raising the minimum age. Then, the Minister had said the government would bring clarity on the issue in the next academic year on the basis of the M.A. Khader Committee report on school education.
However, the Minister on Wednesday said the State had good school enrolment numbers and few dropouts. Also, children here joined kindergarten at the age of three and by the age of five, were ready to join Class 1. In such a context, there was no need to delay their Class 1 admission by a year.
States had a right to take decision on matters of education, and Kerala has decided to stick to the age of five for school admission, the Minister said.
However, in Finland with which the State is cooperating in early childhood education and care, school begins only at the age of 7.
Though the State agrees in-principle with the Union government on the age of admission, there are problems in putting this into practice, say senior Education officials.
There are apprehension of a zero admission year with no or a few students taking admission to Class 1 if the State moves up the admission age, particularly in CBSE schools. The impact on teachers of such a move is likely another reason why the State is maintaining the status quo.
They point out that the State is yet to say ‘yes’ to the NEP. Hence, CBSE schools other than those run by the Union government too are toeing the State line on the admission age. However, if NEP (in which the foundational stage includes pre-school and grades 1 and 2 is implemented), these schools will have to make to make six as the age of admission to Class 1. It will be difficult to follow both the current age of admission and the NEP structural changes. This, in turn, will put pressure on a change in State schools too.
Officials point out that the State is yet to implement restructuring of school structure as per the RTE, so if at all there will be a change it will be gradual.
