In a latest communiqué, the Union Ministry of Education has directed all states and union territories to raise the admission age for Class 1 to six years or older. The states and UTs also asked the ministry to begin the process of designing and implementing a two-year Diploma in Preschool Education (DPSE) course. The National Education Policy 2020 recommends that children's learning at the “foundational stage” be strengthened as a national priority for the country. The foundational stage includes five years of learning opportunities for all children (ages 3 to 8), including three years of preschool and two years of early primary Class I and Class 2. According to senior education ministry officials, the policy promotes continuous learning and development of children from preschool to Class 2. This can only be accomplished by ensuring that all children studying in Anganwadis or Government, Government-aided, private, and NGO-run preschool centres have access to three years of high-quality preschool education. According to officials, the education ministry believes that the availability of qualified teachers who are specially trained in age and developmentally appropriate curriculum and pedagogy is the most important factor at the foundational stage. Taking this into consideration, the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) was also released on October 20, 2022. The action was taken after the Supreme Court dismissed the pleas in favour of younger age. The bench stated that this is consistent with the National Education Policy (NEP), which established age criteria to ensure uniformity in admission age. Under the NEP, 21 states have implemented the six-plus regime for Class 1 by 2020.
Notably, the ambiguity regarding the minimum age for Admission to class first in Jammu and Kashmir still continues to the present day. The process for kindergarten admission in affiliated schools across Jammu Kashmir has frequently been delayed in the last two years due to ambiguity in the child's age for admission in the Kindergarten section. The School Education Department (SED) acknowledges that the age of the child to be adopted at the time of admission was a “major issue” for the upcoming school year. According to the School Education Act of 2002 (as amended in 2018), a child in class 1 should be 5 years old.
A top official of the School Education Department told when enquired, “We do not regulate the age of the student in the Nursery or Kindergarten section under this Act. Our Act is silent on the subject, but children in first grade should be 5 years old. However, according to the New Education Policy (NEP)-2020 the child's age at the time of admission to class 1st should be 6 years.” On July 29, 2020, the Union Cabinet of India approved the NEP-2020, which replaced the previous Education Policy. So, in order to integrate our School Education Act with NEP-2020, the Union Territory must amend the Act. Making changes to the School Education Act will take more time for the department, and the changes may not be applicable to schools until next year.
However, private schools in Jammu Kashmir continue to admit kindergarten students according to the previous norms in place for five years, whereas Kendriya Vidyalayas have already implemented the new directive in schools across India, including Jammu Kashmir. Thus the Union Territory Administration should address the issue on top priority and come out with a solution to bring the admission age of six at par in all schools function in J&K.
