Lok Sabha Question No. 4043 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-28
Subject: Age Criteria for Admission in Schools
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Abdul Majeed Ariff

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4043 TO BE ANSWERED ON 28 th  MARCH, 2022

## Age Criteria for Admission in Schools

## 4043.  ADV. A.M. ARIFF:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  the  Government  has  taken  any  steps  for  implementing  the  recommendation  of National Education Policy 2020 and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Government has taken any unilateral decision to raise the minimum age for entry to class I to 6 years from next academic year without any stakeholder consultation and if so, the reasons therefor;

(c)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  consider  holding  discussion  with  all  the  stakeholders including the State Governments so as to bring uniformity in the minimum age for entry at class I across the country and if not, the reason therefore; and

(d) the list of minimum age fixed for entry to class I as on date State/UT-wise?

## A N S W E R

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SMT. ANNPURNA DEVI)

(a):    As  per  National  Education  Policy  2020  (NEP  2020),  implementation  of  the  Policy requires multiple initiatives and actions, to be taken by different bodies including Ministry of Education, Union and State Governments, education-related Ministries, State Departments of Education,  the  regulatory  bodies  of  school  and  higher  education,  in  a  synchronized  and systematic  manner.  Accordingly,  Ministry  has  written  to  all  its  implementing  agencies, regulatory bodies, State/UT Governments, other stakeholder Ministries/Departments, etc. for taking steps for implementation of NEP 2020.

In this direction, a number of initiatives have been taken by the Ministry of Education (MoE), University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE),

CBSE,  NCERT,  NIOS,  other  relevant  Ministries/Departments,  State/UT  Governments  and other stakeholders towards implementation of NEP 2020.

Department  of  School  Education  has  released  a  NEP  Implementation  Plan  'SARTHAQ' (Students' and Teachers' Holistic Advancement through Quality Education) to assist States and  UTs  in  this  task ;  NIPUN  Bharat-  a  National  Mission  on  Foundational  Literacy  and Numeracy  (FLN)  has  been  launched  and  under  DIKSHA,  a  separate  vertical  for  FLN resources  has  been  developed;  Department  has  launched  the  National  Digital  Educational Architecture (NDEAR) to create a unifying national digital infrastructure; an initiative called 'Manodarpan' for mental health and wellbeing of students has also been launched; existing schemes i.e, Samagra Shiksha and PM Poshan Shakti Nirman Yojna have been aligned with the recommendations of NEP 2020; PRABANDH portal has been launched for monitoring of fund flow and physical and financial progress under the Samagra Shiksha scheme to ensure optimal utilization of resources; A 100 Days Reading Campaign (Padhe Bharat) for children studying in Balvatika to class VIII has been launched on 1 st January, 2022; etc.

Further, the Ministry has inter-alia launched several initiatives under NEP, 2020 like VidyaPravesh -  School Preparation Module; Indian Sign Language as a Subject at secondary level; NISHTHA 2:0 (National Initiative for School Heads' and Teachers' Holistic Advancement) for  Secondary  Teachers;  NISHTHA  3.0  on  Foundational  Literacy  and  Numeracy;  SAFAL (Structured  Assessment  for  Analysing  Learning  Levels);  Online  Module  on  AI  (Artificial Intelligence) for Public Awareness; etc.

In addition, to address the issue of limited access due to language barrier, JEE (Mains) and NEET (UG) conducted in 13 languages, first year degree programme made available in 13 languages on MOOCs. To promote flexibility of courses and multiple Entry/Exit, Academic Bank of Credit has been set up and Guidelines on Multiple Entry/Exit have been issued. To address  the  issue  of  access,  regulations  have  been  amended  enabling  more  HEIs  to  offer online / ODL programmes and also offering of online course component has been increased from  20%  to  40%  in  a  degree  programme.  For  internationalisation  of  Higher  Education, Guidelines on Internationalisation have been issued. Initiative of NEAT to provide the bestdeveloped ed-tech solutions to enhance youth employability has been started.

(b) and (c):  The National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 envisages a pedagogical structure of  5+3+3+4.  The  first  5  years  comprise  of  3  years  of  pre-school/  anganwadi/  balvatika corresponding to the age groups of 3-6 years and 2 years of Class 1 & 2 corresponding to the age  group  of  6-8  years.  Also,  The  Right  of  Children  to  Free  and  Compulsory  Education (RTE) Act, 2009 states that every child of the age of 6-14 years shall have a right to free and compulsory  education  in  a  neighbourhood  school  till  completion  of  elementary  education (defined as education from first class to eighth under the Act).

Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of the schools are under the domain of the States/UTs. Therefore, comments were sought from all the States and UTs regarding age of admission in various classes in schools. Based on the reports given by all the States and UTs, it was observed that 14 States/UTs were taking admission in class 1 at age 5+, whereas 22 States were taking at 6+. This anomaly also results in incorrect reporting of enrolment of children in age appropriate classes and hence incorrect reporting of under-age and overage children, thus affecting the  Net Enrolment ratios in different states and at  the national level, as well as difficulties in inter-state movement of students and for appearing in various competitive exams.

In view of the provisions of NEP, 2020 and RTE Act, 2009, all the States and UTs were  requested  wide  D.O.  letter  No.  9-2/20-IS.3  dated  31.03.2021  to  align  their  age  of admission with the NEP 2020 and provide for admission to class 1 in age 6+ years in order to bring uniformity in age of admission throughout the country. In this regard, States/UTs were requested to prepare a roadmap to ensure smooth transition over next 2-3 years.

(d): As per information received from the States/UTs, the State/UT-wise list of minimum age fixed for entry to class I is at Annexure.

*****

## ANNEXURE

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO THE PARTS (d) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4043 FOR ANSWERED ON 28.03.2022 ASKED BY Adv A. M Ariff HON'BLE MP REGARDING 'AGE CRITERIA FOR ADMISSION IN SCHOOLS'.

| Age criteria for admission prescribed by various States/UTs (As on 24-03-2022)   | Age criteria for admission prescribed by various States/UTs (As on 24-03-2022)   | Age criteria for admission prescribed by various States/UTs (As on 24-03-2022)   |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| S.No.                                                                            | State/UT                                                                         | Class I to Class V                                                               |
| 1                                                                                | Andaman &Nicobar Island                                                          | 6 to 11 years                                                                    |
| 2                                                                                | Andhra Pradesh                                                                   | 5 years completed as on 31st August i.e., 6-10 years                             |
| 3                                                                                | Arunachal Pradesh                                                                | 6-10 years (2011-2020)                                                           |
| 4                                                                                | Assam                                                                            | 5 years completed to 10 years completed                                          |
| 5                                                                                | Bihar                                                                            | 6 years to 11 years (1.4.2009 to 31.3.2017)                                      |
| 6                                                                                | Chhattisgarh                                                                     | 6-11 Years                                                                       |
| 7                                                                                | Chandigarh                                                                       | 6-11 Years                                                                       |
| 8                                                                                | Dadar &Nagar Haveli &Daman &Diu                                                  | 6-11 Years                                                                       |
| 9                                                                                | NCT of Delhi (Delhi)                                                             | 5+ to <10 years                                                                  |
| 10                                                                               | Goa                                                                              | 5.5 years as on 01/06                                                            |
| 11                                                                               | Gujarat                                                                          | 5 to 10 years                                                                    |
| 12                                                                               | Haryana                                                                          | 5 + to 10 years                                                                  |
| 13                                                                               | Himachal Pradesh                                                                 | 6-10 years                                                                       |
| 14                                                                               | Jammu &Kashmir                                                                   | 6-11 Years                                                                       |
| 15                                                                               | Jharkhand                                                                        | 5 years 6 months - up to 10 years (Born Between: 01.04.2010 to 30.09.2014)       |
| 16                                                                               | Karnataka                                                                        | 5 years 5 months to 9 years 5 months                                             |
| 17                                                                               | Kerala                                                                           | 5 years to 10 years (Born Between: 01/06/2010 to 01/06/2015)                     |
| 18                                                                               | Ladakh                                                                           | 5 to 9 years                                                                     |
| 19                                                                               | Lakshadweep                                                                      | 6-10 Years                                                                       |
| 20                                                                               | Madhya Pradesh                                                                   | 6 to 11 years                                                                    |
| 21                                                                               | Maharashtra                                                                      | 6+ on 31st December                                                              |
| 22                                                                               | Manipur                                                                          | 6+ for Class I                                                                   |
| 23                                                                               | Meghalaya                                                                        | 6 to 10 years                                                                    |
| 24                                                                               | Mizoram                                                                          | 6 to 10 years                                                                    |
| 25                                                                               | Nagaland                                                                         | 6 to 10 years                                                                    |
| 26                                                                               | Odisha                                                                           | 6+ for Class I                                                                   |
| 27                                                                               | Punjab                                                                           | 6 to 11 years                                                                    |
| 28                                                                               | Puducherry                                                                       | 5 Years completed to 10 completed                                                |
| 29                                                                               | Rajasthan                                                                        | (for class 1 )5+ to <7 years                                                     |
| 30                                                                               | Sikkim                                                                           | 6-10 years                                                                       |
| 31                                                                               | Tamil Nadu                                                                       | 6 to 10 years                                                                    |
| 32                                                                               | Telegana                                                                         | 5-9 years                                                                        |
| 33                                                                               | Tripura                                                                          | 6-10 years                                                                       |
| 34                                                                               | Uttrakhand                                                                       | 5+ to 10 years                                                                   |
| 35                                                                               | Uttar Pradesh                                                                    | 6-11 years                                                                       |
| 36                                                                               | West Bengal                                                                      | 6+ for Class I                                                                   |
| Source: As informed by the officials of State/UTs                                | Source: As informed by the officials of State/UTs                                | Source: As informed by the officials of State/UTs                                |