Education Policy 2020 Age Criteria for Admission in Schools

LOK SABHA 

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 stake- holders 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?

(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 1st January, 2022; etc.

Further, the Ministry has inter-alia launched several initiatives under NEP, 2020 like Vidya- Pravesh – 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 best- developed 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”.