Summary
Several schools have brought down the age of admission and are taking kids not just at the age of three-plus but also at two-plus
Several schools have introduced a new class in the pre-primary section in the past year to align themselves with the new education policy (NEP) so students are six years old when in Class I.
St James’ School, Birla High School for Boys, Sushila Birla Girls’ School, Indus Valley World School and Mahadevi Birla World Academy are among the schools that have made the change.
Till they made the change, in all these schools, children at the age of five-plus were going to Class I. This is set to change, the schools said.
“Till last year, we were taking children at the age of three-plus in Nursery. They went to Transition at four-plus and Class I at five-plus. From this year, we have introduced a Kindergarten class at five-plus. Children move to Class I at the age of six. We made this change to follow the NEP,” said Terence Ireland, principal, St James’ School.
“But to initiate the change from this year, parents of children who were five had to be convinced to move to KG from Transition instead of to Class I,” he said.
Some schools held orientation sessions with parents.
Some schools gave parents the option to either move to Class I or KG.
“We cannot force it on parents because when they took admission they knew their girls would be in Class I at the age of five. So, we gave them the option of either doing upper KG or Class I in 2024,” said Koeli Dey, principal, Sushila Birla Girls’ School.
Several principals said it would take some years to completely align with the NEP.
“We are strict with the age criteria for new admissions this year. The CBSE has also told us a child should be six-plus in Class I,” said Amita Prasad, director, Indus Valley World School.
Several schools have brought down the age of admission and are taking kids not just at the age of three-plus but also at two-plus.
“If other schools are taking them and we don’t, we will lose out,” said a principal of a south Calcutta school.
Another head said this was convenient for parents, too, to put their child in a high school directly, instead of switching from a pre-school to a high school.
“Otherwise they will put them in a pre-school for a year and then move them to a
high school and the children face adjustment issues. Most parents are working and want to put their children in school as early as possible,” said Prasad.
Last updated on 26 Apr 2024
