The Centre has reiterated its advice to the states to admit children aged six-plus to Class I without clarifying the cut-off date for counting age and the year from when the new system will be enforced.

Activists said uniform implementation of the new system should be ensured to check harassment or denial of admission to any child in case of migration to another state.

The ministry of education on February 9 reiterated its direction to all state governments and Union Territory administrations to align with the new policy and admit kids aged six-plus to Class I, a media release issued by the Press Information Bureau said. It said the National Education Policy recommended five years of learning at the foundation stage for children aged three to eight.

This includes three years of pre-school education, up from two years under the earlier policy, and two years of early primary in Class I and Class II. In March 2021, the education ministry had written to all states for the first time about the revised policy.

The Centre has already enforced the new criterion for the over 1,200 Kendriya Vidyalayas. However, about a dozen states and Union Territories, including Delhi, are still taking in students in Class I at age five-plus. Ashok Agrawal, an educationist and lawyer, said many states consider a child aged five years and six months to be six years old at the time of admission.

“The interpretation of six years or five years varies from one state to another. In Delhi, the admission criterion is five years as on March 31 of that year. But some states which follow the six-year norm also admit children aged five years and six months,” Agrawal said. If the new regime is not followed uniformly, children migrating from one state to another may suffer.

“If a state follows the sixplus age criterion and a student comes after completing pre-school from another state that has the five-plus norm, they will suffer. Such students may have to wait for a year for admission,” Agrawal said.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act states that every child aged 6-14 years shall have a right to free and compulsory education till completion of elementary education, which is Class VIII. It does not specify the cut-off date for counting the age.

“If the government really wants to follow the sixplus criterion, it will have to amend the RTE Act to clearly mention that children over six years will get admission to Class I. Such a central law will override the state laws. Otherwise, it will create confusion,” Agrawal said