Kids in Karnataka must be 4 years old by June 1 for admission to LKG: Education department

BENGALURU: Children seeking admission to LKG for the academic year 2023-24 must be four years old by June 1, states a circular issued by the Samagra Shikshana, education department. This is to ensure that these children will be 6 years old by 2025-26, when the new age criteria will be implemented.
Under the present system in the state, children were allowed to join Class 1 if they crossed 5 years and 10 months in June. However, in June 2022, the state government announced the new age criteria would change to align with the National Education Policy and Right to Education rules. While the initial decision was to implement it from 2023, following protests from parents and schools, the government decided to roll it out from the academic year 2025-26.
The circular dated April 27, states that children seeking admissions to LKG sho- uld have turned 4 by June 1. “In order to implement the age criteria for grade 1 from 2025-26, it will have to be rolled out in LKG from this year,” confirmed an official with the department of school education and literacy.
Many private schools are not following the rule despite the announcement made last year, added the official.
“Many parents do not want to wait for a year to enrol children. They believe one or two months will not make a difference. Schools are competing with each other for admissions and are tak- ing in these children without paying heed to government rules. We have been advising our member-institutions not to do so as the student will have to repeat a year,” said D Shashi Kumar, secretary, As- sociation of Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools of Karnataka. Shashi Kumar said as all admissions are done through the Student Achievement Tracking System (SATS), it is not possible to admit any child unlawfully. “They are taking admissions without making entry into SATS. Later when they try to enter the child’s details in SATS there will be problems,” he said.
Standalone neighbour- hood preschools too have been taking students from different age groups. “The preschools come up with new nomenclature to accommodate childr en. They will keep age 6 as the benchmark for class 1... Some parents insist on enrolling their wards in these classes even when we impress on them the importance of age-appropriate classrooms,” said Pruthvi Banwasi of Karnataka Council for Preschools.