Class I admissions: Schools cite new clause on age, parents in quandary

Despite a clear order from the department of school education & literacy that the age limit of six years for class 1 admissions will kick in from the 2025-26 academic year, several schools in Bengaluru are already denying admissions to kids, citing their date of birth.

According to parents seeking admissions to their wards, kids who will be aged five years and 10 months at the start of the academic year 2024-25 are being refused admissions for that academic year.

The parents are now urging the department to consider 5 years and 6 months as the minimum admission age for class 1.

Sharing her recent experience with a private school in South Bengaluru, a parent said, “My daughter will be five years and eight months at the start of the next academic year. She is in upper kindergarten (UKG) in the same school. But the school is refusing to promote her to grade 1 and insisting that she study UKG for one more year, citing age rules by the government.”

In another case, an application by parents seeking admissions to grade 1 for their child was rejected as the child will be five years and nine months by June 2024.

“When it is clear that the order will be implemented from the 2025-26 academic year, we have no idea why schools are creating unnecessary confusion,” said another parent.

Following complaints received from parents, the Karnataka Private Schools and Colleges Parents Associations Co-Ordination Committee has written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, urging that the order be withdrawn. 

“Because of that order, schools are even refusing admissions to kids aged less than four years for pre-primary grades, which is forcing parents to admit them to illegal/unregistered pre-schools,” reads the letter to the CM.

In the letter, they said refusing admissions may result in child labour and beggary.

“In the last six years, the department issued at least three different orders regarding admission age,” B N Yogananda, president of the Committee, said.

Justifying the order by the government, D Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said, “The order regarding the age limit was issued under the Right for Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act to have an uniform policy across the country.”

He said if some schools were insisting on the implementation of the order from the 2024-25 academic year itself, it is their own decision. 

“If the demand for admissions is high, some schools may be using this criterion to reject applications,” he said.