Dehradun – Under the new education policy, the effect of age requirement is visible in the admissions in class one.
This time in the district, there has been a huge decline in the admission of children in class one as compared to last year. Till the day of admission festival celebrated in schools, only 2495 students took admission in total 785 primary schools of the district. Officials say that in accordance with the provisions of the new education policy, this reduction has happened due to reducing the age of admission in class one to six years. This is the reason why this year there was a decline in the admission of students getting free education under RTE.
According to the standards of the new education policy, the age of children graduating from pre-primary and Anganwadi should be six years on April 1, 2024. Only then can they be given admission in class one. At present, most of the children coming out of pre-primary are between 5-6 years of age. In such a situation, they are not able to get admission in government schools, private schools are giving admission to children below six years of age. In this situation, parents are enrolling their children in private schools. This is directly impacting government schools and a huge decline in admissions is being seen. In the first phase, out of the total 6544 seats reserved under RTE in the district, only 3891 seats were admitted, while 40 percent seats remained vacant.
District President of Government Primary Teachers Association, Gulab Singh Sirohi said that children are leaving Anganwadi at the age of five but admission in government schools is taking place at the age of six. In such a situation, private schools are taking advantage of this and giving admission to children. Due to this, there has been a decrease in admission in government schools.
DEO Basic, Udham Singh Nagar, Harendra Singh Mishra said that according to the new education policy, only children who complete six years of age by April 1, 2024 are being given admission in class one. Due to this, admissions in primary classes are decreasing. In order to keep the children in the mainstream, this time the age limit has been relaxed for the children who have completed pre-primary education in private schools. This is the reason why admission of children below six years of age is being taken in private schools.
