Karnataka relaxes age criteria for class 1 admission for 2025-26 | Bengaluru News
BENGALURU: Following requests from parents, the state government has decided to relax the age criteria for class 1 admission for academic year 2025-26. With this, children who are 5.5 years and have completed UKG or equivalent can enrol for class 1 this year in the state.
Speaking at a press conference in Samagra Shikshana Karnataka on Wednesday, school education minister Madhu Bangarappa said this relaxation is only for this year.
From next year, a child has to be 6 years by June for class 1 admission. The decision has been taken based on the recommendation of the State Education Policy committee, said the minister.
It may be recalled that the govt first changed the minimum age required to enrol in class 1 from 5.5 to 6 years in July 2022. The school education department then said that the move was in alignment with Right to Education and National Education Policy. Around 21 states had made it so until then.
However, protests erupted from parents and schools as admissions were already completed for that academic year. Following protests, the department issued a circular again in November 2022, that the new rule will be applicable only from 2025-26. This gave enough time for children in lower kindergarten and upper kindergarten to move on.
However, those who had joined nursery class (many private schools offer a pre-KG, which is not prevalent in govt schools) in 2022-23, could not meet the age criteria in 2025-26.
With this, this group of parents approached the school education department seeking exemption for the current batch. Parents pointed out that the repetition was causing not just a financial burden on them but also emotional distress as the children are unable to get promoted.
Meanwhile the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools of Karnataka urged the government not to entertain their requests.
The department decided to pass the responsibility to the SEP committee, even while the parents demanded that decision be taken quickly as admissions were closing everywhere.
