Age norms tweaked to let more kids join nursery, KG, Class 1
MUMBAI: The state’s school
education department is modifying its uniform age criteria for nursery,
kindergarten (KG) and Class 1 admissions for the upcoming academic
year, 2017-18. The cutoff date to reach the minimum age — which ranges
from above three to five years, depending on the class — will be pushed
to September 30, 2017, from July 31, 2017, said education officials. The
changes were suggested by educators and parents.
Under the new rules, a child will have to be above three years for
nursery, above four years for junior KG, and five-years and-four-months
for Class 1 by September 30 of that academic year. This will be
applicable for all schools — irrespective of their managements or education boards.
See page 12This means that schools will be able to take in more students than earlier. “We had lost out on some children because the earlier cut-off was July 31. We will call them back for admission as soon as the rules are introduced,” said Savita Venkat, principal, Bombay Cambridge Schools, SSC and CIE, Andheri. Maharashtra has been following a uniform minimum age limit for school admissions from 2016-17. The idea is to ensure that schools admit only children who are six years and above by the academic year, 2019-20. The age-limit was set in a government resolution (GR) dated January 21, 2015, which mentioned that July 31, will be the cut-off to meet the required age.
The new rules are expected to release in the next two to three
days, said officials. But some schools were apprised of the changes in a
meeting on Friday, as the latest January, 10, 2017, GR — on revamping
the admission process to fill the 25% reserved seats under the Right to
Education (RTE) act — states that September 10 should be considered as
the cut-off. Since the January 10 GR is limited to RTE admissions, the
department must change the January 21 GR to extend the new date to all
other admissions. Officials confirmed the process for doing this has
already begun. “We have submitted the file to modify the date mentioned
in the GR to September 30 from July 31 for approval,” said Nanda Kumar,
principal secretary. The GR will be approved by education minister Vinod
Tawde.
Happy with the new rules, most schools said accommodating more children won’t be a problem. “We keep a buffer of 20% for last-minute admissions,” said Father Francis Swamy, principal, St Mary’s School (ICSE) Mazgaon and joint-secretary of the Archdiocesan Board of Education, which runs 150-odd schools in Mumbai. Some schools such as Bombay Scottish School, Powai, are yet to begin admissions and so will be able to alter their criteria easily. “Luckily for us, our admission process starts in February. So by that time the new GR will be released, making things clearer,” said Sunita Geoge, principal of the school.
Happy with the new rules, most schools said accommodating more children won’t be a problem. “We keep a buffer of 20% for last-minute admissions,” said Father Francis Swamy, principal, St Mary’s School (ICSE) Mazgaon and joint-secretary of the Archdiocesan Board of Education, which runs 150-odd schools in Mumbai. Some schools such as Bombay Scottish School, Powai, are yet to begin admissions and so will be able to alter their criteria easily. “Luckily for us, our admission process starts in February. So by that time the new GR will be released, making things clearer,” said Sunita Geoge, principal of the school.
Source: http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
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