Karnataka Schools Association raises concerns over government's plan to lower Class 1 admission age

The government's plan to lower the age requirement for Class 1 admissions has been strongly opposed by the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), which has cautioned that it may cause confusion, technical difficulties, and legal issues.

KAMS encouraged the government to reevaluate the decision in a letter to School Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa, claiming that it would interfere with a three-year-old admissions system and affect students who were readmitted to conform to the current standards.

The forum highlighted that this would also lead to discrepancies between the national government's UDISE+ database, which standardized school admission data nationwide, and Karnataka's Student Achievement Tracking System (SATS).

“Any mismatch in age criteria would lead to data inconsistencies, affecting students’ academic records and making it harder for them to transition between different education boards and states,” KAMS said.

It further pointed out that more than two lakh Karnataka children enroll in CBSE and ICSE schools each year, which adhere to national admission standards, and that a change in Karnataka policy will harm these students when they migrate to other boards or states.

Schools in Karnataka have closely adhered to the age requirements established by the Right to Education (RTE) Act and updated by the government three years ago, according to KAMS General Secretary D Shashi Kumar.

Since many students were readmitted to ensure compliance with the revised age limit, lakhs of students would be in a difficult situation if the government were to modify the requirement at this time. He questioned if the government would give these students double promotions.

Concerns regarding the role of "politically backed" schools in promoting this relaxation were also raised by KAMS.

According to the group, some schools controlled by powerful people—such as politicians and religious leaders—have routinely defied accepted age norms.

Citing an unsubstantiated allegation that five lakh children will be impacted, these schools are now putting pressure on parents to reject the regulation change.

Furthermore, a large number of children have been accepted into unlicensed and unregistered pre-primary institutions that do not adhere to legal requirements.

KAMS claimed that the education department has not taken firm action against these institutions in spite of numerous complaints.

Earlier, the government's implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020's age requirement for Class 1 admissions has outraged hundreds of Bengaluru parents.

Children entering Class 1 must be at least six years old by June 1st of the academic year, according to the rule.

Parents contend that children who had already started their pre-primary education under the former system in the academic year 2021–2022 are adversely impacted by this decision, which was made public in November 2022.

In response to parental objections, the Karnataka BJP government had previously loosened the regulations and permitted students under the age of six to move on to Class 1.

This relaxation was extended to students of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years. However, the government later decided to delay full implementation of the age criterion until the 2025-26 academic year.

Now, parents who had enrolled their children in preschool in the 2022-23 academic year are feeling the impact of the sudden policy change, as no further relaxation has been provided.