The Ministry of Education, Government of India, recently told the States and Union Territories that children can be admitted to class-I at the age of six years and above instead of the earlier practice of five plus years. It is stated that the decision is taken in order to bring about uniformity throughout the State.
National Policy 2020 envisages that the extent of 10 + 2 structure in school education will be modified with a new pedagogical and curricular restructuring of 5+3+3+4 covering level I to IV. While modification in the structural designs and curriculum is based on the age needs and aspirations of the people of the country, but raise in age at entry level is debatable. Does age criteria matter in learning? Learning is now easy and flexible than past.
Education is the basic need of every individual. Therefore, attempts are being made by the government to ensure access to education to every individual. By access we mean provision of quality educational facilities within the proximity of each child. "The old order changeth yielding place to new and God fulfils himself in many ways, lest one good custom should corrupt the world," said Alfred Lord Tennyson.
"Education, according to the age needs and aspirations of the country," said DS Kothari. Based on the age needs and aspirations of the country, new educational policy namely 'National Education Policy 2020' was evolved which envisages an education system rooted in Indian ethos that contributes directly to transforming India sustainably into equitable and vibrant knowledge society, by providing high quality education to all and thereby making India a global knowledge super power.
The implementation by previous policies on education had focussed largely on the issues of access and equity. The unfinished agenda of National Policy on Education 1986, modified in 1992 (NPE 1986/92) is appropriately dealt within this policy.
Since the policy is evolved after serious deliberations all over the country and has the approval by parliament, it is unwise to raise issues related to the policy dimensions. However, the age of admission at class one is debatable.
Every child has certain innate abilities. "Education is manifestation of divine perfection already existing in man" said Swami Vivekananda. "By Education, I mean all-round drawing out of the best inchild and man - body, mind and spirit" said Mahatma Gandhiji.
"Education is unfoldment of already enfolded in the germ" said Froebel. Education at primary stage is basically aimed at making internal, external. For human organism life starts from a fertilised ovum in the womb of the mother.
Growth and development which is the basic aim of education starts from pre-natal stage. From the legends of Mahabharatha, we have read that Abhimanya had learnt how to defuse 'Padma-Vyooha'. Learning is modification of behaviour through experience. The behavioural modification takes place to meet environmental requirements. Educationally growth is a very comprehensive term, it includes physical, mental, emotional, moral and social.
Intellectual powers of reasoning and thinking, imagination, concentration, creativity, sensation, perception, memory, association, discrimination and generalisation are by and large need to be nurtured from to early stage.
Initially the child is selfish and anti-social. Gradually he is developed into a social being by learning to behave according to the rules and norms of his society and make adjustment to it. At the foundation stage of education basically we aim to address these issues.
Growth and development are gradual and continuous. At every stage, we expect some behavioural modification. These behavioural modifications are termed as learning outcomes.
The child before seeking admission in Class-I is expected to develop the following competencies
Physical Development:
Children develop habits that keep them healthy and safe: Shows a liking for understanding of nutrition food and does not waste food – practices self – care and hygiene.
Children develop sharpness in sensorial perception: Differentiates between shapes, colours and their shades. Develops visual memory for symbols and representatives.
Children develop a fit and flexible body: Shows co-ordination between sensorial perception and body movements in various activities, shows balance, co-ordination and flexibility in various physical activities.
Socio-Emotional and Ethical Development:
Children develop emotional intelligence i.e., the ability to understand and manage their own emotions and responds positively to social norms. Starts recognising self as an individual belonging to a family and community – recognises different opinions and makes deliberate efforts to regulate them appropriately. Interacts comfortably with other children and adults.
Children develop positive attitude towards productive work and service or 'seva' – demonstrates willingness and participation in age appropriate physical work towards helping others.
Cognitive Development:
Children make sense of world around through observation and logical thinking – observes and understands different category of objects and relationship between them.
Children develop mathematical understanding and abilities to recognise the world through quantities, shapes and measures – sorts objects into groups and sub-groups based on more than one property, identifies and extends simple patterns in their surroundings, shapes and numbers, counts upto 99 both forwards and backward and in groups of 10s and 20s.
Language and literacy development: Children develop effective communication skills for day to day interaction in language. Listens and appreciates simple songs, rhymes and poems; creates simple songs and poems on their own, converses fluently and can hold meaningful conversation, understands oral instruction for a complete task and gives clear oral instruction for the same to others. Children develop fluency in reading and writing in a language. Develops phonological awareness, understands basic structure/format of a book, recognises all letters of alphabets of the script and uses their knowledge to read and write words.
Aesthetic and Cultural Development:
Children develop abilities and sensibility in visual and performing art and express their emotions through art in meaningful and joyful ways - explores and plays with variety of materials and tools to create two-dimensional and three-dimensional art works in varying sizes;explores and plays with own voice, body, spaces and a variety of objects to create music, role-play, dance and movement.
If we closely examine the expected competencies at the end of pre-school education, it is quite obvious, for achieving these competencies three years duration is not required. The competencies as stated are not higher than those that the children are subjected to achieve in the pre-schools presently. The present practice is,even though pre-school education is not managed by the state government, in many states, parents aspire to admit children in Class-I earlier then five plus age, ensuring completion of pre-school education in nearby pre-school education institutions in 2 to 2½ years.
Does age criteria matter in learning? No, there is no age limit for learning. The thing is that age may force or restrict them to learn in adulthood. Many believe that age can constrain learning ability, and some believe that age is the main criteria for learning. It is a myth that age can limit our ability to learn new things, diversify our skills and expand our horizons. If you go with specialisation, you will continue learning process till the last day of your life. Learning is now easy and flexible than past:
Ministry of Education, Government of India, contends that age limit of six years for admissions in class-I is based on the RTE 2009 Act and New Pedagogical, and curricular structure of 5+3+3+4. The RTE Act mandates that every child of the age of sixth to fourteen years shall have the right to free and compulsory education in an neighbourhood school till the completion of elementary education.
RTE Act came into force from 1st April, 2010. The Act covers age but not grade. For the past 14 years, ever since RTE Act came into force, admission age for Class-I has been five plus. Age criteria has not been an obstacle for implementation of RTE Act.
Gone are those days where family life was based on Ashramas. It was believed during the first 25 years of persons life, the period of Brahmmacharya, he gets devoted to education and settles in life and enters GrishathaAshrama at the age of 26. At the age of 50 years gets relived from family duties and enters VanaprasthaAshrama. Due to late marriages, most of the couple get children at the age of 30 or so. By the time children complete education, parents retire. Parents are not getting relieved of children's education even at the latter stage. They aspire that their children complete education at the earliest and settle in life. Every year counts much for them, waiting for six years for admission in Class-I is a curse for them.
"Light but Tight" regulatory frame work in the policies own words, emphasises the importance of autonomy and empowerment. It should within the context, therefore be interpreted as go easy with kids but be strict on quality and standards of education. Therefore the system could go easy with reference to the entry age of kids in Class-I and could be rigid so far as the quality is concerned.
The report of Ashok Ganguly committee on pre-primary and pre-school education in Delhi arrived at the recommendation of five plus years for admission in Class-I. The committee inter-alia recommended that a child should have attained four years of age on or before 31st March of the year of admission to be considered eligible for admission in pre-primary class. Consequently, children completing five years of age on or before 31st March of the year of admission would progress to Class-I.
The directions of Government of India, Ministry of Education Department of School Education & Literacy, asking the state governments and Union Territories to ensure admission to Grade-I at the age of six plus years is not based on the aspirations of the people, with special reference to parents of school going children.
They are comfortable with the existing norms of allowing children to seek admission in Class-I at the age of five plus. Imposing age restriction of six plus years at Class-I, on the pre-text of NPE pedagogical structure and RTE is unilateral and is not based on empirical evidences.
Age criteria does not matter in learning. If we closely examine the learning outcomes achievable during the pre-primary stage as incorporated in National Curriculum Frame Work for foundational stage 2022, three years duration is not required to achieve the learning outcomes. The child possesses innate abilities. They observe minutely, imitate accurately, articulate, translate, innovative, imagine and experiment. These abilities help them to learn faster.
Sometimes, their imagination surprises elders. The typical age of nursery schools is between 2-5 years. This is the ideal stage for the child to explore new boundaries and spaces and a little time away from home and familiar surroundings. The three years of pre-school criteria may be met by allowing early addition admissions into nursery or assessment guided admissions into LKG.
Moreover, a big majority of children are growing up in a nuclear family and city set up, where typically both parents are working with no in-house grandparents to take care of them. Due to late marriages, resulting in late issues, parents desire that their children complete schooling at the earliest. Every year counts much for them. People cannot understand the basic philosophy of the policy.
They expect immediate benefits. The age restriction is forcibly trusted on the parents while the benefits accrued are not visible, the net result is loss of one precious academic year affecting crores of parents all over the country. Therefore, raise in entry age of admission in class one is not a boon but a curse for parents. It is desirable to relax age-limit for admission age in to pre-primary classes and restoring back the admission criteria in to schools across all the states/UTs to what was previously followed in states/UTs with a reasonable tolerance of grace period on the cut-off date for calculation of age.
