KOLKATA: Some of the private schools in the city, which admitted children only when they turned four, and in some cases five, have brought down the admission age cut-off to three years to align with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Don Bosco Park Circus has introduced lower kindergarten (LKG), where children of four years have been taken in for the new session starting April. The school will start nursery classes in the 2024-25 session to admit kids as young as 3+. Apeejay School, at its Park Street as well as Salt Lake campuses, have introduced nursery classes for this 2023-24 session and Mahadevi Birla World Academy lower nursery and upper nursery.
Going by the NE, the age cut-offs for school admission should be 3+ years for nursery, 4+ for LKG and 5+ for UKG. Private schools without a nursery section will have to set up the infrastructure to follow the NE2 pre-school guideline. A principal of a CBSE school said, “It should not be a problem with city schools. But those in small towns and villages need to prepare immediately.”
Most CBSE schools recently received a circular from the board, prompting them to implement the NEP guidelines, from the foundation level to Class XII. Apeejay Schools CEO Kiranjit Pannu said, “A CBSE circular mentions that under the NE, the pre-school system starts from the nursery level with kids of 3+ years. So, we decided to admit kids to nursery from the 2023-24 session itself. We are starting with one section with 25 seats.” Till last year, Apeejay started with LKG, with the age cut-off of 4+.
Mahadevi Birla World Academy has introduced two sections for lower nursery, where kids of 2+ years can be admitted, and three sections for upper nursery with the age cut-off of 3+ years. Principal Anjana Saha said, “We have lowered the entry age cut-offs to 3+ and 2+, given the education policy guidelines.”
Don Bosco Park Circus principal Fr Bikash Mandal said, “We are implementing the NE rules gradually. We are starting with LKG from April 11, and nursery will be introduced from 2024-25. Admission will start from September.”
National Task Force for Early Childhood Education Assocham and director of Nalanda Learning System Tamal Mukherjee, said, “Digital learning in sync with worksheets and age-appropriate curriculum with higher learning outcome are the goals of NE.”
Don Bosco Park Circus has introduced lower kindergarten (LKG), where children of four years have been taken in for the new session starting April. The school will start nursery classes in the 2024-25 session to admit kids as young as 3+. Apeejay School, at its Park Street as well as Salt Lake campuses, have introduced nursery classes for this 2023-24 session and Mahadevi Birla World Academy lower nursery and upper nursery.
Going by the NE, the age cut-offs for school admission should be 3+ years for nursery, 4+ for LKG and 5+ for UKG. Private schools without a nursery section will have to set up the infrastructure to follow the NE2 pre-school guideline. A principal of a CBSE school said, “It should not be a problem with city schools. But those in small towns and villages need to prepare immediately.”
Most CBSE schools recently received a circular from the board, prompting them to implement the NEP guidelines, from the foundation level to Class XII. Apeejay Schools CEO Kiranjit Pannu said, “A CBSE circular mentions that under the NE, the pre-school system starts from the nursery level with kids of 3+ years. So, we decided to admit kids to nursery from the 2023-24 session itself. We are starting with one section with 25 seats.” Till last year, Apeejay started with LKG, with the age cut-off of 4+.
Mahadevi Birla World Academy has introduced two sections for lower nursery, where kids of 2+ years can be admitted, and three sections for upper nursery with the age cut-off of 3+ years. Principal Anjana Saha said, “We have lowered the entry age cut-offs to 3+ and 2+, given the education policy guidelines.”
Don Bosco Park Circus principal Fr Bikash Mandal said, “We are implementing the NE rules gradually. We are starting with LKG from April 11, and nursery will be introduced from 2024-25. Admission will start from September.”
National Task Force for Early Childhood Education Assocham and director of Nalanda Learning System Tamal Mukherjee, said, “Digital learning in sync with worksheets and age-appropriate curriculum with higher learning outcome are the goals of NE.”
