From this year, Delhi schools will be continuing to take in students to Class 1 who are under the age of 6. However, the recent letters to all the states from the Union government wanted something else, as they demanded the alignment of the age of entry to Class 1 with the novel National Education Policy 2020.
In March 2022, the Union government expressed in the Lok Sabha that there are huge variations among the states relating to the age criteria on which students are admitted to Class 1. As of March 2022, there are 14 States and Union Territories that permit Class 1 admission to children who have not touched the age of 6.
In a situation like this, it is important to understand the right age for children to start their formal education from Class 1.
The New National Education Policy 2020's guideline on the minimum age of admission to Class 1
As per the new National Education Policy, there should be a "5+3+3+4" design for formal schooling. The policy guideline advocates this design which corresponds to the foundational years (age group 3-8 years), preparatory stage (age groups 8-11 years), middle stage (age groups 11-14 years), and secondary stage (age groups 14-18 years). Therefore, early childhood education, i.e. the pre-school education provided to the age group of 3 to 5 is also a part of formal schooling. Therefore, a child who wishes to get admitted to Class 1 should be 6 years old to become eligible, after finishing early childhood education for three years.
Are there any scientific studies to support this?
Well, yes. In his paper named "School starting age: the evidence", David Whitebread, belonging to the Faculty of Education, Cambridge University expressed as to why children may require ample time to develop before commencing formal education.
Whitebread expressed in his research that other studies have suggested that students of New Zealand who are of age 5 and have started their formal lessons did show improvement in reading development but rather proved to be damaging. Additionally, by the age of 11, such students demonstrated less positive attitudes towards reading. Moreover, such students also demonstrated poorer text comprehension than other students. In another study of reading achievement in students of age 15 years across 55 nations, it was found that there does not exist and major association between school entry age and reading achievement. This shows that early admission to school does not lead to faster reading or better reading achievements, rather, it can have damaging impacts in return.
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