The confusion over minimum age requirement for admission in schools in Odisha has been resolved by the state government.
The child’s age should be between 5 and 7 years as on March 31 of the respective calendar year.
For pre-primary classes, the age has been set from three to five years for admission.
“For admission in Pre-primary classes, age of the child will be between 3 to 5 years and for admission in Class-I, age of the child will be between 5 to 7 years as on March 31 of the respective calendar year,” the government notification read.
As per the notification, Child With Special Need (CWSN) in the age group of 3 to 9 years can take admission in any entry class as per the availability of seats in the neighbourhood school.
For Economically Weaker Section (EWS), income certificate of parents up to Rs. 1,80,000 per annum shall be valid.
As per the National Education Policy, the age for admission to Class I should be 6 years, while in Odisha schools it was 5 years. This year there was a confusion over age criterion, but the department has now given a clear picture.
While the National Education Policy has not been implemented in many states, different states have different age requirement for admission. Therefore, it has now been decided that the minimum age requirement for school admission in Odisha will be 5 years as before, sources added.
