Maharashtra sets minimum age for school admissions, with June 30 as cutoff date

The Maharashtra government has fixed the minimum age for children's admission to schools. The rule will apply to admissions from pre-primary classes to Class 1. The School Education Department has issued a government order for this.

The biggest change in the new rules is the date on which age is counted. Until now the date was December 31, but going forward a child's age will be counted with June 30 as the cutoff date.

The age rules will be implemented in phases from the academic year 2027-28. From the academic year 2030-31, a child must have completed 6 years of age for admission to Class 1.

Under the earlier arrangement, the school admission process under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, was set by a government order of June 11, 2010. It fixed the age for Class 1 at 6 years. Even so, children who had completed 5 years were also considered eligible for admission.

Schools affiliated to different education boards, such as the Maharashtra State Board, CBSE, ICSE and IB, operate in the state. These schools were using different age limits and different cutoff dates for Class 1 admission. For pre-primary admissions, there was no uniform age rule at all. For this reason, the government has fixed minimum age criteria for all the classes concerned.

The Centre has said a child must be older than 6 years for admission to Class 1. In line with the National Education Policy, the Maharashtra government has now set the age limit for pre-primary to Class 1.

School heads will be allowed a relaxation of 15 days in the minimum and maximum age limits. However, enrolment in foundational classes and admission from nursery to Class 1 must follow the directions of the National Education Policy 2020.

Detailed instructions and guidelines on the new age norms will be issued by the Directorate of Primary Education. The decision is expected to bring uniformity to age rules for admission in schools of different education boards.