Starting from the upcoming academic session, the Delhi Directorate of Education (DoE) will enforce a rule that children must be at least six years old to enter Class 1 in both government and private schools.
The decision, aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, aims to standardize the age of entry across India but for thousands of Delhi parents, it has triggered confusion, concern, and calendar recalculations. "It's a reform in theory, but in practice, it's delaying schooling for a whole cohort of children," says an anxious parent from South Delhi.
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WHY THE RULE EXISTS: NEP 2020 AND THE 5+3+3+4 MODEL
The NEP 2020 reorganised the traditional 10+2 system into 5+3+3+4, placing early childhood education (ages 3-8) within the Foundational Stage. This stage encompasses three years of pre-primary education (Nursery, LKG, UKG) and Classes 1-2, ideally commencing at age 3 and concluding at 8. So, by design, children should enter Class 1 at age 6 after completing three years of preschool.
However, Delhi's previous structure allowed children as young as 5 years and 3 months to join Class 1, creating a mismatch between NEP guidelines and ground reality.
"We found large ag
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