Now, admit your children in nursery in Punjab govt schools. Read how

Also, there were no clear rules on the age of children for admission in pre-primary, which led to fake and dubious enrollments in some schools to inflate the number of students. The latest order, however, makes it clear that the pre-primary education will be of three years — nursery, Lower Kindergarten (LKG) and Upper Kindergarten (UKG) — terminologies followed by private schools.

According to the order, issued by the Special Secretary, School Education, children aged 3 to 4 years have to be enrolled in nursery, 4 to 5 years in LKG, 5 to 6 years in UKG and only those aged 6 years or above will go in Class 1.

The order said the admission to nursery would begin at the beginning of the 2024-25 session taking into consideration the child’s age as on April 1, 2024, and added that nursery students would attend the school for an hour only and a separate curriculum would be issued for them.

Teachers, however, said with a shortage of teaching staff in primary schools, things would only become worse for them as they faced difficulties in managing PP1 and PP2.

Several primary schools in Punjab are running with a single teacher, while the others have a shortage of space. According to the teachers, the AAP government has taken the decision in line with the New Education Policy (NEP) of the Centre.

Speaking with The Indian Express, Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said the decision was taken after noticing discrepancies in admissions in the absence of set guidelines on the age of the children enrolling in pre-primary.

“After I assumed the office, we detected at least 50,000-60,000 enrollments were recorded twice. Teachers had no idea whether children should be in PP1 or PP2. I also failed to understand terminologies PP1 and PP2, which are not used anywhere. It has to be nursery, LKG and UKG — the way private schools use. As far as the shortage of teachers is concerned, 6,000 new teachers are joining. We will end one-teacher a school very soon,” Bains said.

The minister said that the decision had nothing to do with the NEP. “This is our initiative to eliminate fake enrollments and streamline the system. Children cannot be moved to Class I until they turn six,” said Bains. The minister, however, added, “We will soon constitute our state advisory board to take a call on the NEP.”