Despite NEP, Delhi schools to continue to admit students under six in Class 1

Officials further said that no decision has been taken on when the DoE will start implementing the NEP 2020 guidelines.

Meanwhile, schools in Delhi have expressed concerns such as space constraints, commercial aspects, need for additional teaching staff, and financial burden on parents with regard to implementing the NEP 2020 recommendations for admitting students in Nursery, KG and Class 1 this academic session.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Minakshi Kushwaha, Principal of Birla Niketan, Pushp Vihar, said, “We have not received any specific guidelines from the government to follow the new NEP system which suggests three years of pre-schooling before a student can go to Class 1. Moreover, it will need time, money and permission from MCD etc to expand the schools infrastructurally to accommodate more students due to an increase in class sections. For now, it is the status quo.”

According to Suruchi Gandhi, Principal of Bal Bharati School: “Implementing the NEP 2020 guidelines which says that students should spend three years in pre-school before being admitted to Class 1 is not that simple. We need to take into account several aspects like space constraints; if there are going to be more sections, there are going to be more students too. The government will have to address how public schools can be provided with more space. Secondly, how will parents react to this change? Apart from the financial burden which will increase, parents will also wonder why they should have to put their child through the burden of an extra year of school.”

She further said, “Right now, we are prepared for two years of pre-school as usual…We have set aside a few rooms for additional classes and have been providing our teachers NEP training.”

A principal of a Delhi school, on the condition of anonymity, said, “We would need more teaching staff, would need to raise their pay, which would be difficult as the government has allowed very minimal fee hike in the past years for public schools.”