09 February,2019 08:14 AM IST | Mumbai | Pallavi Smart
Education minister Vinod Tawde
The Maharashtra state education minister has written to the Central Government, seeking clarity on uniform age for entry-level school admissions. The move comes after a collective of parents from Maharashtra has alleged that their children are missing out on opportunities, because of the lack of uniform age for school admissions across the country.
While in 21 states and 6 union territories of the country the criteria for admissions to class I is completion of 5 years of age, in remaining states which includes Maharashtra, this is 6 years of age. According to the parents, this puts children from Maharashtra a year behind, for no fault of theirs.
Online petition started
An online petition was started regarding the issue, saying the number of students losing opportunities will swell with each passing academic year unless it is resolved. The letter by Vinod Tawde, state education minister, to the Ministry of Human Resource and Development, last month, after the parents met him, is the first step in the direction of uniform age for these parents.
Ravindra Deshpande, who started the petition and has been working for the uniformity of age in entry-level school admissions for almost two years now, said, "We are just requesting that the age be the same across the country because several competitive examinations and other opportunities are at national level."
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Resolve the issue
The issue was revealed after Deshpande was seeking admission for his son in Sainik Schools, where admissions can be done after class V. However, there is a clause which requires the applicant to be 10 years of age.
"But since in Maharashtra, class I admission is after completing age 6, by the time the child passes class V, in many cases the 10 years age is crossed. This also leads to many people forging the age. I decided to change the situation instead of forging my son's age," added Deshpande.
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