Thiruvananthapuram: From the new academic year, children below the age of six cannot be enrolled in Class 1. This is in line with the National Education Policy, 2020, and Kerala government has also started taking steps to implement it.

The current norms for the state government-aided schools also stipulate that the children should be six years old for admission to Class 1, but those who are above the age of five are also admitted. But when the Centre’s policy is implemented, exemptions will not be permitted.

The CBSE and ICSE schools will also strictly implement the age criteria. The Kendriya Vidyalayas had decided on this earlier itself.

As per the new policy of the Centre, Classes 1 to 5 are  primary, Classes 6 to 8 are upper primary and only  classes 9 and 10 will comprise the high school.

The National Education Policy has also proposed to consider Classes 9 to 12 as one section. In Kerala, steps are being taken to integrate the high school and higher secondary sections.