Goa, Oct. 3 -- The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has set the minimum admission age for Class 1 at six years, bringing India's schooling norms in line with global standards. The policy recommends three years of pre-primary learning before formal education, ensuring that children enter school with essential cognitive, social, and emotional readiness. Countries such as Finland, Sweden, and Germany also begin formal schooling at six or seven, reinforcing the global consensus that this is an appropriate threshold.

Research supports that children starting school at six are better equipped to handle academic demands. At this stage, they generally have stronger attention spans, foundational language abilities, and early problem-solving sk...