AS MANY children and their parents look forward to the beginning of a new academic year today, some may not be able to move up a class but rather have to repeat another year due to regulations likely enforced by the Ministry of Education concerning the standardised age limits for entry points to classes at all schools in the country.

This age limit is not a new regulation. In fact, notices and reminders have been issued by the ministry to all schools in the country informing them of the acceptable age limit for certain classes, in particular Kindergarten classes and Primary One.

What has irked many parents whose children are affected is that the ministry has reportedly chosen to strictly enforce this new regulation today.

According to the 2003 Education Order, Part XIV, Appendix 132 (1), “schools have been reminded to adhere to the age limits that have been standardised by the Ministry of Education in which the pupil must be aged not less than three years on January 1 of the school year for pre-school levels”.

In addition, the order goes on to state that for Nursery or Kindergarten One, the pupil must not be less than three years old by January 1 of the start of the school year; not less than four years old to be accepted into Kindergarten Two; not less than five years old for Kindergarten Three and not less than six years old on January 1 to be accepted into Primary One classes.

Schools, in particular private schools, that are found to contravene the regulations regarding these age limits will face actions that have been stipulated within the Education Order 2003, Section 132 from Part XV ‘Offences and Penalties’, page 1040, which states: “Any person who is guilty of an offence under this Order for which no penalty is expressly provided on conviction shall be liable to a fine not exceeding $5,000 and imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both.”

The second penalty states: “Any person who is guilty of an offence under this Order shall on conviction, in the case of a continuing offence, be liable, in addition to any other penalty to which he/she is liable under this Order in respect of that offence, to a fine not exceeding $500 per day for each day the offence continues.”

The problem lies with the fact that despite many notices, reminders and meetings that have been issued or facilitated by the ministry, very little in the way of enforcement has been made until today, it was learnt.
According to some teachers and principals the Bulletin spoke to, the ministry has given a grace period for enforcing this regulation until March 1 for primary school pupils. However, they confirmed that there would be no such leeway provided for children hoping to enter Kindergarten classes from One to Three. “These will be strictly enforced,” they acknowledged.

“The problem is that when many of these children were accepted, the guidelines concerning the new age limits were not enforced,” said one teacher. When asked why this was so, the teacher could not offer any explanation, citing: “That’s up to the ministry.

“What used to happen previously was that some of these children, despite the fact that they were under the newly-required age limits, proved that they could perform just as well in their classes, not just with their class work but also with the examinations. Unfortunately, for some of them, they will have to go into the new school year knowing already that they cannot join their friends and advance to their new class, simply because they were born a few months later,” said another teacher, who wished to remain anonymous.

For some schools, seeing that the ministry did not enforce this new age limit rule, continued to accept new pupils, simply because they could not turn them away. It was learnt that some schools had accepted pupils well into the hundreds, which had to face the task of informing the parents that their children cannot move up to the next class simply because of the fact that their children are too young.

Many parents have spoken out against this new regulation, asking why the ministry had not done anything about it to inform them publicly.

“When I enrolled my child to school last year, everything was normal. I didn’t hear anything about this new rule. My child went to school, just like everybody else, sat for her examinations, passed them only to learn that she had to stay in the same class again this year? This is ridiculous. Why were we not told about this by the Ministry of Education? And if they did, they didn’t make it clear enough, did they?” said one parent.

“It will be embarrassing for my son,” explained another parent. “I’ve tried explaining it to him, but he just doesn’t understand why he cannot rejoin his friends and move up to the next class. It’s not fair, is it?”

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