Online application for PP admission is closed but in person application still open for the 2023 academic year

ECCDs to start from 1 March 2023

The online application for Pre-Primary (PP) admission for the 2023 academic year is closed, but schools are still open for partial online application.

Parents who have little idea about the online application can submit the admission application to the school, and the school will enter the admission application on behalf of the parents.

Admission for classes from I to XII transfer cases, excluding XI, will start from 1 January 2023. For normal transfer within the dzongkhags, schools themselves will process it, and students need not have to do it.

Class PP will reopen on 1 March 2023.

The Department of School Education notified all the Dzongkhags and Thromdes that the admission for class PP and the students on transfer from other schools, including private schools, should be done online through the Education Information Management System (EMIS).

For new students, parents must register through the EMIS portal. They will be issued a username and password with which they can login to the EMIS portal and apply for admission of the student. The existing students can login to the EMIS portal using their student code and apply for admission.

Parents or students will have to check the status by logging into the EMIS portal. After acceptance by school, the students must make their decision to accept the school. Once a student accepts the school, they will not be able to apply for admission to other schools online.

While partially online, schools must follow up with the student and enter the student’s decision in EMIS.

For students coming on transfer from ECCD centers and other schools in Bhutan, the schools are to use student code instead of CID as some of the schools and ECCD centers have still not updated their CID, and will result in students getting a new student code.

For a new registration, if the child has not enrolled in any of the ECCD centers or schools, the child has to register under new registration. And for new transfer, if the child was enrolled in ECCD centers or schools before, then the parents have to register as a new transfer student, since they have already been assigned with the student code.

Principals cannot admit transfer students unless the previous school marks them as unreported. Principals and parents must ensure that the correct student code is being used while applying for and admitting students.

If the child has applied to many schools, and if one of the schools accepts and admits the child then the pending decisions from other schools will be automatically changed to already admitted in school.

If the school accepts and admits the child, then the parents or child has no provision to change the school later. If parents or children want to change the decision, it has to be done before the school takes action on the admission.

An official from the Department of School Division said the number of class PP admission has always been high in urban areas compared to rural areas. All the children turning five years old at the time of school admission may not get school admission. Therefore, schools will follow the MoE guideline where children will be enrolled in class PP from eldest to youngest like from 6 years old to month-wise and day-wise. Parents can choose to enroll their child in other dzongkhags if their child’s admission has been rejected due to the age factor.

An official also shared that normally there is about 12,000 PP admissions every year throughout the nation, but the number of PP applicants in 2022 has dropped, and the possible reason could be that the fertility rate has reduced.

Meanwhile, Early Childhood Care and Development will reopen on 1 March 2023 and the admission for government ECCD centers depends on the schedule in each dzongkhag. The enrolment age for the children is from two and a half years to five years old.