GURGAON: Parents of children who would be below three-and-a-half years of age at the time of admission to city schools on April 1 next year face a major conundrum ? whether to send their wards to nursery class or pre-nursery.

This is because only a few schools in Gurgaon, like Amity International School, GD Goenka Public School in Sector 48, The Banyan Tree World School and Shalom Hills International School, offer nursery admissions to children who attain the age of three.

However, other prominent schools, such as The Shri Ram School, Aravali, The Heritage School, MatriKiran School, DPS Sushant Lok, Lotus Valley, Scottish High International and Salwan Public School, admit only three-and-a-half-year olds to nursery classes.

The other alternative for such parents is to send their wards to a pre-nursery class in any of the big schools, which will also pave way for admission to the nursery class in the same school the following year.

So, why are the parents in a dilemma? The absence of regulatory guidelines for nursery admissions, like in the national capital.

One such parent is Karishma Thakur (name changed on request), a resident of Sector 51, whose daughter was born on October 1, 2011, making her just a day younger than the prescribed age limit of three-and-a- half years on April 1, 2015.

"I don't want my child to waste a year just because she is a day younger than her peers. So I am determined to send her to a nursery class this year only," says Thakur.

According to experts, the age variation in the eligibility criteria is giving parents a nightmare. "As the age criterion varies between three years to three-and-a-half years as of April 1 in the academic year, many parents fail to apply for a seat for their wards in the nursery class. The other dilemma is that some of these schools have an upper age limit of four years. So, if parents wait a year then their children won't be eligible the next year," says Sumit Vohra, the founder of a nursery portal.

Schools, too, don't give any flexibility to underage children because they are the potential pre-nursery students. "We have 50 seats in pre-nursery (for kids who are younger than three-and-a-half years) and we have a policy of confirmed admission to nursery class for such children. The remaining 75 seats are filled up by other applicant," says Sudha Goyal, the principal of Scottish High International School, Sector 57.

About the age threshold, she says, "As an educationist, I suggest it is better to be eldest in the class next year than becoming the youngest in the class this year." The principal of Lotus Valley School, Anita Malhotra, which also follows the same criterion says, "Like any integrated school, we have pre-nursery class. Those younger than three and a half can come to us in the pre-nursery," she explains.

However, some schools are flexible about the age rule in certain cases.

"When a child is younger by just a few days, we don't reject him/her. We give leeway of a month. Moreover, pre-nursery is just a feeder class and students are made to re-apply for admission to the nursery class next year. We only give them a preference over other children just as we give preference to the kids who live in the neighbourhood," says Ruchi Seth, the principal of DPS Sushant Lok.