Parents in fix as board looks at fixing age limit

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Express news service : New Delhi, Fri Dec 21 2012, 01:36 hrs

State Advisory Board calls for cap on upper age limit

With the State Advisory Board on Wednesday fixing the upper age limit for nursery admission, many parents have found themselves in a fix.

The board has decided that “for pre-school, the child should not be more than 3 years, 11 months and 30 days, as on March 30 of the start of academic year in which the admission is sought”.

Many parents who could not get their wards admitted to the school of their choice last year and were hoping to do so this time, will now not be able to do that.

“Last year, my child was just three years and a few days old. Since there was no upper age limit, we felt that there was no harm in letting him continue for another year at the play school,” Paras Chhabra, a parent, said.

Owing to this recent decision, however, Chhabra’s child would be eligible for admission only in kindergarten, which, according to him, is “hundred times tougher than nursery”.

Echoing the sentiments of many other parents, Chhabra said the decision regarding the fixing of the upper age limit was taken “abruptly” and it should not be applied to nursery admission in the coming academic session.

“There are just 10 days left for the registration process for nursery admission to begin and they are coming out with new guidelines. This should be made from the next academic session and not this year,” he said.

Sumit Vohra, the founder of the blog admissionsnursery.com, said parents should not panic as no notification has been issued till now. “There has been no notification so far. It is just a government advisory.”

“We wanted a gap of two years between the minimum and the maximum age limit for nursery admission. Where will those parents who were not able to get there children admitted in a decent school last year go?”

Principal of Ahlcon Public School, Mayur Vihar, Ashok Pandey, said, “With all sympathies to parents who will be affected, some form of a cap needs to be fixed. Those who found it difficult to get seats last year will face the same problem this year too as the criteria for admission has not changed.”

NAVBHARAT TIMES DEC 21