December 28, 2010 8:44:39 AM

Sana Shakil | New Delhi

Discontentment prevailed among the parents waiting to admit their toddlers into nursery classes in the national Capital on Monday, as some city schools decided to keep the age criterion as four. While most schools have set the age criterion for nursery as three, schools like Ahlcon Public School, Mayur Vihar have decided to go ahead with four.

A mother of a three-year-old said, “This confusion ought to take place, as the age criteria was not mentioned anywhere in the guidelines released by the Directorate of Education. Schools have been given the freedom to do anything by the Government. It is only the parents that will suffer”.

RK Sharma, principal of Ahlcon Public School, Mayur Vihar while confirming the age criterion as four, had earlier said, “There was some confusion on age, so we have decided to keep four plus as the age for admission in our school.”

Razia Khan, mother of a three-year-old from Mayur Vihar expressing her anger said, “We had made all plans to admit our daughter in Ahlcon Public School from this year but then suddenly the school changed its plan. Staying in East Delhi, this was the best option for us. The Government should take action against such schools”.

Similarly, Gagan Batra, another parent of a three-year-old from East Delhi, said, “I am dissatisfied. The grasping power of children is better than adults. So, the sooner they go to an organisation, the better they will be at grasping things. What will we do if other schools also start taking sudden decisions like this?”

With just three days to go for the admission procedure to start, the parents seemed a pitiable lot on Monday with confusion still prevailing on the age criteria for nursery.

Sumit Vohra, founder of admissions nursery.com, a forum for parents' queries, said, “Some schools are keeping the age criterion as three years and six months for nursery whereas some schools like  Ahlcon Public School are keeping it as four. Parents are panicking that other schools might also change their age criteria all of a sudden. All these problems are arising because there is no specification of age in the guidelines issued by the Government.”

Notably, the school that has kept its age criteria as three years and six months is Mount Carmel School.

Meanwhile, there were also some parents who expressed happiness on the age criteria being made four in some schools. Sarabjeet Singh, father of a three-year-old from Rohini, said, “The Government should make the age criteria as four for all schools across Delhi and NCR. I think my son is too young to get admitted in nursery. I think this is a good step taken by Ahlcon Public School.”