IF the waiting list for admission in nursery was long last year, brace for more. The crowd is set to get bigger as many parents of many children, some too young for their
Peers and who did not perform as per expectation last time, want them to repeat the class.
After the courts fixed three years as the minimum age for nursery admission last year, many children who were too young to attend formal schooling were put in nursery. Many schools are now saying that these children should apply for prep instead of nursery
as they are more than four years.
These schools do not want a varied age group in the same class.
But parents insist that schools should let these four-year-olds to Repeat nursery and enable them the time for transition into a formal school system.
Many schools, though, have come out with an upper age-limit for children seeking admission to pre-school. Among these are DPS-Mathura Road and Bal Bharti School in Rohini.
Results: parents who want to repeat their children in nursery have a shortened list of schools.
Take Shilpa Gupta, for instance her Yuvaditya, then three, got admissions in a reputed school last year but she is worried that the boy has not been to pick up even the basics. Gupta said Yuvaditya was younger than most children in his class and wants to
Repeat him nursery.”When we got through last year (she does not want to name the
School), we took it the opportunity since we were scared he might not be successful in another good school. But he was too young – he wasn’t even able to hold a pencil!”
Repeat due to rejections
Also, hundreds of parents who were rejected last year now want to take another shot at a “good public school”.
Jaspreet Singh Sahni said barring a handful of schools that will admit children at age four-plus years, all other doors are closed. And even schools that have not mentioned an upper age limit, parents claimed, would not admit children who are more than four.
“We are in a fix now.” Sahni said “Even if my child is over four, he comes under the criteria of three-plus years, as spelt out in the government order. But some schools are saying they won’t take in a child even a day older than four years.”
Why some could not perform
In many countries, the age is more than five years for nursery. The reason being the rush and pressure for admission intimidates if the child is too young, say experts.
As per last year’s court order, only two years of formal schooling nursery and prep (or preschool and pre-primary, respectively)- is enough before Class I. Earlier there was nursery, kindergarten (KG), and prep.
Experts say the children suffer in this rat race for admission in prestigious schools. Nitya Ram swami, head of child development and academics in Zee Schools, said a formal school environment is damaging to learning Potential if a child is too young. “If children are pushed, it might hurt their interest,” she said. “What we have to keep in mind is the child has to be ready – one shoe size does not fit all.”
Interestingly, while Education Secretary Rina Ray told News line that schools under the Directorate of Education’s purview cannot specify an upper age limit for pre-school, most institutions refer to last year’s Supreme Court order giving thcm autonomy in setting criteria for admissions.
Age Issues
Only nursery and prep/pre-primary compulsory before Class I KG class abolished. Earlier, there were three years of schooling before Class I: nursery, KG, and prep
Schools, if they have necessary infrastructure, can have nursery classes A central government bill to raise age for admissions to preschool class to three years and 10 months is in the works Vasant Valley School, which issues forms next month, will admit children who are four years and more to nursery Bloom Public School will admit four-plus kids to prep
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