Age criteria for nursery puts parents in a tight spot

PUNE: Parents planning to admit their kids to nursery classes are in a dilemma.
While some schools in Pune have fixed the age criteria for these admissions at three years, others have put it at three-and-a-half, leaving the parents in a tight spot.
In January this year, the school education department had stated that students seeking admission in nursery should be three years of age as on July 31 and those seeking admission in standard I should be of six years.However, many schools have ignored the government notification and are admitting students as per their own norms.
Sukanta Kumar, a parent, said, "As per the government, July 31 is the baseline date for admissions to nursery. However, some schools have also accepted November 30 as the cut-off date, which is in violation with the government rule."
Archana Ravi, another parent, said, "My daughter was born on August 10, 2013 and misses the baseline date by 10 days. She will have to repeat nursery class so as to meet the age norm. However, some schools are accepting her for junior kindergarten as they have waived the cut-off date set by the government."
Educationalists, however, said the government orders are ideally for Std I and are not binding on nursery classes. Meenaz Shaikh, principal of a school in Camp, said, "We get hundreds of requests from parents with kids in the age group of 2.5 to 3 years for admission to nursery class. We cannot deny them admissions on the ground of the age criteria set by the government."
Meanwhile, state director of primary education Govind Nandede told TOI, "Schools will have to follow the government age criteria irrespective of the board. We will issue a circular this week regarding the same and schools will have to follow it or face action."