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ShareMumbai: As a part of our series on nursery admissions, DNA has got experts in child development to answer your doubts. We bring you child development expert Nitya Ramaswami, head of Development and Academics, Kidzee, to shed light on parents' doubts.
My son is 1.5 yrs old. What is the advisable age for admission in nursery? What will be the advantages and disadvantages if I compare CBSE and ICSE boards? Which board is better in terms of getting continuation in admission abroad? What basic hygiene factors are to be checked before taking admission in any school like faculty, timing, school bus etc? What are legal aspects in terms of school admission?
The age to admit your child in nursery would be 2.5 years. As I had mentioned earlier, CBSE and ICSE are national boards; each board has its strengths and probably a set of challenges. All these boards are designed by the apex body of educational planning and administration. So, the curriculum will be child centred. It is better to opt for these boards if you are in a transferable job. Most of our children from the educational boards in our country do well overseas. We have empirical data for the same, so please focus on the neighbourhood concept when you choose a pre-school for your child along with the following factors before you chose the school -- location of the pre-school, security, reception and how the adult in charge was able to attend to you with care and interest, outdoor and indoor equipment, number of wash rooms, their state of cleanliness, and the presence of neat and tidy staff, teacher student ratio, curriculum followed, discipline policy if any, their emergency plan during a disaster and transport facility.
My daughter's date of birth is 19 February, 2007. We got her admitted to nursery class (CBSE) when she was 2+ on 1 March, 2009 as this was the admission criterion of the school. She will be 17 when she will complete 12th Standard and we have come to know that most of the institutes (and colleges) have a minimum age criteria of 18 years. If this is the case then she will have to sit idle for 1 year to be eligible for further education. How far is this true and should she continue in nursery next year?
The idea of helping your child take the early years slowly and steadily is good, because she will always be a little younger for the class. The children enter college, i.e., degree courses at 17.5+
Can you advise me whether it is beneficial for me to enrol my child in a Montessori school for nursery admission? How is it different from other boards?
Pre-school education will always stand your child in good stead. Montessori is a very classic and time tested method of educating children; the method is child-centric and self paced, opens the senses of the child to the world around. I must reiterate that no board governs pre-school education. Yes, various methods like playway, Kindergarten, Regio Emilia, etc do bring in the difference in execution in the pre school domain.
(As told to Priya Ramakrishnan)
Write in to us at education@dnaindia.net to get your queries answered.
