Too bad

I don't understand why they would want to put their children with younger children in the first place. But I think that here it is very hard to fake a birth certificate...

I do not personally know anybody who would go out of his way to fake the birth certificate of his child just to get a part from a play. But I do think that it is possible. Coz some would be really desperate to have their goal. Issuance of fake id's, birth certificate, college diploma, driver's license, you name it, and a lot of people from a certain place here in our country can absolutely do it. I just wonder how come the authorities do not do something about them when these people are openly offering these fake documents on the street.

that's terrible to hear. even if there is lies through bribes or false documentation such as in this circumstance the truth is how is it going to help? people who cheat or continue to cheat eventually have it come back to haunt them. no, nothing like this would probably never happen in my country.

Fortunatly, in spite of some places where people are bribed, we cannot get bribed certificates in our country. We are given a number when we are born and all certificates must be asked in places where machines do the main job. It would be cheaper to pay for a good education for a child that to meddle with the certificates here. I suppose that society is responsible for all of the injustices that you mention and other injustices that I haven`t mentioned that happen in my country. But I think that we are all part of society and I often feel guilty for not doing enough against that.

In my area I've heard of cases where the parents will fake a child's birth certificate to make it appear that they are older than they are, but I've never heard of a case where they are trying to make their child younger than they are. I think that the reason that this is the case is because of the fact that making your child older than they are opens more doors for them while making them younger keeps doors shut for them. Either way that it goes, I really do think that this is something that is quite sad.

Yes this is common practice these days. Even the class in which my kids read all kids look elder than my kids and its really tough for them compete with all other kids.

That is a shame. I would put the blame squarely on the parents. They are not setting a very good example for their children.

hello dada, This is the first time I ever heard such a news. I mean, why parents did such a thing? That's funny- well, yes funny for me. Why should I need to fake my child's birth certificate to lower the age (huh?) Have a great Sunday. Hugs to you and maa

Hi Professor! I was not understanding why these parents would do such a thing, but then I remembered something a teen boy we know had told us (his parents come from India, this boy is being raised here in the US). He said in India, social status depends on how successful your "children" are . . . is that true? If that is the case, then I think I can see why parents would try to be so sneaky about making their kid seem smarter by lying about their age. Well, that is, I can see why they would try to make their kids be the head of the class that way, but I don't approve of it. Not only is it not fair to other children, it's not fair to the child who has to live the lie. This hinders their learning back as well, I would think . . . even though their brains are maturer, if they have passed the peak point of learning a particular skill, they will have lost that valuable time frame forever. At some point I would think it would catch up to them - and they may actually become behind rather than ahead. Does that make sense? I haven't heard of this happening here - in fact it never dawned on me that people would even try to do this (but it's possible that it does happen). I know some parents do put their children back a year in school, but not to make them seem smarter or head of the class - it's more for the child's benefit to place them in a grade that is appropriate for their current abilities. On a side note, I know plenty of people who lie about their kids ages so they get a cheaper rate into places - like movie theaters or amusement parks (but that's different). My question is, isn't it quite obvious that these older kids are indeed older (just by physical appearance anyway)?

Hello Uncle Ji, That's common thing in our society and especially in case of girls. For them it's not only the studies, it'll help them while getting married in Indian society. As a developing country we are still not practical in our approach to life. People are narrow minded and with this kind of attitude they tend to look for the short time gain in anything rather than long term gain/benefit.

I'm just so glad it's not happening at my place. It's such a deceitful practice. And the child will grow up with a fake identity attached for the rest of his life.

I think it's also not fair for the other kids in the lower class. Why would any parents want their older kid to be in lower class? So they can be better than their classmates? I think it's not showed that their kid smart if that's the case. The parents are not setting the good example.

I think the parents are responsible for this. If their kid is 5 years old they should have put her in school rather than play school. Actually my daughter is three and she goes to play school but she has two classmates around 5 years old and these children always get first in painting competition making others kids to loose.

Hi Prof...in the past about 30 years ago, in my country there many violation about birth certification, because most of parents do not care to the certification, they completed it when the child go to the high school or senior high school, so there are many children who have birth date that does not match with the real of their birth date. But, currently most parents realize that birth certification is important to help their child get legal recognition from government especially about their right on education. I am sorry to hear that in your country parents deliberately change their child birth day for certain goal, it is one of the violation for the child as well as other children. In this case, the government should apply straight rule about birth certification to reduce this violation.