Dear
parents of La Chatelaine,
These
are extremely difficult times for running a school There is an indescribable
cloud of fear in the atmosphere and an undercurrent of disquiet in the minds of
the parents. The parents send the children to school with apprehension and the school receives
them with a silent prayer.
It
is bizarre thought! But managing a school has a close resemblance to operating
the Koodankulam Nuclear plant. Both are in constant media glare for the wrong
reasons ; the first mistake you make in either of them will be your last
mistake . In both of them you handle tricky,unpredicatable volatile material
Uranium in Koodankulam; children in school. At the drop of a hat, people throng
Koodangulam forcing a shut down and a small rumour would bring the parents and
rabble rousers to the school gates baying for blood. But both Koodankulams and
the schools are vital for our society. The people of this state cannot have any
meaningful existence without either of them.
What
went wrong? Just a few months back every thing was so normal,so quiet,smiles in
the face of parents and peels of laughter from the throats of the children.!
Then!
One cute kid fell through a hole in the van
floor,another fell down the stairs , a petty fight in the playground took away
the life of a child and a swimming session ended in tragedy for another. All
these misfortunes at schools caught the attention of Television and Print media
and got a saturation cover. The law enforcement machinery went for the jugular arresting the
top management of schools involved. When all these calamitous evvents occur
within a short period of time it is but natural fear’s grip becomes chocking.
The parents fear for their childrens’ safety and school management fears for
their liberty and dignity.
How
to get out of this conundrum of suspicion and self doubt?
TRUST!
Parents’ Trust in the teachers and the school and honesty and sincerity with
which the trusteeship is executed by the School. FAITH ! parents’ faith in the
institution,their belief that the school
staff will never do harm to their
children. Sickness, accidents and misfortunes happen. They happen at home ,out
on the streets and also at schools. The best anyone can do is to eliminate
hazards,remove envisageable risks and exercise maximum vigilance, If this realization
in not there in the parent community and they want arrest of the school head
for any mishap ,the consequences are entirely predictable.
No
physical Education or games because it is physically impossible to watch over
children every minute in a playground .
After all it will take a few seconds for a child to get hurt or a fight to develop and
any number of PETS you have in the ground cannot prevent it.
No
airconditioners in the class rooms since there is always a possibility of short
circuit and fire .Even when we have fire fighting equipment in place the very
fact fire was seen will make the parents panic.
No excursions or external competitions, as when
we take the children out we do not know what problems will confront us. No
teacher will agree to take the children out as the teacher will be held
responsible for no fault of hers.
No
school provided transportation, for fear
of arrest even in cases of accidents that are caused by some drunken driver orf
bad roads.
No
serving of lunch, to the children as it is possible that some parent may blame
the school for a child’s bad stomach and have us arrested for food poisoning.
No
stay over facility or games coaching, as no staff will want to run these
departments because they might be detained.The School Doctor will be scared to
treat our children as he might be charged for incompetence.
So
we have to know from the parents. Do you have complete faith in your school and
will desist from blaming it without enquiry if any mishap occurs?
If
your answer is “YES” we will manage the school as it has been managed during
the last 43 years, provide all
facilities as hitherto though there is a
minuscule element of risk in all of them
If
not, we will limit ourselves to academics and all other activities as games
lunch,transport and all such even remotely risky events will be given up. After
all none in the school want to take
chances and everyone values their
dignity and liberty.
The
course your school takes is to be decided by you. We would follow your collective
advice.
With
regards
Faithfully
yours
Managing
Trustee
