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