DO SCHOOLS MEASURE UP?

What do parents expect from educational institutions? Here are the answers from 300 HT We readers picked randomly for a survey. Majority of the parents want their children to study in English medium schools irrespective of all the other factors but hardly anyone cross-checks the expertise level of teachers at a school before seeking admission for their children. Anita Pathak, mother of two says, ?I suppose one just keeps the faith that a teacher WILL do her job well.

Parents are schooling themselves to ensure the right school experience for their child but there don’t seem to be many good educators around.

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What do parents expect from educational institutions? Here are the answers from 300 HT We readers picked randomly for a survey. Majority of the parents want their children to study in English medium schools irrespective of all the other factors but hardly anyone cross-checks the expertise level of teachers at a school before seeking admission for their children. Anita Pathak, mother of two says, “I suppose one just keeps the faith that a teacher WILL do her job well.

Traditionally, the teacher is seen as a person on a pedestal. But, sadly, the times are a changin’ now.” More and more parents now, want to know about the teachers’ educational background too. As regards meeting their children’s teachers, most parents want to keep the ‘faith’. “I think young parents like us hardly have any time to visit the school on a regular basis,” said Anil Mehta and his wife, who both work as management executives in a multinational company.

They say, “Lucknow has very few good schools. As such, you can ask friends and relatives where their children are studying and then, try to admit your kids to the same school. We take it for granted that if it is a reputed school, our children will be taken care of properly. But I think, increasing commercialisation in education is a problem.”

Indeed! Almost 95 per cent of parents surveyed felt that the standards of teaching have fallen. But, says Priyanka Mathur, a teacher herself, “You will be surprised to know how low teachers are paid today. Some schools make them work very hard and the class is usually bursting at the seams. You cannot expect a teacher to give proper attention to every student in a 45-minute period in a class of 46 or more. Teachers cannot be blamed but yes, today, teachers are less devoted.”

“Still,” interjects her colleague Amita Tiwari, adding that “The main problem is mushrooming of schools. I think the lack of good teachers is like the lack of good professionals in any field. It’s a social problem across the professional spectrum and not specific to the teaching profession.”

Surprisingly, most parents surveyed were not worried about their child being bullied at school. Majority of parents said, their child’s level of confidence came from the support at home that would help him deal effectively with any bullying at school. But several parents did feel that teachers may be partial because they may be friends with parents of other kids.

Almost all parents insisted that they were more focused on the extra-curricular education of their children. Says Seema Kapoor, a doctor, “I think my son has the right environment to be serious about studies. With my husband also being a doctor, I think he will take up medicine as a profession easily in college. But, I want him to be a well-rounded person so, I just put him in the Army school. He can learn horse-riding, swimming etc. there. Studies are important but in today’s competitive world, it’s the well-rounded personality that is required.”

Despite extra-curricular activities being on top of parents’ list for their children, almost all said that they would still like the school to at least send a note home before involving the kids in anything from sports to drama to social service activities. All the parents said, “It’s not a question of monitoring the schools but since we entrust our children for at least eight hours a day to them, we would like to be informed about what our child is doing.”

All parents agreed that schools were now increasingly being viewed as business ventures rather than temples of learning and regimentation aside, school administrators should not act snobbish.

Unless schooling and parenting is co-ordinated, they said, we won’t be making good citizens for the future.