Drained by 2 schools in Hyderabad Part II

Part II
Here is my check list for what we as parents should consider in the process of selecting a school for our children.
Lessons learnt:
a) Make a thorough study of the founders.
b) Know the set of parents that the management takes input from.
c) Understand all the powerful connections of the school – open or close your mouth accordingly.
d) If it’s the only branch than be aware of the syndrome of milking the cow dry.
e) Check on faculty/teachers/principal qualifications – demand to see the qualifications of the teachers as they demand ours during admissions. Find out why a school requires counselors for children as young as 10-11 years.
f) And a bit personal here – if you are a globally aware parent and bought up to respect only education & bringing up a globally conscious citizen then take a school that you feel comfortable walking in your pajamas and still get some respect.
g) In this rush to give our children a better schooling, let’s not overlook if the school & the eco-system around it (includes parents too) can instill fundamentals like openness, integrity, culture, honesty and simplicity.

Importantly, list out basic & a little more than basic amenities that you as a parent think your child requires. I have put an estimate for the fee structure in brackets, its a ball park figure. For example, under basic(~30K):
1) Good teachers, that is teachers with B Ed,M Ed or MS (for higher classes).
2) Well designed labs for sciences
3) Clean classrooms with practical benches & chairs.
4) Clean toilets
5) Simple lunch & Drinking water
6) Large Sports area for athletics & team games
7) Extra activities like painting & art.
8) One annual excursion.
9) A doctor/nurse and access to medical care
10) Decent buses for transport


Under mid-level luxury amenities(in addition to above)(~50k):

1) Special sports like tennis, skating, karate, swimming pool
2) Teachers with PhD’s for plus 2.
3) 2 long distance excursions in a year
4) Restrooms with lockers (for girls)
5) Audio-video class room for global conferencing with other schools
6) Participation in at least 2 international competitions.
7) Sculpture, piano, violin, guitar, sitar classes

Amenities that are a luxury(>1 lakh ):
1) Air-conditioned class rooms
2) Air conditioned buses
3) Designer furniture in class rooms
4) A maid for every class (after class 3)
5) Biometric attendance register for teachers/students
6) Audio-visual systems in every class room.
7) Dedicated computer for every child or e-notebook.
8) One or two international excursions from class 5
9) Special Tutors for children willing to pay extra.
10) Swanky buildings with mosaic flooring
11) Huge disco or musicals troops for events

make an educated choice, one that makes you comfortable not your neighborhood.

Drained by 2 schools in Hyderabad

I am a parent of a 7 year old, and this is my story of how 2 schools in Hyderabad have sucked out every ounce of rational thoughts on schools.

2007 saw our tryst with schools in Hyderabad (Chennai was a dream as my kid was in excellent school– a school I regard with very high esteem. Mind you the fee was higher than what we have ever paid but it was worth it). For pp2 we approached Meridian, as Ms Usha Reddy was from valley school and knew the system from which my kid was coming from.She gave us admission in the main school at Banjara but we opted for the one at High-tech city due to proximity. There were issues from beginning, the teacher was not qualified, the food was transported from main school in open containers and was spicy, the school didn’t have a permanent structure and at that time didn’t have government recognition – and basically there was no one who had given thought on the kind of education to impart to the young minds. Then came the surprising steep fee rise, with no development plan to share and the final nail was the extremely abusive behavior and language of then principal(was moved out within month of parents protest) Ms Razdan. Though in retrospect I have to commend the way Ms Usha Reddy handled the parents meet and in many instances intervened to tone-down Ms Razdan’s address. Anyway, as we realized that Meridian, at high-tech city will never improve on facilities we checked out Chirec in 2008. Again we didn’t have any illusions on the fee structure (which was same as meridian but had facilities & till class XII) because as ordinary citizens knew that unless there is a regulation from government or a social revolution the high fees is here to stay, thanks to the new found wealth of the IT & real estate crowd.

We met two extremely nice teachers for the interview – who looked so much like teachers at the school in chennai that any apprehensions on entering a ‘’all spit & polish’ type of school was put to rest and our kid got admission with very little hassle. So to cut a long story short, 2009 gave us GO 91. I was happy that at last the government was doing something for ordinary people. The IT sector was sluggish and hence a large section of parents actually formed associations to negotiate with schools. As seasoned observers of citizen strife, we watched and waited. Knew that natural laws of politics will take over – soft peddling, court cases, politicians with educational interest sidelining the issues, bureaucrats who can just pass an order and don’t have the will to see it implemented…. At this stage, comes the call from Chirec management to talk to parents – no agenda was given – it was our first exposure to the management. The meeting started off with how an association was formed by parents, against the wishes of the management and challenging the decision of the school selected parent’s advisory committee. The principal started off identifying the parent who had initiated the formation of Chirec school parents association (CSPA) by name and went on to narrate how he came in and begged for a seat for his child etc….. This really irked many of us who had come in to have a conversation rather than accusations.

But then, as a socially conscious & believer of the power of majority in representational bodies, I entered the heated argument to initially get the two sides to see each other’s view points. But at this time, a lady from the advisory committee enlightened us with some extremely ludicrous narrow view of the world. This got me rolling …

Anyway, the meeting tuned out like our lok sabha – I spoke based on points that were listed on the Go-91 which under some conditions could allow schools to increase fees. A point that I spoke which I will mention here (as it seems the bone of contention) is the request of the school to show some part of their accounts to the DFRC (committee setup by government) and here I reiterate, I didn’t ask them to show on how much is spent on toilet papers but on major expenses that all us can understand & reason out. So the meeting ended with some very trivial & laughable examples(something about salary to servant…) from a very excited lady – again a member of the advisory committee, I presume.

The management categorically said that they are against implementing RTE, as its against the philosophy of the school & of the parents of the school. Here too, I reasoned that it is a political will and if the government is serious they will get everyone in line – parents protests not withstanding. The management also said that the majority of the parents had agreed to pay for the case in court to remove a religious structure near the compound wall of the school.

That was it, we shrugged off handshakes of agreement and the harsh glares of disagreement with equal balance and went off thinking it was a Saturday well spent!. After which we saw a newsletter with words like ‘vast majority’ ‘majority’ etc… with no numbers of course. It would make a statistician turn in his/her grave!

This was followed by months of immature behavior from parents during pick up, the loud whispers in broken grammar but accented English about me, the dress I wear etc… again ignored with nary a thought and just a smirk at the peanut brains clad in designer wear.

Then on 20^th of March, got a call from Chirec office saying that principal madam wants to meet me. Again with the mysterious method the school functions, there was no info on why. So I went – totally unprepared. There were three people, the principal Ms Khanna, Mr Harpeet Singh, IAS(found out he is the current MD of AP Dairy development corporation) and Mr Kishore, businessman(?). Ms Khanna started off saying that maybe in light of what I voiced during the meeting, we should reconsider my kid’s continuation in the school. I asked if she wants my kid out of the school, the answer for which was that unlike Niraj Public school which was issuing letters to dissenting parents to take back their kid, Chirec was being nice to talk to the parents. A letter would have been better than the meeting. And to continue , she talked about the philosophy of the school and its passion for education. She went on to say how my comments hurt the feeling of many parents and the founder and that she worked very hard to keep them away from harming me (maybe this set were from the goonish clan of the society) . Then the three went on to talk down to me, they said that being blunt was not appropriate, and with all the power that comes from being in political positions asked me to ‘feel with my heart’ the faith in the school. They harped on a question I had asked the class teacher (which she denied mentioning to the principal later), if the school will hold out on us & the child for comments made at the meeting. The three in all the power their position bestows on them went on to talk to me like I was a school kid…the principal even when to the extent of giving me an advice!!!!!!. I knew that I had to walk out as I do perceive this as subtle threatening & bullying but I didn’t walk out (my spouse said I should have), instead said that if they get more parents representatives than it would be better - for which the principal with great vehemence that she would never consider taking any representation from people like me.

They said that all the CSPA members had apologized and given in writing that they have faith in the school and will follow without a protest whatever the school does.

So what makes the bile come up – one, the singling out of parents to intimidate by other parent reps ; second, the secrecy of the whole thing; third, the totally snobbish attitude of the principal. Even if she had not condoned the actions of some of the parents who supposedly wanted to go after me, I would have come off that meeting less disgusted.

I am just a ordinary parent and cannot do anything about the mental trauma of the episode and like the character in R K Lakshman’s cartoon, all I can do is observe with an umbrella and like the R K Narayana’s actors just hope that ‘someday the government will work for ordinary citizens like me”.

I use all the players’ names because I am blunt and its time we start being so. As an ordinary citizen my weapon is bluntness and honest opinion – I will leave diplomacy and veiled comments to the powerful.

I removed my child from the school, as the principal said “ maybe my child will not be happy continuing at Chirec’!!!. And funnily, when we went to the annual report card collection meeting with the class teacher, she said they had checked our kid out and also came checking on us when we were speaking to her. There is a good word for this….

This saga is verbatim of what happened and is not intended to defame anyone - its a report of a meeting that i wish had not taken place at all.