Sep 03, 2014 12:14 PM
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EKYA ITPL: Our Experience:
My child studied in Ekya and here is the feedback:
Administration is completely apathetic about the child. The administration does not really care about you or your child. Their thought process is: Deposit the fee and your child and stay away. Do not complain or question anything or dare to apply your brain.
We(the school) are your only choice and if you dare question our approach or doings, we will put you and your child in BAD books. They say: If you do not like(the issue), take your child somewhere else, no problem. The following are incidents that happened with various parents whose children study there(not only ours). Here are some incidents and examples.
- The child gets lower marks than expected in a subject test of the class. However the parents are not allowed to question this or even see the answer sheet. They can only get feedback from the teacher. So the end result you cannot even tutor at home effectively because you do not know the weak areas and how the child lost marks.
The teacher is too busy to answer your concerns or give attention to the child. So where do you go, you move along. In due course of time as the class level goes higher, you look for tuitions and in turn you are doomed out of your family time or peace. If you try to ask more questions and seek to talk to management, the answer will be “we have RULES”. The principal may meet you and ask you to take your child somewhere else if you are not happy.
- If your child has fallen sick on an exam day. However, the child has diligently prepared for the exam and is motivated not to miss the exam. The parent requests that the child may be allowed to leave early after giving exam. But there is a “RULE” that either the child stays all day in school or doesn’t come to school at all. In case you chose not to go to the school because of not being allowed to leave early,
There is no re-test given. So the choice is either child gives the exam and suffers the rest of the day or the child will miss the exam because there is RULE. You cannot talk logically to anyone who made that rule? There is no contact with the RULE MAKER and you are frustrated. This has even happened to a child who had a fracture in his hand. How heartless.
The school has a weird deadline of March end for payment of fees for the next session(June). If the parent cannot cough up the money by this time, a big fine accrues every month until fee is paid. I have not found a single school that charges fine in such advance notice. If you are keeping penalties for payment after May 15th before the next session, I understand. I checked if there is any CBSE guidelines on charging fee, I could not find in the CBSE BYE-LAWS. So it comes down to school desire to frame the rules and harass parents.
It is hard to find subject matter expert teachers and you will be lucky if you find one for more than a single subject in any year. The teacher situation is not very good in most schools as typically teachers are there by chance and not by choice. You and I know lot of teachers who join these schools for the reasons such as: I have nothing else to do in the day and I can work between 8:30 - 3:30 before my child comes home or I will also get free admission or discounted admission for my child therefore let me become teacher and I will come in the same bus anyways.
There was a time when we had real teachers who used to devote time and work hard to remain in the profession by upgrading themselves in the subject matter and continuously progress. Look at the profiles of the teachers outside India or West and you will notice the difference.
I wish there were more open and child-centric and education-centric choices for students in India like outside countries where parents and children are treated more like clients for the services or education provided by the school. This will open the eyes and motivate school boards, management and educators and teach them a lesson to straighten up and care for the students, quality education and work with parents with one goal in mind, invoking the love of learning in the child's mind. This will create an environment where the child dreams about the school, the teachers and administrators that it respects, cares for and remembers for the rest of its life.
I do not think parents should fall for good infrastructure or shorter distance. A good school is one where the management is available to meet parents anytime, where the administration cares about the child, where the child’s dedication and curiosity is encouraged and the teachers are learned and motivated; where the same should reflect in their actions and interactions with parents. The total environment offered by the school owners should create love for the school and learning in the mind of the child. Also they should teach like west where no extra tuition is ever needed and child seeks the class teacher to find answers and not additional teachers elsewhere in the evening.
