30 May,2011 06:47 AM IST | | Team MiD DAY
Brought together by MiD DAY, all agree jaw-jaw better than war-war to resolve several issues of concern
Au00a0campaign by MiD DAY to bring to the fore issues parents have with schools came to a befitting end yesterday at a symposium called 'School Concerns', with Zilla Parishad (ZP) officials announcing at the open forum organised by this newspaper that they would start a helpline and introduce the concept of an open house to address parents' concerns.
A parent of a child studying in a city school gives vent to his grouse at a
symposium organised by MiD DAY titled 'School Concerns' yesterday at
a popular hotel
The announcement was made by Vidya Shinde, secondary education officer, ZP, who attended the symposium at a popular hotel.
The symposium, organised as the finale event of a 10-day campaign run by this newspaper on various issues concerning parents in schools, was attended by school principals, parents and officials from the ZP and the Pune Municipal Corporation's education board.
MiD DAY campaign
During the 10-day campaign, MiD DAY had received complaints from parents across various schools, on issues ranging from illegal admission interviews and forcible sale of study material to irregular fee hikes.
While the campaign was on, though education officials promised action against errant schools, some of which even reprimanded through notices, no concrete action was seen. MiD DAY realised the need for a dialogue between education officials and parents as well as school principals so that solutions to long-pending issues could come out of it.
The symposium
Principals from various schools attended the debate with parents and put forth the best practices adopted by their school to tackle some issues that other schools were facing.
Romen Ghosh, director of IB school Victorious Kidss Educares, pointed out that having regular meetings with parents can help solve a lot of issues and also help parents understand the reasons behind a school's decisions by making them active participants.
At the same time, some school managements introspected and agreed that schools need to cooperate with parents to break through the communication barriers.
Koyna Zaveri, director of BG Academy, pointed out how issues of fee hikes can be resolved if schools are transparent about their auditing process and their expenses.
MiD DAY impact
While the debate was very interesting and did turn heated in bits and parts, what was important was that solutions were put forth by both principals and parents.
Priya Singh, chairperson of Parents Teacher Association from Rewachand Bhojwani Academy (RBA), said that most issues of parents concerning schools stem from the fact that there is no redressal mechanism.
"When school managements don't respond to parents' concerns, they approach education officials. But we go away disappointed as there is no effective redressal there as well. Can the authorities start a helpline where a parent finds a one-point contact for lodging all his concerns as well as a fixed time limit for redressal?" she said.
Vidya Shinde quickly agreed to this, and said that she would soon introduce a helpline for parents. "I like this idea and it can be done. We will think of a mechanism where we will introduce some kind of a roster for all complaints with a time schedule for solutions," she said.
Principal Nalini Sengupta from Vidya Valley School suggested creating a forum where all principals, parents as well as education officials can meet.
"Let there be across-the-table discussions with concerned schools and parents and we as principals can help in coming to an agreeable solution," she said.
This solution, too, was promptly taken up and Shinde requested MiD DAY to be a part of the implementation.
"Every six months we have a meeting with principals but parents aren't a part of it. But now on we can have one member from each school's PTA to be a part of it. Apart from them, those attending this meeting can be a part of it by giving names to MiD DAY, who can submit a list of people and issues to us," said Shinde.
