Get character certificate from a local magistrate

School asks parents to provide legal undertakings guaranteeing good behaviour, if they want their children to continue as students

Get character certificate from a local magistrate

School asks parents to provide legal undertakings guaranteeing good behaviour, if they want their children to continue as students

Disciplinary action is taking on a new, rather extreme colour in Mumbai schools.

On February 2, MiD DAY had reported that the authorities of Maneckji Cooper High School in Juhu had asked for character certificates from parents who wanted to admit their toddlers.

The notice the school sent to parents asking for an undertaking of good behaviour

A similar incident has been reported again, this time at Prime Academy School (ICSE), Andheri.

Std X students have been asked to present what is being referred to as 'an undertaking of good behaviour,' guaranteed by the students' parents, before a magistrate court.

According to a new circular issued by the school, those parents who fail to produce this legal undertaking will not be allowed to register their wards for the academic session 2011-2012.

The school authorities are justifying their decision, claiming that pervasive bad behaviour from students in the previous academic year compelled them to take such a step.

Meanwhile, complaints are pouring in to the Forum for Fairness in Education (FFFE), an NGO, from the parents of students at Prime Academy.

However, parents are shying away from coming on record to the press, as they wish to safeguard the interests of their children, who are appearing for the crucial board exams this year.

Legal hassles

Jayant Jain, president of FFFE, said, "I have been receiving calls as well as e-mails from flustered parents. They are all baffled at the unfair demand made by the school.

They feel it is humiliating for them to stand before a magistrate for such certificates, as if their children were guilty of insubordination.

The parents are forced to waste time and effort hunting for advocates. Moreover, it is an expensive procedure."

He added, "FFFE will lodge a complaint with the deputy director of school education, and also report the matter to the education minister asking him to ensure that such practices are stopped."

The Other Side

Chaula Joshi, director of Prime Academy, said, "This is not a new practice. We always ask for an undertaking from parents.

The school diary has a form, which requires the parents to accept the rules and regulations set by the institution. This is common to all the schools.

In spite of this, we faced severe disciplinary problems last year. There have been cases where the students have assaulted their teachers, even struck them.
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We will not condone this behaviour, and particularly don't want other students to be influenced by these problem-makers. Thus, we have taken this firm step in order to maintain general order and decorum in the school."

Joshi added, "This has been done keeping the children's well being in mind, to ensure parental cooperation. If we do not come down hard on them now, they will face problems in future."