In defence of Indian schools
Dear Sir,
This letter is penned in response to the flagrant finger-pointing that has been occurring in the Letters-to-the-Editor-column of your newspaper, whose sole objective is to smear the Indian schools. Being a student at an Indian school for nearly a decade, I can affirm the difficulties a school’s management faces before making a decision.
The decision to send students on foreign educational trips, for instance, is and has never been anything but educational. The parent’s concern (“School trips to foreign countries, Gulf Times, May 4) that these trips are endemic solely to Indian schools is riddled with logical discrepancies, for International and IB curriculum schools under the mandate of the Supreme Education Council (SEC) have more than thrice the number of foreign trips.
I believe such a small concern should not be raised with the SEC which has already tightly bound the hands of Indian school management with incessant protocol that almost always conflicts with the CBSE dictum.
Another parent’s concern (“Schools should use minibuses”, Gulf Times, May 7) that “a school near the religious complex” is using large buses instead of minibuses to “maximise profits” is another overstatement. When the school has thousands of children, and limited funds to hire buses, the school is forced to use economic alternatives.
Many schools in Qatar, one may note in this context, aren’t even able to have enough buses to accommodate increasing student numbers. And the fact that the buses operated by the “school near the religious complex” drop all these thousands of students home safely every single day is testament to the fact that profitability is not the institution’s highest priority.
I would think twice before calling the principal of the “school near the religious complex” a profit-minded man, considering the fact that he stands out in the 40 degree temperature nearly every day, ensuring that your children make it to their buses safely.
To criticise constructively is one thing, but to criticise without basis is quite another.
Aditya Divakar Karkera
Grade 11
“School near religious complex”
Transportation woes for pupils
Dear Sir,
I am writing in support of the letter “Schools should use minibuses”. I fully agree that the buses should drop children close at their houses. My daughter studies in a popular Indian school, and it pains me every day to see her walk under the hot sun after the tiring journey in a big bus which at many times have airconditioners not working.
The bus driver, for his own convenience, drops her at about 200-300 metres from my house. The school management should see that something is done about this for children’s safety and comfort should be its top concern.
FS
(Full name and address supplied)
