ABU DHABI: While parents blame schools for turning their children into mark machines, schools claim it’s parents who put undue pressure on their children
Ashok Kumar, CEO of The Indian High School, Dubai and former member of the CBSE Board of Governors in India, said parents create a ruckus in school.
“They want to have the cake and eat it too. If parents are grumbling, sorry, they can keep the cake,” said Kumar.
He said parents want to see their child get into top professional colleges, and they start sending them for coaching from grade seven or eight.
“How can you ask a person to run a 10k race without any practice? What schools are doing is instilling an academic discipline in children and preparing them for the competitive world. If parents are complaining, I would ask them to first compromise on their expectations,” he said.
“I think it is unfair to blame certain curricula. If you want to blame, then blame the entire system and society,” said Kumar.
Academic performance
Veena Raghva, student counsellor at Abu Dhabi Indian School, said parents often have unrealistic expectations of their children.
“I see many students who are emotionally and even physically tortured by their parents for not scoring good marks. For them nothing less than the best would do,” said Raghva.
Another student counsellor said many parents are only concerned about marks and not the emotional well-being of their children.
“When they seek an appointment, it is invariably to discuss their child’s academic performance. Most questions revolve around how to get their kids score more marks or how to make them study harder. Studying is important but what is more important is being happy and confident. Unfortunately, both parents and teachers miss the point,” said the student psychologist.
Raghva admits that many teachers in Indian schools are result-driven and are not sensitised to deal with under-performers.
“They often humiliate students in front of their peers for not answering a question,” said Raghva.
According to her, most children are made to feel they are loved and appreciated only if they top the class. So in order to win their parents’ love and teachers’ recognition, they struggle hard.
“Not many can cope with the pressure,” she said. “The result is a scarred mind and a ruined chilhood.”
