I live in Indirapuram and I am a concerned parent: Is my child safe in the high-end private school he goes to?
Every day I pick up and drop my kids from the designated bus stop in front of the society gate. So do most parents, who send their wards to renowned schools with top-notch security features such as CCTV cameras and GPS-enabled vehicles! So after I leave my kid in the GPS-enabled fully air-conditioned bus with two helps and a teacher, I go back feeling reassured that my child is in safe hands. Indirapuram News
But is that the truth?
Today’s incident — the death of a 10-year-old student of a renowned school chain, GD Goenka Public School, in Indirapuram, has left me shaken as a parent. According to reports, he died under suspicious circumstances. We all spend a lot of time selecting the school our child goes to. And apart from education, we are careful about issues such as hygiene, safety, infrastructure and material comforts. The school has to tick every box before we leave our little ones in their care for the better part of the day. Neighbourhood News
But today’s incident was an eye-opener. What shocked me the most was the way the school handled the incident. Are these high-end schools equipped to handle a crisis like the one that unfolded today?
I, as a journalist, went to the hospital after I came to know of the incident. I expected the school administration or the staff to be present with the family and the grieving parents — both the school and the parents are in this together, right? Apartment Management Software
To my surprise — and horror — no one from the school was there. I came to know later that the school authorities had just upped and left after handing over the child to his parents!
I gathered enough courage to be able to speak to the mother first. "I made him study so hard for today's English exam. Little did I know he would never sit for that," she sobbed. All she could say was “it’s mismanagement on the part of the school and it’s their fault”.
I know we parents tend to blame the school first, but what happened here? Will we ever learn the truth?
Surprisingly, the school administration remained mute on the incident. So far, they haven’t issued a single official statement. Why? Why can’t the school clear the air? What are they hiding?
All school-board numbers were constantly unreachable; school gates were closed to parents and outsiders. And here’s the strange bit — kids were made to take their exams even while they knew a classmate had slipped and, somehow, died. The school just went about its business like nothing had happened!
Did they spare a thought for the children trying to come to terms with this horrible incident, to the classmates of Armaan Sehgal who were grappling with the shock of losing a friend? Did the teachers and school heads have basic training in child psychology? Well... what happened then?
I didn’t have answers as I made my way back from the hospital, but the picture of 10-year-old Armaan Sehgal, in his neat school uniform, kept flashing in front of my eyes.
And all I could think was that just a year back, my own child was a student in this same school, in the same class.
