I haven't slept well for the last few nights. Anxiety and a list of imagined and real afflictions reminiscent of first-trimester pregnancy symptoms have contrived to keep me tossing and turning all night; and tired and listless during the day.
The reason? Both kids start at their new school today. A week ago, I made sure S had cleared his calendar for the morning since he would be dropping Y off for her first day while I dropped Ads off (they are in the same school but different campuses). Yesterday I took Ads and one of his good friends (since he may appear often in these pages, let's call him V1) for a recce around the school. We looked at the class lists and found to our delight that Ads and V1 were in the same section! The icing on the cake was that one of Ads' friends from way back in Noida, who studied with him in kindergarten and later relocated to Bangalore, is also in the same section. This discovery brought a huge smile to Ads' face and eased my fears to a large extent.
This morning, we left at 7.15 am. Wading through heavy traffic as is usual in Bangalore, we reached the school at 8 am to find a scene of total chaos. I wasn't sure I would be allowed to escort Ads into his classroom, but I was confident I'd be allowed to hand him over to his teacher somewhere in the grounds or auditorium before leaving. Instead, we had the Principal at the entrance, bellowing instructions to the parents in his stentorian voice, in a most undignified manner. Children were being hustled inside the school while parents were sternly stopped at the door. Before I knew it, Ads had been pushed away from me and handed over to someone who handed him over to someone else and after that I don't know what happened because he was lost in the sea of uniforms. There was no kiss, no hug and no goodbye even! I went up to the Vice Principal to ask if I could go in seeing as he was a new student and all but she smilingly refused. Other parents reassured me that there were plenty of staff to escort the kids to their classrooms. Since I knew Ads would be having a couple of familiar places to eventually meet with in class, I let it go but the disorganized way in which the whole thing was conducted left a bad taste in my mouth.
Back at the preschool, where Y starts LKG today, S reported that it was as chaotic but since that school has a much smaller strength it did not seem so bad :) Y cried a wee bit - but her class teacher picked her up and told S to leave and they would handle her, thank you very much.
The day was jinxed during pickup time as well. First, my driver was nowhere to be seen at the allotted time and his phone was not reachable. Just when I was going to run upstairs for the spare car key and drive the car myself, a friend (V1's mom, whose younger son also studies in the same school), offered me a ride. By this time, we were running atleast 10 minutes late and I was biting my nails as we snarled in traffic - being late on the very first day is so not on!! Then I almost had a cardiac arrest when I called the school to tell them I was running late - the front-desk guy (a nincompoop if there ever was one!) told me Y had been sent off in the school bus! This inspite of the fact that we had explicitly told the administration and the class teacher that Y would be picked up and dropped off for the first 2 days. At this point I had no choice but to continue onto the school because my friend had to pick up her son.
I barged into the school premises, spitting fire and brimstone, only to find Y calmly seated with her teacher. Whew....I have seldom been this relieved in my life!!!!! The teacher who seems a nice calm sort of person reassured me that she had no intention of sending Y on the bus since she knew I was coming to pick her up. Obviously the front-desk guy had given me the wrong information without even bothering to cross-check with the teacher.
A couple of hours later, I was in the car again to pick up Ads - more scenes of confusion there. Clearly anybody can walk in with no identification whatsoever and pick up any kid with none the wiser.
While the kids had a good time on their first day, I can already anticipate many more rants and raves from my end given the lax administration - but let's hope I am proved well and truly wrong!
I can only imagine the chaos! There ought to be a system in place, some kind of ID/authorisation shown by the person picking up the kids, esp. it it's not one of the the parents. In the school here, the parents have to send a written note in case they are sending someone else, but I still don't know how it is verified by the school.
ReplyDeleteI was zapped by the experience. As a parent, we all know the system is pretty simple. Its no rocket science. Planning to observe for a bit then give some suggestions. Ads is almost 8, but I can't imagine throwing my 4 year old into that zoo!
DeleteGoodness! That was crazy! How can the administration be so lax! I would have had that cardiac arrest! Now I realize that I was lucky with daughter's school in Bangalore - at least they were better organized. But as far as the children are happy, its fine, isn't it? It might just be 'start of the year' madness, and might all settle down in the next few days.
ReplyDeleteI certainly hope so...I'm willing to dea with incompetent admin as long as they keep my kids happy!
Deleteoh..sounds so scary! My experience was Ok; the school itself has relatively less number of students, so it seemed a bit smooth, although some areas were left wanting. I would've surely panicked at the response Y's school gave.
ReplyDeleteI assume, many schools go through a chaotic first week before the children and school alike settle down. Of course, there is no excuse where children are concerned and there has to be some method to the madness since this is when the nerves are at the frailest.
Apparently every year its the same. Its almost like they plan to be chaotic! :(
DeleteUh oh, badly managed chaos. :(
ReplyDeleteI can understand the not-allowing-parents-in part, but the what the desk guy was sheer irresponsibility!
Even the not allowing parents in, they should keep in mind the child's psychology. I agree there are a lot of over protective paranoid parents, but not every new kid can be thrust into a new environment like this. At the very least they should have ensured every child is handed over to the respective class teacher.
Deletebut the kids are always more resilient than the parent, right?
ReplyDeleteThat's the rationalization we give ourselves even when our heart is breaking :)
DeleteThat sounds like a scary first day.. esp. as both started on the same day too! Hope things have looked up since then, and both have settled down well :)
ReplyDeleteYeah its all been uphill from there, Aparna :)
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