I joined the school today. Everybody was happy to see me especially the parents which gladdened my heart much more than anything else.
I then saw Ot's mother. She had come to hand over the farewell cake to Jn's teacher.
"But why are your sons leaving the school?" I asked. Her eyes instantly welled up with tears and she spoke in a hoarse voice.
" Why? Don't you know?"
There were other parents standing nearby and I didn't want to cause anybody any embarrassment. "We'll talk later." I said and excused myself.
And then little by little over the whole day I learnt what had happened.
The day I had spotted bedbugs, Cl informed Stf and TK. They became alarmed and declared an emergency holiday the next day to clean the whole place down and also to bring in a professional to help clear bedbugs. However, even after an extensive cleaning and search no bedbugs were found and the whole blame for creating a useless uproar fell straight on poor Cl.
Worse however, the school (or St/ TK or My/ Mz ) sent a mail to all the parents informing them about the closure of the school but there was something wrong with the system and no parent received this mail. Next morning like any regular school day, when the parents came to drop their children to school and found it was closed they became terribly angry and started screaming and fighting with the management.
The parents' Committee since some weeks, had been planning to hold a meeting to discuss some pressing issues. They together decided to hold an emergency meeting at Jn's house and sent an invitation to Stf along with their agenda and demands ( requesting an emergency group for summer vacation, summer party etc.)
Stf refused on grounds of too short notice from the committee and incensed by the committee's increasing demands not only dissolved the committee altogether but also cancelled Jn and Ot's contract without reason and notice, telling Jn, their father,( Committee member) that he was not allowed to enter the school premises.
The next day, when Mk's father,( Committee member), came to drop off his children to school, he noticed there were no soaps in the toilet. He complained not so very politely to Mz. Mz informed Stf and then and there he too was told to take his children away immediately as their contracts were cancelled too, without reason and without notice.
So Jn and Ot left today and Mk and Lk will leave in a month's time. Neither Jn nor Mk or Lk have been told by their parents that they have to leave this school because they are so attached with the school and their friends that they might suffer tremendous emotional pain.
It sounds so tragic. I am completely at a loss for words. I can't imagine so much happening in such a short time over such a small issue. I agree, the school did inform the parents and had no means to know that they were still uninformed owing to email system's malfunction. But the school could have ensured there were other ways to inform the parents about the same thing like requesting the teachers to send another mail from their personal systems. Furthermore, there was no need to react like this for merely spotting 2 bedbugs. They ought to have watched the place for at least 2-3 days, especially the place where they had been found and then acted accordingly.
Rather than erupting like a volcano and dismissing the committee which was striving for school's betterment the management should have talked with the parents and calmed them down explaining their position. Dissolving the committee or expelling innocent students was not the way to handle this situation nor can this be any way any solution to the problem.
I know what is wrong and where. This committee was extra active and raised too many uncomfortable questions. And Stf is an authoritarian, an absolute monarch who likes to give everyone the impression of democracy but stubbornly does what she wants and does not tolerate any opposition or any obstacle. She dissolved the committee not because they were wrong but because she wanted to get rid of it. And Jn and Mk's father had long long been her terrible eyesore due to their active interventions.
The whole school is quiet. They all know how unfair and unjust it is to expel a child for no fault of his. But they keep their opinions to them selves and don't breathe a word to anyone.
In the noontime I chanced to meet Jn's mother and Mk's mother. I talked to them and told them I was so sorry for them. There were tears in their eyes and I felt so so bad for them.
Poor parents. They were doing their duty and this is how they have been repaid.
I then saw Ot's mother. She had come to hand over the farewell cake to Jn's teacher.
"But why are your sons leaving the school?" I asked. Her eyes instantly welled up with tears and she spoke in a hoarse voice.
" Why? Don't you know?"
There were other parents standing nearby and I didn't want to cause anybody any embarrassment. "We'll talk later." I said and excused myself.
And then little by little over the whole day I learnt what had happened.
The day I had spotted bedbugs, Cl informed Stf and TK. They became alarmed and declared an emergency holiday the next day to clean the whole place down and also to bring in a professional to help clear bedbugs. However, even after an extensive cleaning and search no bedbugs were found and the whole blame for creating a useless uproar fell straight on poor Cl.
Worse however, the school (or St/ TK or My/ Mz ) sent a mail to all the parents informing them about the closure of the school but there was something wrong with the system and no parent received this mail. Next morning like any regular school day, when the parents came to drop their children to school and found it was closed they became terribly angry and started screaming and fighting with the management.
The parents' Committee since some weeks, had been planning to hold a meeting to discuss some pressing issues. They together decided to hold an emergency meeting at Jn's house and sent an invitation to Stf along with their agenda and demands ( requesting an emergency group for summer vacation, summer party etc.)
Stf refused on grounds of too short notice from the committee and incensed by the committee's increasing demands not only dissolved the committee altogether but also cancelled Jn and Ot's contract without reason and notice, telling Jn, their father,( Committee member) that he was not allowed to enter the school premises.
The next day, when Mk's father,( Committee member), came to drop off his children to school, he noticed there were no soaps in the toilet. He complained not so very politely to Mz. Mz informed Stf and then and there he too was told to take his children away immediately as their contracts were cancelled too, without reason and without notice.
So Jn and Ot left today and Mk and Lk will leave in a month's time. Neither Jn nor Mk or Lk have been told by their parents that they have to leave this school because they are so attached with the school and their friends that they might suffer tremendous emotional pain.
It sounds so tragic. I am completely at a loss for words. I can't imagine so much happening in such a short time over such a small issue. I agree, the school did inform the parents and had no means to know that they were still uninformed owing to email system's malfunction. But the school could have ensured there were other ways to inform the parents about the same thing like requesting the teachers to send another mail from their personal systems. Furthermore, there was no need to react like this for merely spotting 2 bedbugs. They ought to have watched the place for at least 2-3 days, especially the place where they had been found and then acted accordingly.
Rather than erupting like a volcano and dismissing the committee which was striving for school's betterment the management should have talked with the parents and calmed them down explaining their position. Dissolving the committee or expelling innocent students was not the way to handle this situation nor can this be any way any solution to the problem.
I know what is wrong and where. This committee was extra active and raised too many uncomfortable questions. And Stf is an authoritarian, an absolute monarch who likes to give everyone the impression of democracy but stubbornly does what she wants and does not tolerate any opposition or any obstacle. She dissolved the committee not because they were wrong but because she wanted to get rid of it. And Jn and Mk's father had long long been her terrible eyesore due to their active interventions.
The whole school is quiet. They all know how unfair and unjust it is to expel a child for no fault of his. But they keep their opinions to them selves and don't breathe a word to anyone.
In the noontime I chanced to meet Jn's mother and Mk's mother. I talked to them and told them I was so sorry for them. There were tears in their eyes and I felt so so bad for them.
Poor parents. They were doing their duty and this is how they have been repaid.
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