I don't know what I am in for. My head is blasting with a tension headache.
It started when I found that psycho Ant doing some useless writing work leaving a pack of children alone in another room to fight or hurt themselves as they liked. I examined the list that she was making and I found she was only copying a list of names from one piece of paper to another piece of paper. I told her nicely that she need not do that. The next I pointed out that she cannot leave the children alone. She was visibly angry, though she didn't let me know, on me. She snapped,"Its becasue Mrs. Wlz says we can do that."
"What? I find it hard to believe. No kindergarten, according to law, allows children to be left unattended. "
"Yes. I know. But Mrs. Wlz says we can. I am only following her orders."
"Did really Mrs Wlz say such a thing. I am sure she did't. I will ask her A. Chr."
I quickly brought A.chr on scene and she corroborated that Mrs. Wlz had said no such thing.
Ant had no other excuse left to avoid working. And she was fuming. In vain attempt, she went to talk to other teachers about Yoga children so she could escape taking the morning circle. I was not willing for this. I readied the children, then went and interrupting her discussion midway, I sweetly reminded her that the children were waiting for her to come and do the morning circle.
She came back, cursing me no doubt and wishing me a hundred deaths.
"You can go out, while I am doing the morning circle." She said.
"But hadn't we agreed in front of Mrs. Wlz that we have to be here together?"
"Yes,but you can go and bring some paper for craft."
"I am sure, Gl can do that."
Gl dropped in. "Let's both of us go and fetch the paper from downstairs."
"Really? But two people are not needed to bring a roll of paper whereas two people are needed to do the morning circle."
I can imagine she was very very angry but she masked it well for the time being. She took a glib, sodden morning circle, talking about early man and litrally reading paragraphs off a book! The children were yawning.
Morning circle over, she wanted to take them to garden while the time table said we needed to go to the gym. Reluctantly she went to the gym. I noticed she was forcing Bqt to go when he didn't want to...on purpose. Both Gy and she force children to do things they like or don't let them do things they like; by doing this they get a queer sense of extracting revenge on the poor children.
Stl came to me at 2 0'clock and said she wanted to talk to me. I knew, of course. By the way, Stl is house coordinator.
'Is anything wrong between you and Ant?"
"Of course not."
"She came to me and poured over me with complaints. she was very distressed."
"I can't understand why she should be distressed when she was only reminded of her own task."
"That's the problem. Why did you remind her?"
"Because if not, she will never do it."
"How do you know?"
"This is what has been happening since the last two months. She never does anything, pretends she has lot's of work to do and slops all the work on to my shoulders."
"If she doesn't do, do't bother. Let her not do it. That's not your problem. That's the school's problem."
"Yes, I can do what you suggest, but when I see something wrong happening in front of my eyes, I can't keep quiet. I can't see the children suffering because of her, the parents sufferening because of her and ultimately the school and the school's reputation suffereing because of her."
"You don't need to bother about the school, or kids or parents. You are here to work, just do your work and forget who else is not working. If she is wrong, she will eventually be found out, because the kids will report at home, the parents will discover, they will come and ask Mrs Wlz and Mrs wlz will in turn ask Ant."
I could have died with shock at this recourse or explaination. Seriously?
"You mean, if I see some wrongdoing, I shut my eyes because it is not my business and wait for the kids to tell their parents and the parents to come and ask Mrs Wlz and for Mrs Wlz to come and confirm Ant, rather than simply pointing out her fault and ending this long torture and so many endless wrong doings in between?"
"And you know why A.Chr is in your group? She is here to keep an eye on all of you to see if you all are working in the right manner or not. That's why, I am saying don't bother about Ant. If she doesn't work it will be known. She is being watched to see if she is able to lead a group or not. -
Ant, a group leader? Forget it.
"- and please don't try to change the way the things are done over here. We have a structure and nobody is changing that. We have always had morning circle with just one teacher and so you can't tell Ant or anybody else to be with her during the morning circle."
I chuckeled. "Ant, Gl , and I have already discussed this with Mrs Wlz. She agreed that I and Ant will do morning circles together everyday."
"Why?"
I smiled sweetly. "Because doing morning circles alone with 20 children with some of them screaming, crying, talking and getting up is very distracting for the entire group."
"Then who remains outside to recieve the latecomers?"
"We are three teachers and surely one teacher is enough to recieve the late comer, no?"
I could see she was getting edgy too, in fact, angry. I did't care. I just smiled blandly as if I didn't know.
I came smiling from ear to ear downstairs. Ant looked as dark as thunder, just without the sound though.
"Ant, are okay? You are looking so stressed!"
"Oh.....Mrs Wlz!" She threw up her hands in despair not having right words to address my querry.
I turned and saw Mrs Wlz. talking to Stl and A.Chr. I ran to join them. She smiled affably at me and asked if everything was okay.
"There is some confusion-" I began but was immediately interrupted by Stl who looked a different person now, almost artificial with fake politeness. How people change!
"No, there is no confusion. I talked with her and now its agreed that she will do her morning circle and Ant will do hers."
This time I interrupted her.
"But Mrs, Wlz, do you remember you had decided that I would do morning circles everyday with one teacher to assist me in maintaining discipline?"
She smiled very sweetly. "Yes, I have decided that Ratna will do the morning circle everyday because she does it very well. The paretns have been telling me how much the children are learning. They are very happy, so you will do the morning circle everyday and Ant can be with you to maintain discipline."
Stl's face was a picture to look at.
"But then who will be outside to recieve the late comers? It is very disturbing when the late coming parents keep opening the door to let their children in." She protested somewhat feebly.
"Stl, It is more disturbing to do a morning circle alone with 20 children with some of them crying , talking and even fighting." I answered loftily.
"Yes," Said Mrs, Wlz. "That's why Ant can be with you and you will do the morning circle and so long as Gl is here she can be outside to recieve the latecomers. Okay?"
I requested Mrs Wlz to talk to me in private. She took me inside a large toilet. I told her how and what Ant had been doing the whole day.
"Yes, I know. My daughter told me everything. I can't understand why these people don't understand their priorities. And, I have never said they can leave children alone, unattended. Nor have I ever said that you let wrong things happen thinking it is not your business. If you see something wrong, immediately inform me- immediately. Okay? Its is ridiculous of Stl to thing it is not your business. Right work should be everyone's business. The problem is we can't tell Ant to go right now. Your group is already without a leader and if she also goes there would be no one who understands the procedure of how somethings are done over here. So keep your cool and don't tense up. From mid September, we are going to have another teacher; she is very good, has lots of experience and age and she speaks four languages, English, Portuguese, French and Russian. We have to bear in silence till then, you understand?"
I nodded.
"I am aware now of a lot of wrong doings in school and Ant in particular, but we need our time. We have to take her slow. Meantime, if she does anything wrong, you must stop her immediately. Okay?"
I am glad I talked to her. At least I know she understands me and my intentions, because the way Stl was talking to me, I felt I was doing something wrong.
It started when I found that psycho Ant doing some useless writing work leaving a pack of children alone in another room to fight or hurt themselves as they liked. I examined the list that she was making and I found she was only copying a list of names from one piece of paper to another piece of paper. I told her nicely that she need not do that. The next I pointed out that she cannot leave the children alone. She was visibly angry, though she didn't let me know, on me. She snapped,"Its becasue Mrs. Wlz says we can do that."
"What? I find it hard to believe. No kindergarten, according to law, allows children to be left unattended. "
"Yes. I know. But Mrs. Wlz says we can. I am only following her orders."
"Did really Mrs Wlz say such a thing. I am sure she did't. I will ask her A. Chr."
I quickly brought A.chr on scene and she corroborated that Mrs. Wlz had said no such thing.
Ant had no other excuse left to avoid working. And she was fuming. In vain attempt, she went to talk to other teachers about Yoga children so she could escape taking the morning circle. I was not willing for this. I readied the children, then went and interrupting her discussion midway, I sweetly reminded her that the children were waiting for her to come and do the morning circle.
She came back, cursing me no doubt and wishing me a hundred deaths.
"You can go out, while I am doing the morning circle." She said.
"But hadn't we agreed in front of Mrs. Wlz that we have to be here together?"
"Yes,but you can go and bring some paper for craft."
"I am sure, Gl can do that."
Gl dropped in. "Let's both of us go and fetch the paper from downstairs."
"Really? But two people are not needed to bring a roll of paper whereas two people are needed to do the morning circle."
I can imagine she was very very angry but she masked it well for the time being. She took a glib, sodden morning circle, talking about early man and litrally reading paragraphs off a book! The children were yawning.
Morning circle over, she wanted to take them to garden while the time table said we needed to go to the gym. Reluctantly she went to the gym. I noticed she was forcing Bqt to go when he didn't want to...on purpose. Both Gy and she force children to do things they like or don't let them do things they like; by doing this they get a queer sense of extracting revenge on the poor children.
Stl came to me at 2 0'clock and said she wanted to talk to me. I knew, of course. By the way, Stl is house coordinator.
'Is anything wrong between you and Ant?"
"Of course not."
"She came to me and poured over me with complaints. she was very distressed."
"I can't understand why she should be distressed when she was only reminded of her own task."
"That's the problem. Why did you remind her?"
"Because if not, she will never do it."
"How do you know?"
"This is what has been happening since the last two months. She never does anything, pretends she has lot's of work to do and slops all the work on to my shoulders."
"If she doesn't do, do't bother. Let her not do it. That's not your problem. That's the school's problem."
"Yes, I can do what you suggest, but when I see something wrong happening in front of my eyes, I can't keep quiet. I can't see the children suffering because of her, the parents sufferening because of her and ultimately the school and the school's reputation suffereing because of her."
"You don't need to bother about the school, or kids or parents. You are here to work, just do your work and forget who else is not working. If she is wrong, she will eventually be found out, because the kids will report at home, the parents will discover, they will come and ask Mrs Wlz and Mrs wlz will in turn ask Ant."
I could have died with shock at this recourse or explaination. Seriously?
"You mean, if I see some wrongdoing, I shut my eyes because it is not my business and wait for the kids to tell their parents and the parents to come and ask Mrs Wlz and for Mrs Wlz to come and confirm Ant, rather than simply pointing out her fault and ending this long torture and so many endless wrong doings in between?"
"And you know why A.Chr is in your group? She is here to keep an eye on all of you to see if you all are working in the right manner or not. That's why, I am saying don't bother about Ant. If she doesn't work it will be known. She is being watched to see if she is able to lead a group or not. -
Ant, a group leader? Forget it.
"- and please don't try to change the way the things are done over here. We have a structure and nobody is changing that. We have always had morning circle with just one teacher and so you can't tell Ant or anybody else to be with her during the morning circle."
I chuckeled. "Ant, Gl , and I have already discussed this with Mrs Wlz. She agreed that I and Ant will do morning circles together everyday."
"Why?"
I smiled sweetly. "Because doing morning circles alone with 20 children with some of them screaming, crying, talking and getting up is very distracting for the entire group."
"Then who remains outside to recieve the latecomers?"
"We are three teachers and surely one teacher is enough to recieve the late comer, no?"
I could see she was getting edgy too, in fact, angry. I did't care. I just smiled blandly as if I didn't know.
I came smiling from ear to ear downstairs. Ant looked as dark as thunder, just without the sound though.
"Ant, are okay? You are looking so stressed!"
"Oh.....Mrs Wlz!" She threw up her hands in despair not having right words to address my querry.
I turned and saw Mrs Wlz. talking to Stl and A.Chr. I ran to join them. She smiled affably at me and asked if everything was okay.
"There is some confusion-" I began but was immediately interrupted by Stl who looked a different person now, almost artificial with fake politeness. How people change!
"No, there is no confusion. I talked with her and now its agreed that she will do her morning circle and Ant will do hers."
This time I interrupted her.
"But Mrs, Wlz, do you remember you had decided that I would do morning circles everyday with one teacher to assist me in maintaining discipline?"
She smiled very sweetly. "Yes, I have decided that Ratna will do the morning circle everyday because she does it very well. The paretns have been telling me how much the children are learning. They are very happy, so you will do the morning circle everyday and Ant can be with you to maintain discipline."
Stl's face was a picture to look at.
"But then who will be outside to recieve the late comers? It is very disturbing when the late coming parents keep opening the door to let their children in." She protested somewhat feebly.
"Stl, It is more disturbing to do a morning circle alone with 20 children with some of them crying , talking and even fighting." I answered loftily.
"Yes," Said Mrs, Wlz. "That's why Ant can be with you and you will do the morning circle and so long as Gl is here she can be outside to recieve the latecomers. Okay?"
I requested Mrs Wlz to talk to me in private. She took me inside a large toilet. I told her how and what Ant had been doing the whole day.
"Yes, I know. My daughter told me everything. I can't understand why these people don't understand their priorities. And, I have never said they can leave children alone, unattended. Nor have I ever said that you let wrong things happen thinking it is not your business. If you see something wrong, immediately inform me- immediately. Okay? Its is ridiculous of Stl to thing it is not your business. Right work should be everyone's business. The problem is we can't tell Ant to go right now. Your group is already without a leader and if she also goes there would be no one who understands the procedure of how somethings are done over here. So keep your cool and don't tense up. From mid September, we are going to have another teacher; she is very good, has lots of experience and age and she speaks four languages, English, Portuguese, French and Russian. We have to bear in silence till then, you understand?"
I nodded.
"I am aware now of a lot of wrong doings in school and Ant in particular, but we need our time. We have to take her slow. Meantime, if she does anything wrong, you must stop her immediately. Okay?"
I am glad I talked to her. At least I know she understands me and my intentions, because the way Stl was talking to me, I felt I was doing something wrong.
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