Mosquitos?

Shankar Sahay, a parent of a child in the primary section of MIS writes in to say that there is a "problem of unclean toilets, collected water, which acts as breeding ground for mosquitos". This is, of course, a danger to our kids and to all of us as well.

Shankar says that the cases of dengue are sharply on the rise in MIS, especially in the primary section. This is very very worrisome, and will be taken up soon-

Can we get the MCD to take some steps in this regard? Please write in with suggestions.

PS: I'm putting in pictures just to liven up the blog. Not that these are meant to imply anything else... Also, the best way of getting all people involved is to ask them to look at this page- remember anyone can comment just by clicking on the pencil below...

Sports

Harish Chhabra brought up the matter of sports, especially in the primary section. The lack of emphasis on sport (among the youth of the country as a whole, but in urban India and in particular in the metros) is a great contributor to poor health (not to mention diabetes and obesity in children). One can go on... However, given the fact that we actually won 3 medals in Beijing, its important to talk about sports and other activities in schools. Ours.

Harish makes a number of very pertinent points.

• there are not enough sport activities and others extracurricular activites, such as dance and music, especially in the Junior school.
  
• Few children actually get a chance to participate in whatever activities.
  
• No sport activity except football is taken care of properly or given any appreciation. For example there are around four to five coaches for football but only one coach for four other sports that are throw ball, table tennis, volley ball and basket ball. Also there is only one sport teacher for badminton and athletics which have a large number of children participating... Due to this, none of these sports gets adequate attention.
• More hours can be given for sport, and perhaps there can be some new facilities.
  
• For many years now no new sport has been introduced.

Can we request the authorities to hire more sport teachers for the school? I am sure that with our inputs, we can do this, even if it means an extra contribution from us parents.

The Bus service

The first post on this blog is on the matter of buses... Seeing that our children get to and from school in a safe manner is a matter of great concern to us all, and the situation on some of the routes is far from satisfactory.

Pallavi Sen, a parent on Route MIS-11 has written in to raise this issue. " Buses are overcrowded to the extent that apart from cramming 3 students (along with their heavy school bags) on seat meant for two, there are children squatting in the aisle, getting stamped by the standing students, as well as students sitting on each others laps in the hot summers. The Bus in which my daughter travels (MIS-11) has 89 students apart from the conductor & the teacher crammed in. I understand that there are a couple of other buses with an even worse situation with 90+ students in a bus.. This is not only a torture for the students but also a serious safety hazard."

A request has been made to DTC to sanction additional buses, and has been followed up as well, but the DTC officials say they do not have any buses available, and that "there is no question of sanctioning any additional buses to the school". And as we know, the charges for transport have just been increased...

In these circumstances, it is necessary for us to find alternate solutions. Writing a letter to the Principal is easy, but let us have some suggestions also. Shall we try out non-DTC solutions? Would that be acceptable? How many routes have buses with more than 70 students in the bus? 80?

Please write in. Also, I would be most grateful if you can bring this blog to the notice of every parent you are acquainted with.... word of mouth is the fastest way to spread the information, and its important that we all connect. Thanks!

Welcome!

Hi-

I thought that this could be one of the simplest ways in which we can all participate in discussions relating to the School. We can develop this blog to become a source of information on some activities of the School, share our common concerns, voice our appreciation, and generally communicate both with the School and with each other.

Let me begin by thanking you for your support in electing me the parents representative on the School Management Committee. I understand that there is a meeting sometime in October, and will keep you updated via this blog. Many of you have written in with several suggestions- I will try, over the next weeks, to bring these up for discussion. Do feel free to make comments, send email, etc.

Best wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy
रामकृष्ण रामास्वामी