Chess... and other sports

Vikram Singh from JNU writes in to ask if other parents would like to help start a Chess Club at MIS. He has a comment on an earlier post, but here is the crucial information: His cell number is 9868614409. Please call him and set it up.

The problem of not enough sports is something that many of you have said over and again, so let me bring it up once more. Shobhit Arora has put it very nicely, so let me quote from his letter:

I would like to reaffirm the view of lack of proper sports facilities at MIS... MIS is a school of some repute, and it needs to upgrade some basic requirements in tune with the times.

Swimming, Badminton, Table Tennis, Volley Ball... these are sports that are available in most schools, let alone the well-known ones. We need to learn from China, how they have built up young sports persons and fit youngsters to lead their country in the future. Sport is a disicipline: it invigorates young minds and cannot be considered a futile activity.

Reactions

One of the things that was very heartwarming at the Accolades day celebration was the felicitation of staff who had taught at the school for many years, and who were clearly very popular with the students.

However....

Dinesh Jain wrote in to raise the issue that the School also loses staff due to a variety of reasons... One, of course, being remuneration. It would be good to have an open and frank discussion on this, so I would like to request those of you who do read the blog to make sure that this post gets some wider visibility, and more varied response-

Is the School adequately staffed, or are there teachers who need to take 7 lectures a day. Especially if this includes senior classes, it would be very stressful...As we all know, the School relies heavily on volunteers for carrying out some of the duties that teachers would perform in other schools. While this brings in a very welcome sense of parent participation, there is also a point of view that feels that this "compromises the quality of teaching, as well as continuity as volunteers may leave mid term".

I had a discussion with Mr Bhalla last week on some of the issues that have been raised so far. About the falling standards that some parents have drawn attention to, from what I could see and the statistics that are there, MIS is not doing badly... A fair proportion of students get into the IITs and the top Universities, at least compared to other Schools in the area. The number of students we have graduating each year is about 150, and if 10 get into IIT or the Law Schools, then the per-student performance is actually better than in most schools.

That said, there is reason for concern. Competition is constantly increasing, and resting on the laurels of earlier times is not going to get us anywhere... But it would be good to have some hard numbers. Can anyone help in this regard? What has the actual performance of the School been in the past few years? On an absolute scale, or even relative to itself.

I'll be happy to put up the facts here for all to see-

Accolades Day

I'm just back from the Accolades Day celebration at MIS where three teachers and 136 students were felicitated. The former, in appreciation of their teaching careers, and the students, for their performance in exams and extracurricular activities. Mr Bhalla has said he would send me some pictures of the function (which included a superb show by Class II, and a dance by older students, with an excellent invocation by Pavithra Chari) and they will be put up here. We also spoke of revamping the MIS website at some time soon...

More on sport

A number of parents continue to write in on the lack of emphasis on sports. Particularly that these activities are not compulsory.

I had occasion to speak with the Principal who told me that there are a number of coaches who come to the school from the Sports Authority of India... And that there is sporting possibility before the start of classes.

As Mr Sanjay Malhotra wrote in, "The school has an excellent campus and adequate space for all sporting activities. Students are not encouraged for sports from primary school, making them disinterested once they go to higher classes."

Having attended a school where sports were compulsory each day, and having been very mediocre at all of them, I would tend to agree with Sanjay. If at all possible, it should be necessary for each child to have a structured sports schedule. One learns many things, team spirit, routine, etc.

Sanjay goes on to say that in "our days in school, every child belonged a HOUSE and there used to be an annual and semi annual sports meet between the HOUSES. Reqular sports activities and training were provided to students. The options must be made available to all students for them to chose as they please. While all other activities like dramatics, music etc are important, so is Sports. lack of focus on this activity is alarming."

I'm not sure which school he went to, but in mine, there were 4 houses as he describes, and competition between them was both intense and vital! It would be good to see more sports at MIS, but as usual, the question is when and how. Which ones? You are welcome to use this blog as a way of sharing information too, or as a way of making formal/infomal arrangements...

Can we have some discussion on this matter - and some practical suggestions? Thanks!