An issue that many parents bring up is the number of subjects that are available to students for the Boards... In the past year both Biotechnology and Drawing/Painting have been shown the door, and this is a matter that is of some concern.
At a meeting with the Principal and other officials of the School, where a fellow parent, Sanjay Gupta (of Chetna) was also present, we had a chance to discuss this and other matters. I thought I would summarize some of the important points that came up.
On the matter of subjects getting dropped, the main problem is the numbers of students that opt for a given subject. The Biotech class had dwindled to 4, and in these circumstances, one can imagine that teachers also get demotivated. Apparently the same is true of Art. There is a bit of a Chicken-and-Egg problem here, maybe some parents prefer to change their children's school if a given option is not available...
I guess one would like to be realistic while keeping some options open for the future- and it would probably help the School Management if more parents let them know how they felt. The loss of 3 options in Class XII is a serious problem, and it closes more doors than necessary, given how competitive things are (and will be). The way in which the CBSE and the Universities value the different subjects is also to blame- I can see that parents are loath to encourage those subjects which are not going to be "counted"... But what is the right balance? Please write in and let me (and the School) know how you feel.
Those of you who have been at the School recently will have noticed that a fence is coming up. This is in response to concerns for security and the realization that the School/Ashram boundary is very porous. A number of parents have called in to express their concern...
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