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!

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!