Hyderabad: Parents in rat race to make their wards trophy kids?

Hyderabad: Are parents pampering and showcasing their wards as trophy children taking a toll on them?

If goings-on are of any indication, teachers and school heads are expressing a series of concerns faced by them besides how tough it has become in handling children attending physical classes in the post-Covid times.

For example, Ganesh (name changed) studied at an elite English medium school in Bownpally. Later, his parents admitted him to Class IX in another private school at Jubilee Hills after a double promotion in the previous schools. The boy in question was promoted from Class IX to Class X without taking examination.

However, the unsatisfied parents charged the teachers for ruining their ward's life and future. The reason being, "My child was a champion in his earlier school. But, he ended up only a high first-class when promoted from Class X."

Speaking to The Hans India, Ch Lakshminarayan, one of Ganesh's teachers said, "The parent expected that the school or class teacher should have done something at the time of uploading marks for making his son get at least 70 per cent or above."

That was how parents show more interest in the percentage of marks that their wards get. Irrespective of the fact whether they have age and class appropriate standards, he said.

"Children are not only pushed to extend their bandwidth to the maximum possible extent to score more marks and always compete with those score highs in their sections, but they are further pushed into a series of extracurricular activities without bothering their passion or interest. Once admitted, then the parents expect them to show performance. Making children themselves not able to figure out what really matters to them and where their interest lies," pointed out Sujata Saini, a post-graduate teacher in mathematics, who lost her job during the second phase of Covid.

On the one hand, teachers have to deal with all this from parents. "Using mobiles, cracking jokes on the dressing, hairstyles of the fellow students and teachers was not widespread earlier. But now, teachers have to cope-up with all these new trends. Also, some students have developed a belief that they would get promoted by the government. When asked the basis for the same, beyond Covid they have no answer to give for believing in it," said N Natarajan, an English teacher of Class VIII of a private school in ECIL.

"Children need to be brought back to normalcy. Parents should worry more about their wards age and class appropriate standards rather than only marks and promotion without examinations. Otherwise, the students future and career will be at stake," he warned.