We returned to Pune on August 1, 2015 from Germany, but only
after a short stay at my husband’s home town. The day we landed, which was a
Saturday, we washed-up, got ready and went to Vidya Valley School for kids’
admission. We didn’t want to waste even a single day. We were pretty confident
that the school would take back our kids as the principal Ms. Sengupta had
herself assured me before leaving for Germany. We happened to speak to Mr.
Gupta who already raised doubts about our son having to repeat a year. Anyways
he called us again on Monday afternoon when the teachers would be relatively
free and then they would test my son for concepts of class 7 (which he had
completed in Germany). We promptly reached the school on Monday and after a lot
of waiting we were told that my son would be needed to appear for class 8 tests.
The students of class 8 have already finished a lot of syllabus in last 2
months and so they would be testing my son for the same. It came as a shocker
as we had not anticipated this. Plus any sane person would understand that this
is unfair on the child when one knows he has not attended class 8 for even a
single day. Anyways the next day being Tuesday he was called upon to take tests
in Physics and Bio. We came home and helped Vishnu prepare the entire 6-7 hours
that we had in hands for these tests. He borrowed books from his friends and
even got a test paper for Bio. On Wednesday he was asked to appear for
Chemistry and Maths. We repeated this procedure for our son. In Maths too he
got the test paper. Coincidentally he got the same papers for Bio and Maths.
And these two subjects he performed extremely well. Oh! And yes my daughter too
took a test for English and Maths though she is in grade 4. After this we
waited more than a week to hear from them. My husband was getting frustrated
and finally called up Mr. Gupta. Thankfully he arranged for us to meet the
principal the same day. Upon meeting the principal (of course after a long
wait) she said that my son would need to repeat class 7. This was a great
disappointment. Initially they tried to pin it on my son getting the test paper
in advance. But when we suggested a re-test or an interview then and there
itself they diverted to reasons like a huge gap. The principal said that she
does not know what Vishnu learnt there but here students have learnt so many
other things like music, guitar ort etc. Well in this whole discussion the
bottom line was that he will repeat and there is to be no debate. As Mr. Gupta
is so fond of talking more and listening less we could not explain much, our
side of the story. He said that now don’t go home thinking if it was a battle
won or lost. Of course I will think it was a battle lost. Because you make me
think that I made a mistake by shifting to Germany for a year. No one in this
world should relocate elsewhere because then they will repeat the entire thing.
My child might want to take a sabbatical or break later in his life for further
studies or anything else. It is not required now to make him lose a year. And if
we meant to hide the fact of getting the test paper of two subjects in advance
we would have not asked our son to tell the truth if anyone questioned him. I can
bet he must have scored better than 50% of the class who has done class 7 in
VVS. How can the school guarantee that my son is not well prepared for class 8
while their other students are? Also his past records at Vidya Valley and his
teachers will tell how sharp a kid he was. Plus this in itself is creditable
that he scored so well after getting the test papers when he had only 6-7 hours
in hand combined for two subjects to prepare. Only a sharp kid can prepare so
well in this limited time even when you have the papers. Though, we know that
he just went through those papers and did not just prepare the papers. We let
him see those in the end when he had prepared the entire subject.
My son himself refused to go to VVS in class 7 because of
shame that his friends will be ahead of him and that too for no sane reason. When
we asked Mr Gupta and Ms Sengupta how they plan to tackle this psychological impact
on my child, they said we will need to talk. As if all this talk will remove
the bullying that will ensue. It looked as if they did not want to take him in
the first place and were looking for a way to refuse. In his new school after
just attending for a week, his science teacher told us that he is a very bright
and positive child. She was surprised that VVS did not want to take him in
class 8, because no school would want to lose a student like my son. Well that
was enough for me. Ms Sengupta reasoned that Vishnu had not read any classics
in class 7. Maybe not....but he had read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and done
an assignment on it. He had enjoyed reading it and had got very good grades for
the assignment. I can challenge the school to pick out even ten students from
class 8 who are even capable of understanding The Alchemist. Most people read
it in adulthood. Also when I told Mr. Gupta and Ms. Sengupta about this, both
had expressions of surprise. Well I am clearly unhappy with the treatment meted
out to us. But the thing is that one cannot challenge private schools as their authority
is supreme. My son was probably underage, a fact I knew all along, but the
school realised now and wanted to rectify at the cost of my son’s one
year....just because they had overseen it at the time of admission earlier.
The whole episode has left a dent on my mind and makes me
regret my return to India sometimes. It leaves me sour. The school had not responded to many of our emails that we sent from Germany. Though they themselves had asked us to write to them in advance.
Also I would like to mention that Vidya Valley school has
not till date shared the results of my son with us......maybe because they have
something to hide?
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