More parents targeting teachers

MUMBAI: ���Why couldn���t you give my daughter paper worth Rs 2 for her drawing exam? So what if she forgot to bring her own?������ the parent of a six-year-old demanded of the class teacher. She was one of about 30 parents attending a pre-examination open house session at a suburban school recently. Another parent at the meeting fumed, ���Why should we pay extra to laminate books? You have increased fees for the academic year.������
In a worrying trend, parents of schoolgoing children are increasingly questioning and criticizing teachers in front of other parents and even students���something that would have been considered blasphemous earlier.As schools get more commercialized, parents are becoming more aggressive about getting their money���s worth. Teachers, once revered for their important role in a child���s formative years, are subjected to rudeness and sometimes even humiliation by parents.
One teacher who recently quit an elite preschool recollects, ���A mother whose child would cry a lot asked her in front of other parents whether I shouted at her or beat her up. I felt as if I was in court.������ Another parent would phone her daily after school hours to rudely enquire why her son had returned home with his lunch uneaten. ���She seemed to consider it my duty to feed the child... They may look sophisticated and all, but some of them fight and create a scene at the drop of a hat.������
A trustee of a new-generation school in Goregaon agrees that today teachers are associated with school fees. ���In a class, only 10% parents would be rude. But that is more than enough. They often mistreat the teacher. Because of them, the morale of the entire staff room is affected.������
Educationists say this is a dangerous trend, and many of them contend that parents pass on such arrogance to their children.