Back to School

Fortunately,many city schools understand the first-day jitters and offer several innovative ways to make the transition easier for the parents as well as the kids. Palak Karyashala,a 12-week workshop for parents,conducted at Jnana Prabodhini,aims to handle all the concerns of parents whose children are new to school life. The workshop is conducted by various experts who are especially invited to the school. Apart from answering general queries of anxious parents,the workshop also covers other aspects regarding the upbringing of the child like health and nutrition,importance of inculcating right values,a mother’s role in the child’s life,how to interact with your child,the significance of story-telling and so on.

The 12 workshops are compulsory for all parents who apply for their child’s admission to Jnana Prabodhini. While the six workshops are conducted every Thursday in the month of December and January,before the admission process,the remaining six are held in June and July,after the admission. “Initially,the parents find it a burden but the feeling vanishes after attending the first workshop. The topics covered are so interesting that even if their child does not secure admission in the school,they continue attending till the end,” says Vaishali Amol Talegaonkar,head,pre-primary section.

At Dr Kalmadi Shamrao Pre-primary School,several parent-child activities are organised for the first three days. The idea is to make the child comfortable in the school. Though the teachers are around,it’s the parent and child who participate in such activities like sandwich-making,drawing,story-telling and so on. “The school opens for the Kindergarten kids on Wednesdays,so after attending the school for three days with their mothers,they get a break of two days on the weekend. By then,the child gets mentally prepared to come to school,” says Nina Rai,principal,pre-primary section.

Though the rule at The Orchid School says that the parent can accompany the child for a week,in exceptional cases,parents have been granted permission to sit outside the classroom for up to a month even. “We don’t expect each child to adjust within a week’s time. Sometimes,it is the parent who experiences separation anxiety more than the child. In that case,we calm and reassure them,” says Laxmi Kumar,director,The Orchid School. The school does not expect every child to speak in English just because they have joined an English-medium school. “That’s another way of reaching out to the child,who is completely new to this environment,” she adds.