The changing scenario of schools in India has seen more of a downswing if one believed the general consensus at the DHiE Principals’ Seminar on Saturday.

E A Shiny, Principal of Madonna School commenting on the recent debate over banning corporal punishment said, “Busy parents have forgotten that learning starts at home. The pressure is always on the teachers.”

The Principal of Chinmaya Vidyalaya (St John’s Road) Mrs Rema Nandakumar however expressed faith in her staff while her counterpart at the Kormangala branch Mrs Gayatri expressed her concern over the growing competitive atmosphere that result in inter-staff trust problems .

The issue has now reached a stage were schools are even bringing in consultant firms to deal with it.The Principal of India International School (IIS) Mrs Usha Mohan said “We have outsourced this function to a consultant firm, and the benefits are immense,”  Principal of Amar Jyoti Public School (KR Puram) Mrs Sunita Jhamb also commented on the issue of corporal punishment and said that it was a problem with the parents only when junior teachers enforced it.

However the problem of high attrition among teachers was the repeatedly raised issue by all the heads. With modest funding Academic Advisor of Vidyanjali School (VS) Mr Cyril Harrison has found it difficult to retain good teachers and lamented that teaching was no longer a passion.  It was therefore concluded that handling teachers and students were equally problematic.

Another problem was that with the parents pushing the boundaries of materialism, it was becoming increasingly difficult to inculcate values among the children.