We need to go beyond the ability to read and write...

Welcome to the New Academic Year

Dear Parents,

If the past one year has taught us anything, it is that we all need to learn how to adapt to a constantly and rapidly changing world, and that we all need each other. 

To some extent it made us revisit the basics. For some it was ‘stop and smell the roses’, and yet for others ‘wake up and smell the coffee’. Some learnt the meaning of gratitude, and some that true wealth is health.  Some of our students lost a parent, and some of our parents lost their business; Some teachers lost a family member, and some lost their health - the trials and tribulations revealed character and spirit. 

There are those who are genuinely struggling, and there are those needing less support, and then there are many who are grateful to have not had any major setbacks.

The pandemic has ravaged some families more than others, and those ravaged need more help and support to get through this.  Our efforts have been to help those that have been ravaged.

We have lent our support, our ears, our shoulders, our school, and our time to those genuinely in need, and we could only do that because we have a large and wonderful community of parents who understand the difference between equality and equity. 

The New Academic Year

In the new academic year, our focus continues to be on going beyond the ability to read and write, and to develop the ability to 

• reflect and reason 
• empathise and embrace, and 
• introspect and internalise.

We are building our curriculum and our assessments around this focus, with a concerted effort to move away from a marks-obsessed society.

Children are like little plants that need watering, nourishment and the right environment to bloom. Just as we don’t pull out a plant frequently to measure how long its roots have grown, and we don’t count how many leaves it sprouts daily, we must focus on the larger developmental goals of our children. When the focus is solely on examinations and marks, the tendency is often to ignore the soft skills, life skills, values, and personality trait development. 

Research reveals that the younger generations have been growing up feeling entitled, and lacking the ability to deal with disappointments and failure. 

A couple of months ago wrestler Ritika Phogat (17), a cousin of the Phogat sisters, committed suicide in Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri district after she lost the final bout of a tournament.  Ritika took the extreme step on the night of 15 March 2021, as she was upset over losing to her rival by one point in the final bout of a championship.

What a tragic loss of a life that showed so much promise, all for a one-point loss in a wrestling match. 

It is now more important than ever for us to instill confidence in our children to realise that failure is not the opposite of success, it is a part of success.  That, if you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.  

Our approach to this is multipronged-

1. Getting our Grade 8 children to teach Value Education at the lower grades, from Grade 1 to Grade 7.  When children teach children, they learn valuable life skills: the art of communication, facing an audience, explaining one’s perspectives, or holding one’s own, besides of course imbibing the values they teach and preach; all of it in a non-threatening environment without the burden of assessments.
2. Inclusivity: Let us encourage our children to talk to the shy child. Reach out to the nervous child. Sit with the differently-abled. Share their tiffin with the lonely child. Tutor their friends who are struggling in a subject. Help a classmate who missed classes due to an illness. Let us teach them not to discriminate on the basis of color, caste, religion, gender or sexual orientation. We teach them responsibility when we not only allow them, but also prod them to look out for those that need help. 
3. Understanding and accepting Body Positivity. One common form of bullying is body shaming, and we would like to sensitise our children through dialogue, encouraging them to focus on the positives. It is not cool to laugh and make fun of someone for being tall, short, fat, bespectacled, skinny, or awkward. Don’t encourage jokes that body shame. Don’t encourage jokes that shame religious beliefs, dietary preferences, color of skin, income status, or sexual orientation. Let’s raise our children to empathise with and embrace everyone, even if they are different from us.
4. Initiating conversations on Gender Diversity and Gender neutrality.  At the very basic, challenging old norms,  “Boys don’t cry”, “Girls must learn cooking”, etc. We would like our children to grow up acknowledging and accepting gender diversity and gender neutrality, acknowledging and accepting those that don’t easily fit into the binary gender norms.  The older children have been raising questions on sexuality and sexual orientation in the classrooms, and we recognise that we need to normalise conversations around LGBTQIA+.  
5. Pride is concerned with ‘Who is Right?’ Humility is concerned with ‘What is Right?’. Children learn such behaviour from adults, and when we don’t show respect, gratitude, and humility in our dealing with people around, our children learn that it is fine to be rude, to shout and scream to get your way through, and to be ungrateful for everything that people do for them. Giving our children everything they want makes them demanding and ungrateful. And they never learn how to be self-controlled. Think about this the next time you give in to a screaming child.

We will succeed in our efforts only if we have the unflinching and unconditional support of our parents in all our initiatives.

What can you do as a parent, and what must you not do:

1. If you don’t receive any call from the school office regarding your child’s behaviour or academic performance, you can be rest assured that your child is growing up well, with the right values, attitude, and age appropriate learning milestones. So, pat yourself on the back, your parenting skills and style are effective.  Don’t beat yourself up about an exam missed due to an illness, or poor performance in a subject in the formative assessment.
2. If the school does call you to discuss your child’s performance or behaviour, please do not panic. Work with the school to correct your child’s wrong behaviour, inappropriate attitude, or lagging academic performance.  Going on the defensive, blaming the teacher, making excuses for your child, covering up for your child would do more damage than good in the long run.  The school team doesn’t hate any child or parent. Have faith in the people looking after your child in school, and work with us to help raise children to become responsible adults.  
3. Stay away from the University of WhatsApp.  Everyone and their uncle has an opinion on everything, regardless of their education, experience, or expertise. They offer half-baked solutions to problems - imaginary or real.  They offer solutions that suit only themselves, and not the fraternity.  So, refrain from adding to the din on WhatsApp.  Remember, written words on WhatsApp can come back to haunt you. The school has a strict view on false propaganda, rumour-mongering, and slandering.
4. Have faith in the school. Don’t be influenced by external agencies with hidden agendas. They don’t have your child’s interest at heart. 
5. RESPECT the teachers, the staff, the administration team. Every problem has a solution. It is easier to find the solution with a smile, without stressing anyone in the system.  

Career Guidance

We have incorporated a Career Guidance page on our website, which will have presentations on different fields of study. These will be accessible to students and parents via the school website. 

rcis.rustomjee.com/career guidance

Log in using your official school email address to view these presentations.

Cialfo

This year, we are happy to announce our collaboration with CIALFO, a career counselling platform for our students, with the aim of guiding students of Grades 9 to 12 in selecting undergraduate courses that fit with their aptitude and aspirations.

Say NO to tuitions

We reinforce that the best way to equip our children for the future is to teach them how to learn. With this mission, we have been repeating our message of “Say No to Tuition”.  

Tuitions make children dependent, and they don’t learn the importance of taking responsibility for their own learning.  Besides, children who go for tuition have a shorter attention span during regular school classes, which disturbs the learning environment for everyone.  We continue to encourage parents to ‘Say NO to tuitions’ and have faith in the school teachers to do a sincere job.

 Get vaccinated

We encourage all parents to take the vaccination as soon as they get the opportunity and, also, vaccinate their children whenever the Government offers the opportunity.  Vaccination is the only way we can all fight the virus, and get back to our routine.  Remember small steps in the right direction can turn out to be the biggest step of your life.

Nothing can trouble you more than your thoughts. Stay positive. 

Have a happy, healthy and safe year ahead.

 Warm regards,

 Dr Hanif Kanjer

Founder Director and Dean

Rustomjee Cambridge International School & Junior College