I've been talking to the Charan, one of the teachers also admin person. She's so pleasant to talk to and makes me feel welcomed. Too bad I can't say the same about the principal from their centre in Kajang. Best she stays in Kajang :)
The open day is on Oct 21, 2012.
More on this post after that.
I thought that by reserving the information to be revealed until the open day was a way to say "We'll get ready everything and lay them out by October 21st."
The presenter, Mrs. Singh introduced herself as the learning coordinator. She spoke with less vigor, proud like a peacock, condescending to the parents and down right rude. Very, very rude.
After explaining what Montessori is (which bore the audiences to tears), she introduced this man who is the rep or a supplier of this IT edusystem called the Little Scientist. They explained that someone else was suppose to be there to do a demo on the programme but he was unable to make it.
Anyway, they tried to get something to work on the computer and they couldn't.
Then Mrs. Singh opened up the session to Q & A.
One of the parents asked "Do you think 2 classes in a week for Mandarin is enough?"
Mrs: Singh: We didn't say err, err, we are preparing the children for Chinese schools. We didn't say we're preparing them for Sekolah Kebangsaan. This is what we have."
Did she answer the question?
Then another parent asked: "What about Moral?"
Mrs: Singh: What do you mean Moral?
Another parent, who tried to help to rephrase the question: What do you do about discipline? Do you practice time-out, what methods do you use? One day someone will kick my son, another day, my son might bite another child... so what do you do in situations like this?
Mrs. Singh: Discipline must start at home. Parents cannot expect us to teach the children everything in school. It's the parents' responsibility to discipline the children.
Parent: Yeah, sure. But we're talking about in school.
Mrs. Singh: How many children do you have? You have only one? If you have two or more you will know what children are like.
Was she addressing the questions?
Parent: What do you do when a child is sick. They can fall sick at anytime of the day.
Mrs. Singh: If the child is sick, we don't take them in. We call the parents.
Parent: OK. What do you do if someone falls sick during school hours? For instance, is there a room that they can rest in while they wait for the parents to come?
Mrs. Singh: We have a daycare room where the children sleep, the sick child will be placed there.
Parent: I saw that there's one room for the children to sleep in. It could be a fever, a flu but what if it's something more contagious like HFMD? I'm trying to understand here, how do you isolate the sick child away from the others. I wouldn't wish for my sick child to get others sick too.
Mrs. Singh: We have that room.
Parent: Are you guys licensed? Because from what I know, the Taman Desa Residents Association is against this school being set up. Do you have approvals from the Bomba, neighbors, Kebajikan and so on?
Mrs. Singh: We have submitted all the approvals and they're in process. What happens with the government people we have no control of but they know we have the intention to start a pre-school.
Like I said, we dunno what goes on with them.
Parent: Wait a minute.... What you are saying is you don't have the license, you are not legally allowed to have this set-up. So briefly, your answer to my question is NO? And you intend to operate in January 2013? That's 2 months away. Can you be sure that the approvals will be sorted out by then?
Mrs. Singh: No but like I said, we can't control what the Government does.
Parent: OK. Thank you.
Parent: Do you offer trial classes?
Mrs. Singh: Yes, we do... 2 weeks.
Parent: Free of charge?
Mrs. Singh: Yes.
Parent: Can we join the enrichment classes only?
Mrs. Singh: Yeah, of course.
Parent: If a child is not use to English, how to adjust?"
Mrs. Singh: It's not a problem. Parents should try to speak more English with them.
By this point, a few of the parents looked at each other and made eye contact.
We shook our heads and walked out. There was a demo on Aikido at the front porch.
Most of us were ready to leave with a big sigh and talked among ourselves.
One said, "Inexperience..." The others said, "They're very very new" and rolled her eyes. The others, "Cakap macam terra...sombong betul" "Such a small space inside"
I say... I'm not at all impressed and I'm turned off.
See, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought they'd be prepared on the open day.
Was only that day that they were bringing in snacks and drinks for the kids.
Even Mr. Clown who was suppose to be there much earlier to entertain the kids was late.
So kelam-kabut.
It's nice that they have a big compound, nice new toys and Montessori thingamajigs.
You don't gain the parents' confidence by telling a parent, "I'm so sorry I offended you. It's just how I talk. No hard feelings... I'm use to lecturing."
The parents are not your students, woman. We were there for out children and we want to know what value our children will get especially when we are your potential customers and will be paying good money for a service you render. You were there to play a role and you were assigned to do a good job. Can you at least smile and be more approachable?!
Needless to say, there was no follow up phone calls or call answering since that day.
I'm glad they feel all those questions shook them up.
There wasn't anything I got about their programme except the emphasis of Montessori. Which they had put it so generally. One can go on the web to look for information about Montessori if they want to. But it's an open day. Why have one or have a Q&A session if it's gonna be all fluff and if you can't provide the information parents need? Come on people of Rasberry. There are better ways to make money. Get serious and passionate about what you do!
Fix that broken staircase railing while you're at it. It's jutting out and it's not safe for anyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment