The Heritage School, Kolkata — Review
I had one of the most bizarre experiences today. And one of the most enlightening ones too.
Today, my younger son, Ayansh, was scheduled for an interview at the Heritage School, Kolkata. We had filled the online application form and paid the admission form fees. And we got today’s date for his interview. We are usually worried about how he will react in school, in front of teachers, other kids and parents, like any other parent. So our focus was to keep him in a happy mood throughout. We reached before time. We were asked to show the birth certificate and then sit/wait for our chance to come. Ayansh behaved very well. He was playful and sang his usual “Nanha munha rahi hu” poem all around the room. He even did handshakes with other kids in the waiting room. It was all going well. Finally, our turn came. We entered the room. The interviewing panel asked for the child to be seated separately on the chair where they had kept some educational toys. We were worried that Ayansh would cry when asked to sit separately, but he started playing well, to our utter surprise. We sat in front of the interviewers. Their first question was, “Are you from Howrah?”. We responded by saying “Yes”. They said they are sorry that they cannot proceed because, as per some government mandates, children cannot come from so far. I told them that we are shifting to a closer place very soon, which is true as we have bought a new home and plan to go as soon as the complex is ready. To this, the authority responded that you could come to our school once you have moved to the new apartment. Like any decent person, we did not heat the argument and left by thanking them for giving us the opportunity.
Phew. That was some experience. If the school does not want to admit students from a particular locality or vicinity, they should have mentioned it in the application form itself. But what is interesting to me is that after getting the form filled, they could have seen the application form, which mentions my address and then a) call us to apologise to reject the application because of the location and b) refund us the application fees. But no, they did neither. They called us. In a single line of conversation, they rejected based on our location.
What does this tell you about the Heritage School management?
- They do not care about your time.
- They are purely money-driven.
- They are not ethics-driven.
Come to think of it, I run an organisation as a CEO, and I wasted my 3 hours for an unscrupulous school. And probably more. We keep hearing that Heritage is the best school as they provide the best co-curricular activities. However, I now feel that a school could provide you with good academics and suitable co-curricular activities but may not necessarily impart the correct values in you.
I am not saying that Heritage is the worst school. But you need to ask the following questions if you are trying to get an admission to this school or if you already have your kid studying here.
1. Would it be okay if the same experience happened to you?
2. Has the school ever done something similar to you where you feel that they are extorting money for no good reason?
At the end of this episode, I feel both good and bad. Bad because I lost time and pride in interviewing my son at this school, but good that I am happy that my son did not get admitted at a place where ethics and values are not necessary. They want more and more applications and applications fees, and also, clearly, they do not care about your time and pride.
I sincerely hope that schools follow what they preach and focus more on values than on money.
I would leave you with a quote that should make you think about sending your child to school every day.
