Because of the holiday season, parents have asked schools to prolong the break or give their kids a few extra days off, according to the principals of numerous schools. Even before the pandemic, there were instances of leave requests, but this phenomenon is more of a post-pandemic occurrence since during the two years of online education, many students would be able to attend school from locations outside of the city.At least one school was asked by parents to offer them links for online courses, but they declined.
A school head stated that parents feel as though they can bargain with anything these days. They made requests for vacation between the Durga Puja and Diwali holidays to at least two schools.After the Lakshmi Puja, several schools reopened before closing for Diwali.
There were parents who were travelling abroad and made requests for extended holidays. We refused to give them documents from the school that would grant them leave for visa applications,” said John Bagul, principal, South City International School.
Anil Punjabi, chairman east, Go Agents Federation of India, noted that when students travel, nations like the US and those in Europe want the school calendar.
Some nations require a letter from the school showing that the pupils have been granted a leave of absence if the travel time falls outside of non-seasonal holidays like the summer or winter, according to Punjabi.
According to a school principal, parents need to be more understanding of schools having to decline requests to adhere to their regulations and that we cannot provide the flexibility that was permitted during online classes during in-person sessions. There were emails asking for one school, which was supposed to reopen on Friday, to do so next week.
“Parents now think that anything can be negotiated. Though it isn’t. According to vice principal of Mahadevi Birla World Academy Nupur Ghosh, the institution has specific policies that it will abide by.
To ensure attendance and stop kids from skipping class, many schools assign a test on the first day back from break. A teacher said, “We have to instil discipline in them.” However, she added, “More often than not, parents are the ones making these requests because they want to take advantage of the holiday season. Parents can use Saturday and Sunday, which are typically their days off, if it falls on a Friday.
Parents requested we post links to the classes we reopened between Durga Puja and Diwali. These parents are leaving the country, yet we had to decline their request. We don’t offer online programmes unless it’s an emergency, according to Indus Valley World School director Amita Prasad. According to Terence Ireland, principal of St. James’ School, parents also made the request since they were unable to purchase return tickets in time.