Reshma Ravishanker

A private CBSE affiliated school in Bengaluru’s KR Puram area has come under fire on social media after allegedly offering incentives to students who do not frequent the washroom to avoid a rush.

Over allegations of overcrowding students on the school campus and giving ‘stars’ to those students who do not use the washroom frequently, Orchids International School in Horamavu has invoked an outcry from parents.

A parent from the school said, “They lack basic infra such as lab, toilets, classrooms, playground etc. Kids are given stars for not using toilets as they don’t have enough of them. My kid almost every single day comes home and runs to pee as he has to come down three floors to pee every time. Due to sudden spike in the admissions, they are using labs as classrooms, combine multiple sections or ask kids to move around classes multiple times with their heavy bags. If my guess is right they combine classes until the classes like lkg nursery and ukg gets over and then reuse those classes,” (sic) on a social media platform.

Other parents as well voiced similar concerns.

Another expressed, “Really we are trapped there. The principal is very rude with parents. She has her own clarification that she doesn’t want to listen to any complaints. She said if you have any problems with us you can take TC. I never saw this type of school management. Now we are desperate about my child’s future. July has started and still my son didn’t get an ID card. And they don’t have that much curriculum that they promised us.”

Claiming that labs were converted into classrooms to accommodate an additional number of students, parents also said that students were overburdened with the weight of books and asked to carry them several flights of stairs.

“My kid’s book bag is almost 5+ kgs and he has to carry that 4 floors. In between he has to go up and down carrying the whole thing due to lack of classrooms. He literally begs us can you please carry my bags until the entrance. Dismissals are another joke. They say buses are equipped with GPS and can be tracked. One of my friend’s kids came home at 530 due to a bus breakdown and there was no single communication,” read another comment on the same post regarding the schools functioning. 

Responding to these allegations, the school said, “We don’t have any shortage of toilets, each floor of the school building has toilets and as soon as student signals teachers during class to inform to go toilet they are allowed immediately. There is no restrictions at all. We are making additional provision of toilets for 4th floor which is underway.

In terms of transport we have a separate Whatsapp group for each class and batch and any breakdown of school bus or delay due to traffic is communicated to parents promptly. So far there has been no such incidence reported.”

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