admission fee: refundable???

School told to refund admission fee

TNN | Dec 27, 2011

CHANDIGARH: District consumer forum Chandigarh has made it clear that if a student, who has deposited fee for admission in a particular school but later opts out or does not continue there, the said school is liable to refund the fee.

While passing these orders, forum has directed the principal of Sector-48 based Banyan Tree School to refund Rs 1,200 fee and Rs 7,500 as compensation and litigation cost to the complainant.

The orders were passed by district consumer forum-I headed by its president P D Goel, while allowing a complaint filed by 3-year-old minor Praneet Kaur of Mohali. Complaint was filed through her father Amarjit Singh against the school.

Complainant Amarjit Singh had approached the school for the admission of his daughter in nursery class and paid a sum of Rs 12,000 as part payment of fees and Rs 300 as registration fee on February 2, 2011. However, the complainant's daughter could not join the school as the family decided to settle in their native village. Following the decision, the complaint intimated the school on March 15, 2011 and requested for fee refund, but the school flatly refused the same despite repeated requests and visits. The complainant sent a legal notice dated April 28, 2011 to the school but school never responded. Finally complaint was filed before the consumer forum.

After examining the entire record of the complaint, forum held that non-refund of the part
payment of fees Rs 12,000 despite repeated requests amounts to deficiency in service.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/School-told-to-refund-admission-fee/articleshow/11261600.cms

Article on Corporal Punishment of children

Article on Corporal Punishment

punishment for discipline?

p.20, Times of India, 17.9.11

GIVING POWER BACK TO TEACHERS?

Parents, teachers want caning back in British schools 

London: Parents and teachers overwhelmingly want to bring back the cane in schools in Britain complaining that the classrooms have turned unruly. The vast majority of them are also pinning for back-to-basics discipline measures including detention, expulsion and forcing badly behaved children to write lines.
    A survey of 2,000 parents countrywide and 530 children by the Times Educational Trust found strong support for the reintroduction of smacking and caning to discipline the most badly behaved pupils, the Daily Telegraph reported.
    Corporal punishment was banned in UK in 1986. Some independent schools, however, continue to meet out physical punishment, such as slaps to the hands or ordering press-ups until it was outlawed 10 years later.
    The startling disclosures have been thrown up by the survey amid claims by the education secretary Michael Gove that adult authority has been eroded in too many schools. “In far too many schools, discipline is not up to scratch. We have problems with truancy and disruption,” Gove said. PTI

cost of being teacher

Times of India p.7, 29.8.11

The costs of keeping a class in order

Teaching May Truly Be A Lofty Calling, But The Downside Is Impaired Vocal And General Health Hoarseness, voice change

Shreya Bhandary | TNN

After teaching in colleges for over 35 years, an irritation in her throat did not come as a surprise to Nandini Sardesai. But when the doctor told her she might lose her voice if she did not seek medical treatment soon, reality finally hit her.
“I noticed hoarseness while taking lectures. So I visited an ENT specialist, who immediately told me that my voice box had developed vocal nodules, and if I didn’t get them treated soon, they would kill my voice altogether,” said Sardesai, who is currently a visiting faculty at K C College and Jai Hind College in Churchgate.
The doctor advised her to consult a speech therapist. “I have been asked to either get the nodules removed through an operation or go without uttering a single word for seven days, followed by speech therapy. The therapist can start the treatment only when the nodules diminish,” Sardesai said.
With a typical teacher manning a class of 80 students, sometimes even more, overexertion of the voice box is common. Speech therapists call this ‘voice abuse’, a problem commonly faced by teachers. “Nodules are formed on both sides of the vocal folds due to the abuse or overuse of voice. Many professional voice users face this problem because of friction caused in the voice box due to the constant and heavy use of voice,” said Dr Jyotsna Nadkarni, an audiologist and speech therapist.
While voice nodules, if detected early, can be treated with therapy, there have been instances where surgery was required. “I don’t just teach; as a vice-principal, I also tend to counsel a lot of students. So, I end up overusing my voice,” said Firdaus Mistry, vice-principal of Jai Hind College. After she noticed hoarseness, she had her voice nodules surgically removed two years ago. “But they redeveloped in my voice box and are once again affecting me, and so my lectures,” she said.
ENT surgeons in the city say they have seen a surge in cases where patients report hoarseness or even voice loss. “One of my patients was a teacher who took a month off from work to get adequate rest to improve his voice,” said Dr Nupur Kapoor Nerurkar, laryngologist and voice surgeon at Bombay Hospital. “I never treat patients without first sending them for speech therapy. Only when they know the importance of avoiding voice abuse can they be healed of nodules. Also, teachers should take lessons to achieve a basic understanding of how the voice box functions and how its use can be optimized by not harming the vocal cords.”

VOICE DISORDER ADVISORY: Drink water at regular intervals | Take breaks in between long lectures | Avoid spicy food | Use mike during lectures, especially when teaching big classes | Visit an ENT specialist if hoarseness does not go in a week

RISK GROUPS: Singers | Hours of practice takes a toll on the vocal cords of professional singers. Continuous speech therapy is advisable Stage actors | Rehearsals and live performances prove demanding on the voice box. Many theatre groups train artistes to make optimal use of their vocal cords without straining them Call centre staff | Speaking continuously on the phone overexerts the voice box, often without the speaker realizing it Politicians | Giving a speech, debating at a public forum and holding forth on issues have their downside. Periodic medical checkups advisable