10X International School, Bangalore: India's First School of Innovation

The school is not experienced enough to handle kids. Poor management particularly poor leadership

I feel that the school’s approach to handling children and behavioural issues is, at times, extremely immature and overly disciplinary. There are some teachers who are genuinely gifted at understanding children. They seem to recognise that every child is different and that behaviour needs to be understood in its context. Unfortunately, that understanding does not seem to be reflected consistently at the administrative level. What concerns me particularly is that the main response I have repeatedly heard from teachers is “suspension” as a means of correcting children. Suspension may sometimes be necessary in serious circumstances, but it should not become the default solution for managing behavioural issues. Children need guidance, conversation, accountability and age-appropriate consequences—not simply removal from school. The school had communicated that it would move to its own building, but that commitment was not fulfilled within the expected timeframe, apparently because there were several factors affecting the move. As parents, we understand that circumstances can change and that there may be genuine reasons why a commitment or deadline cannot be met. I believe children deserve the same consideration. When a student behaves in a particular way, there may also be several factors behind that behaviour—something happening at school, difficulties with peers, academic pressure, personal circumstances, misunderstanding, emotional distress or simply a mistake in judgement. Before reaching a serious disciplinary measure such as suspension, those circumstances should be understood. It seems inconsistent to give the school the benefit of the doubt when its own commitments are delayed because of “many factors”, while expecting children to be judged solely on their actions without first understanding the factors that may have contributed to their behaviour. If suspension is used so readily as a response to children’s behaviour, I am concerned about the kind of environment this creates for children. Fear to express freely is what the school is creating in kids. The purpose of education should be to understand those circumstances, guide the child, establish appropriate boundaries and help them learn from the experience. If the first response is simply suspension, we risk teaching children that explaining themselves is pointless and that the safest response is to remain silent.