• Name : Mrs. Namrata Rai
• Designation : Principal

'Let a child be a child before he is a man', said J.J. Rousseau, a French philosopher and an advocate of Naturalism. It is gratifying to note that the planners of education sitting at the helm of affairs are aware and conscious of this fact. Everyday we come across enthusiastic parents anxious to see their children learn more and more and acquire as much knowledge as possible within a short span of time. This is hazardous and may block the natural growth of a child. A child can take the load of a child only and putting the load of a man on him may turn him into a dwarf. Our firm belief in not overburdening the students by bookish knowledge and adding to the number of books and subjects is also in consonance with the policy and programmes of the Central Board of Secondary Education, Delhi.

Though Indian Public School is an institution of the unprivileged and for the unprivileged, it has to cater to the needs of both, the gifted as well as the average groups, because of the mixture of population, urban as well as rural. A big responsibility lies on the teachers who have to handle their students with humanistic approach. Neither, they have to look too tall for their children to reach them, nor have they to stoop down so low that they become dwarfs. I am proud to say that our teachers do realize this fact and always try their best to maintain the balance.

Finally, I look towards the parents who stand at the top and are the real pivots of children's mental, social and moral development. Not much can be done by a school unless the parents are judicious and co-operative. In most of the cases when a child enters a school, barring a few pre-primary schools, he has already attained 5 years of age and strong foundation of mental, social and moral qualities has been laid in him. The school can build only the super-structure. Quite often children are faced with dilemmas when they come across double standards. A behaviour considered wrong at school, may be considered right at home or vice-versa. It is here that the parents have to rise to the occasion. One word from the parents may negate one hundred words from the teachers who find themselves in a helpless situation. It has been rightly said, "One mother equalises one hundred fathers and one father equalises one hundred teachers."

What a big role parents have to play in the upbringing of their children !