When parents drive teachers up the wall
Chintan Girish Modi
Being a school teacher is perhaps one of the most stressful jobs in the world today. Apart from displaying competence in terms of subject knowledge, pedagogical skills, and classroom management, teachers have to face a growing heap of unreasonable expectations from parents who send their children to school. In such a scenario, it is hard to stay calm.
Zarreen Khan, a Delhi-based author who quit her job in marketing to pursue her passion for writing, holds up a mirror to the teacher’s predicament in her new book The Fabulous Mums of Champion Valley. It is a fast-paced and entertaining novel set in Delhi. Each chapter is written as a first-person narrative, and there are multiple narrators filling us in on the lives of third graders, their parents, and their teachers at the posh Champion Valley School.
The protagonist is a woman called Ambika who has taken up her first teaching job. She is baffled by the endless rules and regulations thrown at her, but most of all by the fact that teachers are treated as service providers and parents as customers whose demands and expectations they have to satisfy. She barely manages to stay awake during the orientation and professional development sessions meant to indoctrinate her into the school’s regimented style of functioning.
At the beginning of the academic year, all class teachers are supposed to send out welcome emails to the parents of their students. Shilpa, the coordinator for the third grade, discovers that the emails sent by Ambika are not up to the mark. In order to prevent future fiascos, Shilpa shares emails sent by other teachers so that Ambika is aware of what’s expected.
Shilpa adds, “Always start your emails with something inspiring. Or cheerful…something that makes parents feel proud to be a part of CVS…Compel them to come to school and be involved with their child’s education. Motivate them, let them take ownership!” Ambika’s head is spinning by this time. She is quite certain that if she were in the parent’s place, she would never have made time to read such long-winded emails that read more like essays.
In the Acknowledgements section, the author claims that she did not write the book “to provide social commentary and critique” but her sharp observations are spot-on. She paints an accurate portrait of the farce that the education system has become because of the superficial add-ons to a teacher’s to-do list. She also recreates the drama of parent-teacher meetings and school WhatsApp groups in colourful detail. Her sense of humour, and skilled mimicry of how parents and teachers conduct themselves, make this a page-turner.
It is challenging for teachers to maintain equanimity when they have to deal with school administrators trying to micro-manage them and parents wearing their sense of entitlement on their sleeve. She is angry that there are parents who send forgotten notebooks, water bottles, tiffin boxes, and stationery to school via app-based services like Dunzo, Swiggy, and Zomato.
Moreover, Ambika cannot keep pace with the constant flow of email correspondence. At one point, she writes a mass email to parents stating, “Please do not send five follow up emails within forty-eight hours asking if we’ve seen the email.”In the same email, she adds, “Also, requesting parents who come by car for pick up to kindly collect their children on time and not send emails saying ‘running late by 10 mins’ and turning up 30 minutes later.”
This book shows how snarky people can get when they are stressed and cannot manage their emotions. When a parent emails her to ask why a particular child did not eat her tiffin, Ambika shoots back, “Because Aanya got a broccoli parantha! Can you imagine that? I mean, getting greens in whatever way is great, but broccoli? How do you even mince broccoli?” What annoys Ambika even further is Shilpa’s matter-of-fact response: “Remember, Miss Ambika. The parents are always right…Maybe we need to schedule another training for you.”
This novel will make school teachers feel seen and heard because it captures what they have to endure on a daily basis. It will also help parents recognize that being a teacher and fielding demands from the families of every student in their classroom is by no means an easy task. Some parents assume that teachers are available 24/7, and have absolutely no personal life.
In this book, when Ambika is out for a run, the parent of a child in the second grade – which Ambika does not even teach – stops her and says, “Just wanted to ask whether term break will happen as per schedule? Because we have to book tickets. To London.” Ambika confesses that she has no information in this regard, and suggests writing to the school. The parent says, “But you’re a class teacher.” Ambika reacts, “Believe it or not, there’s only so much that we know!” This parent is joined by another one, who stares at Ambika’s bare legs in disgust and remarks, “She’s a teacher at Champion Valley? Look at how she’s dressed.”
It is important to remember that this incident takes place when Ambika is not on the school campus. She has no plans of meeting her students, their parents, or her colleagues. She is aghast when she is told, “You’re a teacher. You should dress more decently!” While this depiction might seem exaggerated, it is not entirely unthinkable. Parents can be judgemental.
The same can be said of teachers too. The second half of the book explores this aspect. When Ambika is utterly fed up with Shilpa’s spiel on how to write impactful qualitative report cards and how to dress for the parent-teacher meetings, Ambika lets off steam by writing individualized report cards for some of the mothers that she has been observing. She has no intention of sending off these report cards but they get misplaced and are circulated widely.
The author shows how harsh and cruel teachers can be when they talk about parents. Ambika’s report cards criticize their appearance, parenting skills, and their marriages. They are deeply offended and hurt by Ambika’s impudence, so they take the matter to the principal. There is a big twist in the tale, and a happy ending to boot. This book is worth reading for its honesty. It is not just a laugh-riot; it also leaves one with a warm feeling in the heart and the message that we know little about people’s inner struggles so we must cut them some slack.
The Fabulous Mums of Champion Valley
Author: Zarreen Khan
Publisher: HarperCollins India
Price: Rs. 399 Pages: 344
Where to buy: https://www.amazon.in/Fabulous-Mums-Champion-Valley/dp/9362135612/
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Chintan Girish Modi is a book lover, journalist and educator who can be reached at chintan.writing@gmail.com.
