72% of parents don’t trust schools, finds study after Gurugram murder

MUMBAI: In the aftermath of seven-year-old Pradhyumn Thakur’s death at Ryan International School, Gurgaon, schools in the city are grappling with queries from parents about safety infrastructure at their institutes. While the physical requirements can be met with a little help from technical experts, it is the trust deficit that has many worried.

According to a survey by the School Learners Network (SLN), a professional group of school leaders, 72% parents do not trust schools with safety of their children. The survey found 63% of school leaders also feel there has been a drop in parent trust and higher parent interference in school affairs after the Gurgaon incident.

The SLN spoke to 300 parents and 130 school leaders soon after the incident to understand what has changed. While almost half the respondent parents (44%) thought principals were responsible in case of safety hazards in a school, leaders (62%) felt it was the responsibility of the school administrator. Among school leaders, only 11% felt it was the responsibility of the principal and 7% put the onus on the school trustee.


Most trusted was the teacher, according to 59% of the parents. “The two important pillars behind any successful school is the parent and the school authorities. Both join hands to ensure the success of a child. This relationship has, possibly for the first time, witnessed a lowest drop in the core value of trust between both these stakeholders. We wanted to gauge the strength of this special bonding and our findings encourage us to work on strengthening this relationship,” said Francis Joseph, co-founder of the network.

Principals feel knee-jerk reactions by government agencies create panic. “In times of an adverse incident many measures are announced and reach parents on social media– most of it wrong or exaggerated. This causes panic,” said Rohan Bhatt, trustee, Children’s Academy group of schools.

“Principals and managements cannot run schools in isolation. Parent Teacher Associations should be proactive and must be involved at different levels. We try to use messaging applications to call for suggestions and act on complaints. It is important schools openly communicate with parents,” said Father Francis Swamy, principal, St Mary’s High School (ICSE), Mazgaon.

Among other after effects of the murder, 10% have been prompted to stop hiring male staff.