When angry parents take to social media

Dubai - Khaleej Times looks into the war of words between parents and school authorities.

Remember a time, before the invention of social media, when your 11th grade Math teacher yelled at you in front of the entire class, or when your school bus driver stopped a bus a few 100 metres away from your designated bus stop. Back in the day, you either went with your parents to the school counsellor or the principal to settle matters. Today, there is social media.
Khaleej Times takes a close look into the case of parents on social media. Most schools have official and 'unofficial' groups on social media platforms like Facebook. While some of the groups are a space for student victories, announcement of upcoming activities, sale of old school text books, and the occasional enquiries on school transport.
On the other hand, there are several social media groups made my parents - most popular one being WhatsApp - where several issues are commonly discussed - such as fee hikes, excessive fees for school excursions, school transportation problems, complaints against teachers leaving portions incomplete, etc.
Though schools are advising parents against ranting about schools on social media, officials are encouraging a healthy dialogue between school and the parent community. Many of the schools do not take actions against venting students and parents, except a counselling session. However, the schools do take cyber bullying very seriously and all students engaged in it will be taken to task, according to policies laid down by schools and approved by the authorities. Most schools have policies that clearly state that defamation on social media or intentional harm practiced through social media forums will not be tolerated. In some cases, if instances are proven and breach is intentional, it could result in suspension from school.
However, parents and student bodies say that they seldom feel heard and are misinterpreted by the school and feel the need to express their dissatisfaction on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
A.S, a parent of one such group said: "It's not like I didn't raise these issues with the school. I had a genuine problem with the fee structure and when I tried to raise it, the school ignored my requests. But on a group. when you see that other parents have similar issues, I feel better and can come to better solutions."
Divya Ramgopal, an Indian parent of two children studying in Sharjah said sometimes a lot of the venting on social media is unnecessary. "Sometimes parents refuse to take care about the fact that their child's reputation could be at stake. Making connections with other parents is a good idea. But parents must avoid ranting about the school. It leaves a bad impression on the child," she said.
Parent-school contract
In Dubai, parents have to sign an agreement with the school called the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) Parent - School Contract. Amal Belhasa, Chief of Compliance Resolution Commission at KHDA, told Khaleej Times that the parent-school contract encourages schools to establish a clear social media policy. "Students use social media platforms to share their opinion and we at KHDA encourage healthy dialogue between schools, parents and students," she added.
"Parents and students using any social media forum must respect members of the school community and effective communication is essential," she said. She clearly stated that parents should be courteous in their approach when using the communication channels established by the school to find solutions to any issues.
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com