‘We had no qualms about getting Aryaman enrolled in Apeejay School, Saket’

Mrs. Sreela Bandopadhyay is Assistant Technical Director with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Her husband Mr. Tathagata Bandopadhyay is Service Manager with Starlight Technologies. They are proud parents of Aryaman Bandopadhyay, class 10 student at Apeejay Saket. In a wide-ranging interview, Mrs. Bandopadhyay mentions how her son, who has an avid passion for Metro rail, is gradually finding his footing at Apeejay Saket and beginning to interact with his peers. Edited excerpts:

Why did you choose Apeejay Saket over other schools for your son’s admission?

We shifted to Delhi in 2020. We were previously residing in Guwahati. After coming here, we applied to various schools near Malviya Nagar. We got the first interview call from Apeejay Saket and then Aryaman gave and cleared the entrance exam subsequently. It was during that time that the lockdown struck. We went ahead with Apeejay Saket since the school has a very good name in the field of education and we didn’t have any qualms in going ahead with the school.

Please tell us a bit about Aryaman and take us through his progress at school?

Aryaman is a very shy boy. I think it is so since he has been through so many schools in his life. My husband and I both have transferable jobs. So, Aryaman has travelled through three cities namely Kolkata, Guwahati and Delhi in such a short span of time. Therefore, he has not had a chance to develop a constant friendship at any of the schools he has attended so far. He is introverted by nature and so is not very interactive as a child. 

However, I have observed that at Apeejay Saket there is a high level of extra-curricular activities and the teachers also encourage the students a lot. The activity clubs at the school are excellent. Aryaman was a part of the international club in class 9. All his teachers encouraged him a lot to participate in the various activities organised by the club and I now see that even by a slight margin but still it has nevertheless increased his interaction level and skills. Recently, on the birthday of Shakespeare, the school had staged the play The Merchant of Venice and Aryaman had played the role of Bassanio.  I was very happy to see him involved in this play. These two years at home, he had only his parents to interact with but now in school he is growing gradually. Otherwise as a student, he is very diligent. He sincerely does the homework given by me as I teach him at home. There is no tuition. He likes social studies the most among his subjects.  

His primary hobby though is map making. He loves Delhi metro a lot. It is his dream to extend the metro tracks in Delhi to other cities which do not have this provision. It is very superficial and it seems that he is in his utopia (laughs) . He thinks there should be a pink line or white line metro in Kolkata, our hometown as well. So he is constantly researching about it in Google Maps and is also studying the terrain and other aspects of foreign nations as well (laughs again). I have to tell him at times that if you want to seriously pursue this, you have to study well so focus on your studies.

Are the teachers engaging well with the students?

The teachers are very good. I am fully satisfied with them. They put in all their efforts. The online system was new to all however they were available to the parents virtually all the time. They constantly update us about the progress of our child. I would like to thank Rafia Ma’am, the class teacher, Minu  Ma’am  the Math teacher, Bina  Ma’am  the social studies teacher and Shivali  Ma’am, the physics teacher.

What is the best thing about Apeejay Saket?

I think it is their constant involvement with the students. Even in online classes, the teachers have made the students study and grow. This is remarkable in my opinion.  

How has the experience of the online classes been for Aryaman?

It was very good. Though Aryaman could not give the attendance sometimes as the link would disappear nevertheless it was overall a great experience for him.

Now that the schools have reopened, is Aryaman enjoying going to the school?

Yes, he is enjoying going to school. The real reason behind it is that he is going to the school independently using the Delhi metro. (laughs) So he is very happy. I don’t think he has made many friends yet in his class. I tell him to interact more with his peers. But overall I am happy that the physical classes have begun since it would provide Aryaman with new opportunities to grow.