By Prerana Kuppanatti
Principal
Dear Parents,
Every morning, you wake your child up, pack their lunch, prepare them for school and quietly carry a dream in your heart. You dream that your child will have a beautiful future. You want them to be successful. You want them to stand tall in life. You want them to have opportunities that perhaps you did not have. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that dream. But somewhere between “I want my child to succeed” and “My child must score more”, we may unknowingly be putting a burden on the very little shoulders we are trying to protect.
Please pause for a moment.
Look at your child—not at the report card.
Look into those little eyes.
That child is not a percentage.
That child is not a rank.
That child is not a comparison.
That child is your dream, your love, your tomorrow.
A mark is only a number. A child is a whole universe.
When your child comes home with 95 marks, they may be waiting for a hug, but sometimes, the first question they hear is:
“Why not 100?”
When they score 75, they may already be disappointed. But instead of hearing, “It’s okay, we’ll work on it together,” they may hear:
“Your friend scored 90.”
Slowly, a child begins to understand a painful message
“I am valuable only when I perform well.”
And that is something no child should ever have to believe.
Because one day, that examination will be over.
The marks will fade.
The report card will be put away in a cupboard.
But the words we say to our children today may stay in their hearts for years.
What if we asked a different question?
Instead of asking,
“How many marks did you get?”
ask, “Are you happy with the effort you made?”
Instead of saying, “Why did you lose five marks?”
say, “What did you learn from this?”
Instead of comparing them with another child,
say, “Let’s see how much you have grown from yesterday.”
Sometimes, your child doesn’t need another lecture.
They simply need you to sit beside them and say, “I believe in you.”
The world outside the classroom is not an examination hall.
Life will not always ask your child to choose A, B, C or D.
Life will ask them to solve problems for which there is no textbook answer.
It will ask them to communicate.
To cooperate.
To make decisions.
To handle rejection.
To manage failure.
To think differently.
To stand up after falling.
To understand people.
To be responsible.
To be kind.
These are the skills that will shape their lives.
Today, we have calculators that can calculate faster than us, technology that can store more information than us and artificial intelligence that can process enormous amounts of information.
So what makes a human being truly valuable?
The ability to think.
The ability to create.
The ability to care.
The ability to adapt.
The ability to make responsible choices.
That is what education should nurture.
We are not raising machines.
A machine can be programmed to produce an answer.
A child must be taught how to find the right question.
A machine can follow instructions.
A child must learn when to question an instruction.
A machine can memorise information.
A child must learn how to use knowledge wisely.
We are not preparing robots who can reproduce answers.
We are raising human beings who will one day become parents, teachers, doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, artists, leaders, citizens—and most importantly, human beings.
And when that day comes, we will care far more about their character than the marks they once received in Class 5, Class 8 or Class 10.
Let them fail sometimes.
Please don’t be frightened by your child’s failure.
A low score is not the end of the road.
Sometimes, it is simply a sign saying:
“Let’s try a different path.”
Let your child make mistakes.
Let them struggle.
Let them ask questions.
Let them discover what they are good at.
Let them play.
Let them create.
Let them read.
Let them dream.
Let them get their hands dirty.
Let them stand on a stage and speak—even if their voice shakes.
Let them participate in sports—even if they don’t win.
Let them try something and fail.
Because a child who has never been allowed to fail may grow into an adult who is terrified of trying.
One day, your child will grow up.
One day, they will leave the school gate for the last time.
One day, they will become independent.
And when you look back, you may not remember whether they scored 87% or 92%.
You will remember their first drawing.
Their first stage performance.
The medal they won.
The competition they lost.
The time they came home crying.
The day they finally succeeded after trying again and again.
The silly jokes.
The family conversations.
The hugs.
The laughter.
That is childhood.
Please don’t let the race for marks steal it from them.
Dear Parents, let’s change the definition of success.
Success is not only about being first.
Success is also about becoming better.
It is about becoming confident without becoming arrogant.
Successful without becoming selfish.
Ambitious without losing kindness.
Independent without losing gratitude.
Strong without losing empathy.
Our children do not need us to build a perfect future for them.
They need us to give them the confidence to build their own future.
So the next time your child brings home a report card, look at the marks – but then look at the child standing in front of you.
Celebrate the child before you evaluate the score.
Give them a hug.
Tell them you are proud of their effort.
Tell them that one examination cannot define their future.
Tell them:
“Your marks matter, but you matter more.”
Because as a school, our greatest responsibility is not to create children who can score the highest marks.
Our greatest responsibility is to create responsible citizens who can make the world a little better than they found it.
Let us not raise children who are afraid of making mistakes.
Let us raise children who have the courage to learn from them.
Let us not raise children who live to satisfy comparisons.
Let us raise children who know their own worth.
Let us not raise robots trained only to give the right answers.
Let us raise thinking minds, compassionate hearts and responsible human beings.
Because tomorrow, the world will not simply need children who know the answers.
It will need children who know what is right.
And perhaps, that is the greatest mark we can ever give a child.