Take Ownership, be Responsible

My colleague sent this letter to the newspaper. She asked me to publish the letter in my blog.

TAKING OWNERSHIP, BE RESPONSIBILE

My daughter is in Nursery Class at a local kindergarten. Her kindergarten is organising a trip to the zoo the end of this month. My daughter brought back the parent’s consent form for this trip. I was appalled to see the following clause in the consent form: "I shall not hold the Centre responsible for any mishap during the trip".

I am indeed surprised to know that a kindergarten, that is suppose to take responsibility of the children when they are at school and at school activities would disregard their basic responsibility in such an outright manner.

Such a clause is indeed a blank cheque for the school to be taken a child safety very lightly. It now makes me wonder if the school would also completely write off their responsibility of my child’s safety if something was to happen during school hours.

If the school does not want to take responsibility, then should they organize such an activity? Is the school worried about their financial responsibility in case an accident occurs? Or are they just being very kiasu? Or is the school reflecting the kind of social fabric that we Singaporean are made up of: that it is not my problem, it someone else’s problem.

I believe that my daughter’s kindergarten is not unique in having such a disclaimer clause in the consent form. I believe the school is merely following guidelines set by the Ministry of Education. If so, then is it indeed the right of every parent to know why schools should organize activities that they don’t want to take responsibility of.

Would I trust my daughter to be sent out with anyone who irks their responsibility of taking care of her safety and well-being? I definitely would not.

Babita Rai