Father rejects Dubai school’s Twitter apology

A school in Dubai sent a fee payment reminder - two months after the suicide of a student - to his parents... and then issued a public apology for the blooper on Twitter.

Father of the 16-year-old student - who died in March after writing his suicide note in the Chemistry exam answer sheet - has found the school’s Twitter apology insensitive.

“If they had at least sent a peon, with a stem of a rose, to my house to offer their condolence, then that would have been enough,” Sadasivan observed.

After the media highlighted this posthumous invoice, the school sent Sadasivan an apology, which was later posted on their official Twitter handle.

“The IHS management extend their deepest apologies to the deceased student’s parents for this fee invoice error,” they wrote on their official Twitter handle.

An image with the apology that was sent to the student’s family was attached.

And it read, “The Indian High School Dubai apologises for the fee invoice e-mail you received. It was a technical glitch from our ICT department where a fresh invoice was automatically generated.

 “Abhimanyu was an integral part of the IHS community and his presence is missed deeply by his classmates, teachers and the school.

 “The management of the IHS school humbly regrets this unfortunate incident that occurred from our side.

 “Please do accept our deepest apologises in this time of grief,” it read.

Online citizens in the UAE, too, termed IHS’s twitter apology as insensitive.

“Your apology isn't gonna mend something that's damaged. Glad I never studied from your school!” wrote a twitterati.

Another resident tweeted, “such a disgrace.”

“This is a desperate measure to save business. This was not an "error" by any means. At least own up and have some honor!” wrote another.

“Your CEO and management should be ashamed... life seems so trivial to IHS,” observed a twitter user.

But there were those who defended the school.

“Can't blame IHS for suicide and we can't downgrade or insult the school just coz they asked for fees. Maybe it was a factor,” tweeted a resident.

“Everyone should stop pointing fingers at IHS, nobody is perfect, and mistakes happen, IHS has accepted their mistake, so stop,” added another.

Despite numerous attempts to get a response, the school didn’t comment on the issue.

The student had reportedly written a suicide note in his chemistry answer sheet on February 25, which the parents were informed about after being summoned to the school on March 2.

The school is yet to hand over the suicide note to Abhimanyu’s parents.

Even this issue has been highlighted by the twitterati.

“Would request you to convey to the senior mgmt to let the parents have the chemistry copy as requested. Rules not above life,” tweeted an online user.

Another added, “Completely agree. Rules above everything, even the wishes of a grieving parent.”
 

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