Did you
hear the school bell ring
The
sound of those bells remind me of a man in his late 50’s wearing a khaki
uniform standing near the gate and welcoming all the kids with a broad smile on
his face and stretched arms. That is how my first day at school began.
My first
school was a simple building with 4 floors and its wall soaked in pastel colors,
nevertheless the popular one in the locality.
The first floor of the building was dedicated
to all those small wonders who had mustered courage to step out into the world
away from their mother’s cuddle. They were the most pampered. The remaining
grades occupied the other floors with the senior always in the top floor.
There
was no playground within the school premises; an open plot of area 100 by 60 was
taken on rent by the school and everyone had to walk for some distance to reach
their classrooms. Not one child did feel the brunt of neither heat nor the cold
walking that distance, neither did the parents complain. They were more than
happy to stand there smile and wave at the kids irrespective of who was their parent,
while the latter walked in a line to enter the classrooms.
Step
into 2012.
While I was
having my tryst with the newspaper one morning, I came across an advertisement
in Times of India
which had the caption as “KNOW
YOUR SCHOOLS”. My
curious brain wanted some food and it got more than it had asked for.
Times of
India
has been organizing an “Expo for schools” to help parents choose the best
school for their kids. I was wonderstruck at the very concept of it, but I dint
know there was more that would strike me than just this expo.
The expo brings in one place all
those schools who want to advertise themselves to the parents and draw the
maximum crowd. Showcasing 20 international and some residential schools, the
event attracted over 2,000 on Day 1.This triggered the explorer within me; I wanted to know more of what is happening in the school sector. Being out of school for more than a decade I thought I was out of sync. I went through the websites of some of the schools mentioned in the expo to see what they offer and what the parents would have to shell out in order to get their kids “admitted” into the school.
My research showed that some of the top listed schools had average tuition fees of at the least a Lakh in the first year which included the actual fee, the admission fee, not sure what this meant, some deposit. Apart from this there were transport fees, books, uniform and other things that were not included.
However the school websites also bragged about the facilities that they can provide to the wards. Some of the facilities that were common were swimming, basket ball, tennis, football, music, dance, yoga. Some were at the extremes citing horse-riding, LCD TVs inside the school bus and GPS systems installed so that the school can track the buses.
The schools
which came second to these top schools also wanted to compete, so there were
the same sets of extra curricular activities provided by them, of course please
ignore the horse riding, LCD TV and the GPS system! However their fee was comparatively
less. I wasn’t sure what would differentiate the two levels.
I wanted
to research what the demand was when the supply was at this level. I read some
of the blogs, forums where parents want to know the schools in their area and
which is the best among them. This is what amazed me the most.
If I can
put it this way, the top two requirements of the parents was that the school
should not emphasize more on the academics, there should be enough scope for
extra-curricular activities and the number of kids in each class should not be
more than 25.
I realized
that as the ratio of number of students per class and the tuition fee was
inversely proportional. As the number of students per class increased the fee
charged by the school decreased.
How is
the school selected for the kid then? The parents discuss about the schools in
this forum and then based on the reviews about the school they come up with a
first list of schools that they would like to visit. Then comes the school
visit, where the parents go to the short-listed schools ensure that the
facilities that they have gathered information about is right and how useful
they are.
Then
comes the interview of the teachers and the principal about the roadmap of the
school (Talk about influence of IT sector). I remember one of the funny comments
I read in a forum posted by a parent. One particular school was not chosen for a
lady’s son and the reason posted was that the words used by the teacher was not
up to the dictionary standards!! I couldn’t believe what I read.
Once the
school-visits are done the list of schools which have to be applied for are
shortlisted. Now comes the admission-application part. The range of application
cost varies from Rs. 250 to 1000. The story doesn’t end after sending out the
application. Next comes the preparation for exams, yes you read it rite parents
prepare to face the interview for their kids to get into the school, once the
kid is in school the story has just begun.
The
other interesting article I read about the schools is about weekly boarding
schools. These are normal schools which have started off with boarding
facilities per week. As in the kid is picked up from home on Sunday evening,
stays at the school the entire week and then is dropped back home by Friday evening.
The advantage of these schools as cited by the parents is that they reduce the
travelling time and the kids get more time to spend with friends and leaning
new skills. Also it’s easier for a working couple who then won’t have to worry
about a nanny. On a lighter note I thought the kids would start calling their parents
as weekend mom and dad.
Well, I
am not against any of this neither am I saying that they are all bad. All that I
felt when I read these articles was how complicated we have made life. Some of
the facilities provided in these schools may be good and some may be extravagant
but the thought of school has change drastically over a decade. I felt the
schools are now more into churning out kids who are brilliant in both academics
and extra-curricular activities and making huge money. No wonder the Government
schools are all locked up and empty.
Gone are
the days when our parents never had to think twice about the school I had to join,
the choice was very simple: put your child in a school where all the other kids
of the community are in. There was no short listing of schools, no school
visits, interviewing the teachers, assessing the campus of the school, filling
an application form. Life was much simple and happy.
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