Exploitative manoeuvrings?

The vice principal of a renowned private school in Ahmedabad told the father of a class 9 student, who is suffering from epilepsy, “Get her enrolled in the open school, so that she gets free from the bondage of going to school every day and has to go to school only to appear in the exam.”

In response, the parent of student ‘X’ said, “Madam, in this disease, it is necessary for the child to sleep at least for 9 to 10 hours, otherwise it could trigger an epilepsy attack, therefore, if ‘X’ does not get enough sleep on any particular day, she is not able to go to school, due to this even in the previous schools ‘X’ did not have 75 per cent attendance, but no teacher or principal ever gave such objectionable advice. Being a teacher how can you say such absurd things? Do you not know that doing this can have a negative psychological effect on the child’s mind? Her overall personality development may also be hampered etc.”

Such insensitive and unethical advice cannot be expected from a vice principal, that too in front of a sick student, but in the transition period in the education sector, it is difficult to envisage that teachers are sensitive.

If we are talking about facilities in private schools, hardly 5 per cent of schools have playgrounds. Generally, private schools neither have a library nor any first aid facility. Nowadays, counsellors are being hired in private schools to advise children on various issues, but their usefulness is also under question, as issues related to children are mounting day by day in every school. Today, the cases of drugs addiction of school goers and selling of nude picture & videos of schoolgirls in dark market is also flourishing.

In private schools, an annual fee of Rs 1.0 to 1.5 lakh is being collected from parents right from nursery class and onwards. Bus charges are being taken separately. Parents have to spend money in the name of art and craft and other activities. The standard of education in most of the schools is not up to mark.

Owing to unemployment, youth are ready to teach in schools even at a low salary, but their household needs are not met with the salary. On account of this, they have to give tuition. It is easiest to convince the parents of children for tuition. For this, children are taught in school in such a way that they do not understand the topics, even they do not cover entire syllabus. Also, in the annual examination in the high school, 20 marks out of 20 in internal assessment tests, projects, extracurricular activities are given to only those children who take tuition.

Because of the desire to earn huge money, 40 to 50 children are taught in a class, in which the number of intelligent children is hardly 4 to 5. Teachers pay attention only to the intelligent children in the class, due to which most of the children's concepts are not clear about the subject. However, it is true that if teachers teach properly and pay attention towards every student in the school, then children will never need to take tuition.

Currently, schools charge a commission on the purchase of pen, pencil, copy, school bag, shoes, socks, dress, book, etc. Parents are forced to buy all these from a particular shop so that they can get a commission on each item.

According to a report by the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), the total number of schools in India in 2022 was 14.08 lakh, while the number of private schools was around 3.40 lakh. Even though the number of government schools is high, financially strong parents prefer to get their children enrolled in private schools so that they may become proficient in English. In this category, financially weak parents are also included because they feel that their children will become self-reliant by studying in a private school.

If we look at it, such an ecosystem has been created in the country today, in which government schools are being looked down upon. It is believed that only if children study in a private school, their future will be safe and bright. Private schools have understood this weakness of parents very well. Therefore, teachers and management of private schools do not leave any prospect to extract money from the parents.

In a nutshell, we can say that the level of knowledge of teachers in most private schools is average, as qualified and efficient teachers do not like to teach in private schools due to low salaries. Education has become a business because of which sensitivity and humanity are also disappearing in the temples of education. The aim of school management has become to earn profits instead of imparting knowledge to everyone.

The perception regarding English is still very positive in the Hindi belt of the country. Therefore, common people easily fall prey to the allurements offered by private schools to make their children competent in English and develop their overall personality. School was once called the temple of education, but today it has become a market and, in this market, even after paying huge fees, parents are not able to say anything in front of teachers due to fear.

Views expressed are personal