Sky-high fees coupled with unprecedented annual hikes, lack of
infrastructure and the absence of accountability are some of the woes that plague the private-education sector in India today.
The CBSE board, in a bid to bring about transparency, has asked affiliated schools to publicly declare balance sheets and teachers' salaries, much to the ire of institutes and teaching staff across the country.
Fixing the fees is another challenge. While schools are willing to comply with the board itself, declaring expenditure publicly and capping school fees is out of the question, says Mansoor Ali Khan, Trustee, Delhi Public School, who joins Darshana Ramdev for this week's Chatroom.
Private education and what one is willing to pay for it remains a personal choice, although a certain degree of accountability is necessary and even welcomed by schools across the country.
The CBSE board has, of late, brought in several stipulations, including attempts to make it mandatory for schools to publicly display teacher's salaries. The decision to make the 10th standard board exam voluntary has been withdrawn, however, as there were no takers for the class-based exam, giving affiliated schools a moment of respite.
On paper, declaring teachers’ salaries in a public forum seems to bring much-needed transparency into the system. “That might be so and we're happy to declare the details to the CBSE board, but not to thepublic," said Mansoor Khan, Trustee, Delhi Public School. “It compromises personal privacy and may result in institutes attempting to lure teaching staff away from their rivals!"
There's no dismissing the fact that malpractice is extremely common. Schools have gained a reputation for exploiting parents in terms of quality not being on par with the fee charged. “Yes, there are undesirable elements who try to exploit the situation, but isn't that true of every industry?” asked Khan.
“In those cases, the boards try to intervene, but I believe private institutions should be left to their own devices, with associations acting as a self-governing mechanism.”
Fee fixation poses a challenge too, one that could potentially cripple schools that come with more infrastructure. “Schools are under extreme pressure,” Khan agreed. “It's a misplaced concept, though.”
Different institutes, he explained, cater to different clientele. “Parents are advised to visit the school to accurately gauge its infrastructure and teaching methodologies before they make a decision. There’s no point in complaining about a school fee that they have agreed to pay, is there?" At DPS, the annual fee doesn't exceed Rs 60,000 per year. "We welcome the middle class and the upper middle class - that's our philosophy.”
The solution, says Khan, lies in regulating the annual increase in fee structure. "Anywhere between 14 and 20 percent is reasonable. Anything above that is not. Checks and balances can be maintained in this way."
Parents, teachers and school managements can be part of the associations that regulate educational institutes, he remarked. Also, as Khan points out, education has long since exceeded books and teachers. “We're investing in smart classes and better labs. We also have to pay for security systems to comply with government guidelines. Why hasn't this expenditure been taken into consideration?"
Private schools, he pointed out, are in limbo. "We are being questioned every step of the way," he said. "State governments get involved, as do the courts. We're told on the one hand about quality education and on the other, about the evils of spending!
How does a law-abiding private school find the middle ground?" By taking matters into their own hands! CBSE and ICSE schools are coming together to form an association along the lines of CREDAI, a regulatory authority for the real-estate sector. "Only schools that meet our stipulations can associate with us. It is our route to maintaining accepted benchmarks, curbing malpractice and maintaining our autonomy too.”
