We, as a society, pride ourselves on the stress we place upon education. It is clear that an overwhelming majority of us see education as the way for personal growth as well as social progress. Arising out of this, there is intense competition in getting our wards into the best schools available. This high demand has naturally given the managements of the better known schools sufficient leeway to demand anywhere in between Rs.10000 – Rs.50000 for admission even at the kindergarten level. But how do the facilities and the faculty in such schools measure up? Here are some of my first-hand observations of the school which my two children attend.
The first shock is at the sheer size of the class. There are nearly 50 students in a class; hence the faculty-to-student ratio is nearly 50:1, at least in these primary classes. Four or five kids are packed into a single bench, with literally no elbow room. At these numbers, is there any wonder if the teachers take an ‘assembly line’ approach to education, intent only upon finishing the syllabus and seeing the year through without any disasters? Would they have any time for fostering individual development, for instilling a taste for learning in the young minds or for grooming a culture of discipline and social empathy?
There are also up to 15 sections in a standard, amounting to nearly 8000 students in the school. Even the arguably fine facilities available in the school are stretched thin to handle such numbers, leaving little scope to take care of individual needs. Sporting, swimming and other facilities are only available under a strict rationing regimen and there is little hope that any student can develop even basic sports skills just from the school facilities. The problems of logistics of this scale came to the fore recently when an event organized by the school, for just two classes, ran into time problems resulting in a delay of more than two hours compared to the schedule.
The transportation needs of these large numbers also cause a chaotic situation all around the school in the morning and in the evening. When I see all those blaring cars (mostly from driver-driven cars – the bane of Chennai traffic - but that’s a separate topic), the traffic snarls and the dozen daily skirmishes, I wonder what the students learn in practice. That the only way to get ahead is by being rude and mindless of others? All this, while the school management blithely goes ahead constructing more buildings in the campus and recruiting even more students.
The situation seems to be that whether you are willing to pay or not, you cannot ensure caring, quality education today. It is the lack of easy access to information which has brought about this situation. Schools with good track record and decent enough facilities are unable to attract students who are willing to pay more, which in turn would have helped them improve their faculty and facilities, while other schools with only a false aura of high standards are able to milk that reputation to the full, the herd mentality of anxious parents ensuring that the demand for these schools will not be adversely impacted by the overexploitation and the overcrowding.
What we need is a survey of schools by some independent authority, of unswerving integrity. When parents see such an annual survey from a trusted source, they will be able to make informed decisions, and this will necessarily make all school managements accountable and responsible. Here are some parameters which can be objectively measured:
- Faculty-to-student ratio
- Average number of students per class
- Faculty information: Number of Masters/Graduates
- Classroom sq.ft per student
- Playground sq.ft per student
- Placements in IITs/Anna Univ/top-grade Medical schools in the past three years
- Extra-curricular achievements by the students in the past three years
- Lockers/Swimming pool/Library/Laboratories and other facilities
Primary and secondary education is the phase when the impressionable minds of the young can be directed towards the wonders of learning, for instance for the rigors of mathematics or the marvels of biology. It is essential that our society and our media give some mindspace to bettering the educational system at this level.
