My take on Private School’s !!
Well, the issue since two days is POPSOM (Parents of Private School of Maharashtra) coming together against private schools who raising fees unnecessarily year after year. This association wants State Government, especially the Ministry under Vinod Tawde, to regulate this absurd fee hike. But since these Pvt schools are affiliated with the Centre, State Govt has indeed very little role to play. Now readers, believe me when I say this, the education system (schooling) now a days in our progressive state of Maharashtra is nothing but a big money churning racket now. The facilities these people provide to the children vis-a-vis the fees these private schools collect are absolute rubbish., pressurising & should be regulated by the Government at any cost!
By the way, for your information, ISCE & CBSC boards are a thing in the past now! The new trend in school education is International Baccalaureate (IB) board. In Mumbai there are some prestigious private schools who have opened a separate wing for IB course, whereas a school in Goregaon is whole heartedly dedicated to the IB Board. IB Board is nothing but pure sense of amalgamation between practical knowledge & understanding of concepts in a more practical way for the children. It has nothing to do with what & how we studied in state boards during our times. We use to mug up everything & vomit everything in exams & score marks. Nothing we studied at schools has at least been of any use to me till now! But these IB Boards are making children as young as 6 year olds very practical, they are questioning/arguing various concepts and widening their thought processes. They have no exams. This board in fact believes in overall development of a personality of a child. There are assessments and the child is evaluated in IB accordingly. The main stress is on overall development of a child. They have equal facilities as compared to any International Schools abroad–like swimming, horse riding & N number of other physical & mental activities. Now this is the positive side of this IB Board. Perfect for father who is a Pilot drawing six digit salary p.m & mother who has her own boutique!
Now the Negative side is that the child once reaches the secondary standards have assignments & presentations every single day and the other facilities & all the good things of life take a back seat. They are more busy & occupied than the state board children. Plus they are puppets in the hands of technology. If you ask an IB student to calculate , he will use calculator against the SSC/ICSE board child who will use his brains. IB school in its primary days does not believe in giving stress. But it surely forgets that if the child is not under stress, than surely the parent undergoes a lot of stress to prepare charts, presentations & so on for these young children everyday. Now especially in our suburbs, there are shops and aunties who make a living by doing “homework” of others as the mothers don’t get time from coffee shops meet, lunches & kitties. Biggest negative part of this school are the fees. Now not many know that THESE SCHOOLS NEED TO OBTAIN IB status & clearances of every standard they teach from the IB Board which is centrally controlled. The Board only gives permission after the school has met requisite standards of other IB schools of the world in regards to infrastructure. But yet some manage their way out to get this permissions through the back door. The FEES these schools collect will blow your mind. A third grade IB school with no infrastructure charges per child per year RS. 6 LACS. (yes you read it right). The second best school somewhere in the remotest part of Mumbai charges Rs. 7-8 LACS per year with escalation promised every year by 5% to 10%. The best one of this board is in my neighbour hood Juhu. They charge an exhorbidant fees of Rs. 13 lacs per child per year. But this school, your immediate best friend will be Sanjay Dutt or an Ajay Devgn whose children study here. Mind you their birthday parties are also something similar. Their return gifts are IPADS and their parties are at some or the other 5 Star’s Banquets.
I’m not against this, but I have 2 children. For me to pay 25 lACS per year for my two sons I will actually have to blackmail like other journalists to sustain my lifestyle. Vinod Tawde is right! He has no control on these schools. Those who get their ass whipped are the parents because in order to KEEP UP TO THE STANDARDS of their peers, the parent is forced to sacrifice the quality of good life and make the earning for his newly rich WIFE & his child whom he is spoiling surely by giving such luxuries. Some parents argued with me that this board is good for children going abroad surely. But friends, those who spent this kind of money on fees, have huge businesses at home; which ultimately these kids will take care. In fact I was just observing–I’m a SSC student from not so well known school of Mumbai, but at 34, MOST of the big people of our STATE know me by my first name and have my contact number saved in their phone book, I feel I have achieved more than what a pansy but the good looking, surrounded by girls all the time, who got permission to party all the time and studied at the best co-ed school during our time, has achieved. Not being an ass here, but success can come only with humble backgrounds & upbringing.
