In the Month of March (A dark face of Private Educational Institutions)

In the Month of March (A dark face of Private Educational Institutions)

Getting good and quality education is the basic right of every citizen. It is only through quality of education an individual can become a useful citizen of the society and a successful person in life. Therefore, before choosing a school for children, it is the parent’s first responsibility to take a close look at how well the school is providing education for children's all-round development.

IN THE MONTH OF MARCH, the children studying in schools get the fruits of their long labor done throughout the year. Children and their parents eagerly await for annual day as all government and private educational institutions announce their year end results and cerebrates the annual day event.

On annual day, the children arrive at school with their parents wearing costly colorful costumes. In the event children perform and wins the hearts of audience by presenting various dances.  In the end a prize distribution ceremony begins wherein children who gets prominent positions seems happy. Their high performances are compared with the weak and incompetent children, and for participating in the event the parents get a VIP status in the eyes of the school’s administration.

The real audition of parents begins after that, when the administration of private educational institute hands over a list of new syllabuses to them. They direct the parents to purchase multiple new uniforms, books, notebooks, several sets of pens, pencils, color boxes, drawing sheets, charts etc. only from respective schools’ designated shops.

The Rs-30 or 40 notebooks found in general market are forcibly sold to parents at Rs-70 to 90, only by printing the school's logo, name and address on it, and so it is with the books and uniforms. Each private educational institute has its own curriculum, and the private school administration in agreement with their favorite book depot, and publisher, forces parents to buy books and uniforms only from certain stores in which each school's administration gets a handsome commission from them.

Just as a Doctor in hospitals insists on taking medicine of a specific company from a specific medical store and their prescriptions are not available in any other medical stores. In the same way, this mafia of private educational institutions, book depots, uniform sellers, and publishers gets millions of rupees, every year from the pockets of innocent parents, IN THE MONTH OF MARCH.

THE MONTH OF MARCH, not only brings a spring in nature, but it also brings a financial spring, for book sellers, uniform retailer, and for private educational institute owners. Collectively, they rob the inflation-ridden parents' pockets, in a very polite way.

I remember very well, there was a time when our school bags weighted less. Children were insisted by the teacher to write on slate and on wooden plank instead of notebooks. At that time, the children were educated by sitting on jute sackcloth, stones, on the ground, or on sackcloth brought from home. As a result, the same children today are seen on the top administrative positions.

The question arises that the children who gets education from government schools by wearing khaki dresses, they even sit on jute sack, writes on board and slates and one day they even becomes administrative officer, then why we admits our children in private educational institutes. 

Why we are ignoring a big fact that every year a large population of position-holder is emerging from government schools?

Why we do not want to pay our attention to the private education mafia who has made education completely commercial today and even the Government look helpless in front of them? We do not know which moon, we are going to conquer by spending on these colorful, expensive uniforms and books every year, in the name of education.

A big fact of these private educational institutions is that they only keep their eyes on robbing the parents. They charge thousands of rupees in shape of Admission fee, One time fee, Annual fee, Tuition fee, Transport fee, Lab fee, Smart lab fee, Computer fee, AC room fee, etc. They recruit less educated and untrained teaching staff at nominal wages and from them took a work of more than donkeys, and often hints of dismissal on demand for a salary increase. How can we imagine a better and quality education form them?

It is impossible to imagine a school without a playground. Because if a child does not get physical education along with general education at an early age, it has a bad effect on his physical and mental constitution. Most of the private educational institutions in India go beyond all these factors.

We cannot deny that even in all circumstances, there are some good private educational institutions, that are offering low-fee education as service and worship, but the number of such institutions is like salt in flour.

The real fact is that the majority of private educational institutions today are making a fortune with both hands, by making education a business. They are only interested in collecting money and the future of the nation and the next generation will go to hell by them.

The parents have to think a lot before falling into the clutches of the white-collar criminals who rob the pockets of the parents every year IN THE MONTH OF MARCH.

Advisory for Private Schools and Parents of School going Children