I do not know about the rest of the world but in Pakistan I have been seeing yet another form of Management which I call as forced management.
Almost 70 % Children in metropolitan towns need to go to private schools because government schools are not able to upkeep the required quality.
Private school managements also love playing with this need.
Summer Vacations are in the months of June & July.
Full Fees for June & July is demanded with the fees of December and January almost six to seven months before the actual months.
This is a time when parents cannot even pull out their children from school because other schools won’t take their children in the middle of the academic session.
As the session comes to an end in May the results are announced and after the results one cannot pull out children again because the parents have already paid fees for June and July.
This whole is a very intricate phenomenon. It seems Private School Management and even the van drivers are forcing students to restrict to them.
I wonder how complete nation seems to be quite on this issue.
I also feel as to why schools don’t work hard to improve their quality of education in such a manner that they become sure……….no parents will take away their students after May/Terminal Exams.
So much so, schools stop the result of children if the fees for one single month becomes delayed. I don’t understand what is security deposit for….in such cases.
This is all forced management.
These private Schools managements never pay Vacation Salaries to their staff and teachers until and unless they don’t complete one continuous years of service but they will love to charge for vacation fees from newly admitted students even if they join immediately after vacations.
The van drivers want fees for vacations too though they don’t even pick up a child if he or she is having some summer program to attend. They also use their vans during vacations for many other commercial activities to increase their income but will not spare one single student who does not pay vacation fees.
These are all very practical problems generally faced by young parents.
The country is being managed by senior parents that means those generally above 45 whose kids have stopped going to school. So they have forgotten the gashes of past.
Even Otherwise those who are holding the law management of the state start earning so much that they don’t get bothered by any financial miss management.
Some schools rather most of the schools have started forcing students to buy uniform, stationary, books from the school shops which basically are managed and controlled by the schools themselves. The worst happens when on these school shops the price demanded becomes much higher than the actual cost of an item.
Some newly born schools offer lot of relaxation in these expenses but as soon as they start getting established they start doing the same. Government machinery seems to be unconcerned, un bothered and even incapable to deal with this problem.
When they increase the tax the schools increase the fees.
So the game continues.
Quality is recognized by many through school fees a student has to pay.
Some schools very profoundly proclaim that they charge higher fees because they offer class quality. But I know many such schools from where students after graduating send their parents to old houses.
Quality of education seems to have been replaced by Quality of life. Students love to exhibit more and study less.
I wonder, wish and wait for a day when some school will be opened with a theme that they will only focus on earning respect through quality of education and not earning through force management.
If I continue writing on schools……the way they operate and manage I can almost write a book.
But what’s more important is to re kindle this feeler.
Generate a discussion.
Start a drive.
Ask my friends to comment and offer agreements or disagreements so we further understand the problems related to this forced management.
I have worked as on Cambridge Ordinary Level School Teacher, Principal in a School, A Tuition Teacher, A Teacher who taught at Private Coaching Centre, A Teacher who Taught at University Level and Operation & Admin Manager for Top Notch Schools and Institutions in Pakistan and when I write this I carry affirmations from my ground experiences.
Zahid Faqir now working as DGM HSEQ in a Power Plant.