I was trying to read this column which I had clipped from some newspaper, from
somewhere, and scanned at my computer. The date of the article was 27, April,
2012. I have NO idea, utterly no idea what newspaper I had read that would have
cause me to cut and scan this brilliant and insightful bit of writing. All praise to Allah
for His kind and beneficent ways which ultimately guide my feet (and fingers, and
eyes, and ears) to the places they must be to meet the people they must meet, who
have so much to teach me; so much to show me; and it all devolves pretty much to
this: Everything I ever needed to know, I learned in kindergarten.
I shall say this but once: Zubeida Mustafa is as fine a commentator, writer, reporter, as
Rehka Basu, whom I consider to be America's leading newspaper reporter (although
she continues, or perhaps it is her employer, the Des Moines Register, that continues
to hide her out publishing a twice-weekly opinion column that will end up containing
so many relevant facts that she does not even have to argue the morality of her
stances (which are in fact QUITE biased, in favor of the weak ones who are being
taken advantage of by the stronger ones). I can offer no writer higher praise than
this. I am hooked, and will be a regular reader, all the rest of my days. My promise.
Mark Raymond Ganzer, blogger
Educating
the Educators
May
23, 2012 by Zubeida Mustafa
THE
commodification of education is going full steam ahead. Not only is
education being recognised as a good to be sold, its sales strategies
are also being discussed. Any
good sells better if it has a brand name that has a popular appeal,
we are told. Forget what Naomi Klein writes in No Logo There.
Faisal
Bari’s article in these pages ‘Expanding school systems’ (April
27, 2012) came as an eye-opener. In the article, the writer appears
to have written off the public school system altogether. Undoubtedly
it has reached the lowest ebb and can sink no further. But does that
justify an approach that apparently consigns the common man to the
bottom of the heap and absolves the government of all responsibility
in the matter of educating Pakistani children, Article 25-A of the
constitution notwithstanding?
As
long as the for-profit educationists can make money, the article
turns a blind eye to the government’s blatant neglect of education.
This failure provides more space to the private schools by increasing
the public demand for them in the absence of an alternative. Where
are the children of the lower middle-class families and the poor to
go when government schools are dysfunctional and private high-fee
schools are unaffordable for them?
The
writer identifies the major constraint faced by “private providers,
even in this middle-fee range” on their ability to expand — their
“lack of access to finance”. Hence the franchised schools are
presented as a model to cater to what he bills as the
“fastest-growing markets in the country, the lower middle- to
middle-fee market”. The fees for this category range from Rs1,000
to Rs2,500 per month and according to him they will open new avenues
for the education of the lower middle class.
Bari
specifically recommends the Beaconhouse School System’s franchised
schools called the Educators as a model for the expansion of
education in the country. He confirms that in this niche in the
school market the franchise operator uses the advantage offered by
the economies of scale to keep advertising issues, curriculum
development and teacher training under centralised control.
This
approach has offered many positive gains to new entrants who are
handicapped by their lack of experience and the absence of a
reputation that is a crowd-puller. They receive a neat package with
an established brand name. This allows them to rapidly enhance
enrolment. By distributing financial investment among different
investors the franchise operator can expand the school network quite
fast.
On
paper this sounds great. We need to look into what is actually
happening on the ground. The network has expanded phenomenally since
the first school was set up in 2002. Today there are 306 Educators
all over the country imparting education to 104,000 children.
However, their proclaimed aim of “providing quality, affordable
English-medium education for all” may meet with scepticism.
For
one, I would not buy the claim that education imparted through the
English medium is necessarily ‘quality’ education. It can also be
asked if the criterion of affordability is really being met. Schools
that I visited mostly told me that the majority of their children
came from families with incomes of Rs20-25,000. There is an ongoing
argument over fees between the school managements and parents.
The
fees are fixed by the franchise operator and they vary from area to
area. For instance, the Clifton area charges about Rs2,500. Korangi
is allowed Rs2,100 per child in the secondary school. This is tightly
regulated and schools enjoy little autonomy though the franchise
operators admit that they find it difficult to exercise controls on
the academic operation. Yet they ensure that no liberties are taken
in financial operations.
The
initial franchise fee which was Rs1.5m has now jumped to Rs1.8m. The
agreement is for 10 years. The Educators from the early years are
required to pay Rs200 per child admitted per annum as admission fee
to the franchise operator. Under the revised rates, the school pays
Rs1,000 per child admitted which is said to include the charges for
the Student Indemnity Plan. (This is described as ensuring “the
continuity of a student’s education in case of the demise of a
working parent”).
However,
the school which told me about this said its claim on behalf of one
of its students was turned down on technical grounds. Apart from the
admission fee, the operator recovers 7.5 per cent royalty per annum
on the gross income (pre-tax) of the school. According to a former
teacher with the Educators, the training provided to the teachers has
to be paid for and mostly it is recovered from the teachers’
salaries.
After
this there is not much to be said about who is gaining what, and who
is losing what. A big question mark looms over the affordability of
the schools for the low-income classes.
One
can also ask, where will the children of the vast majority go? They
are the children of the lesser gods who live under the poverty line —
that is who earn two dollars or less per head per day (an average
family income of Rs35,000 per month). The Education Emergency
declared by the government in 2011 stated that 25 million children in
Pakistan remain out of school.
What is to become of them?
The
only feasible solution is that those who have already earned hefty
amounts from their existing franchises should now start thinking
about how to share their profits with the less privileged.
