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Want good quality education? Pay up, say schools
Jalandhar activistis are demanding that schools across the district adhere to the HC guidelines on fees and the sale of books bringing in uniformity and economics for parents. Schools argue that it is only through funds that they can provide high quality facilities, staff or curriculum.
Similar to a recent protest march in Nasik, activists in Jalandhar have been up in arms against schools for the past 6 days demanding that schools across the district adhere to the HC guidelines on fees and the sale of books. However, barring a few schools, the bitter truth is that the amount of money in one’s pocket is directly proportional to the ‘facilities’ the school claims to provide.
On the flip side, the argument is that for a good school, content and quality education, the school has to invest substantial amount of money and the fee is the only means to make that education available to students.
The high class schools – aka elite schools – contend they have a specific set of priorities to cater to. While in some of these schools the quality of education determines fee structures, in others, the comfort students get (read: centrally air conditioned buildings, world class sporting infrastructure and even world class curriculum and activities), along with education, determines fees. The crisis for parents which educationists themselves agree to, is that there is a lack of middle rung options where the average income family also finds place.
Although, many of these schools also cater to many underprivileged children, academics agree that options in affordable bracket are limited. A comparison of some of the prominent schools in the district shows that for any good school, the minimum price – including just admission fee, annual charges, tuition fee and transportation charges, amount to about Rs 16,000 and for the costliest, the charges go to about Rs 70,000 'per annum' in the least costly fee categories of the schools for mainstream students. Add to this the money paid by parents for uniforms, stationary, computer, among various other fees and the final figure rises considerably.
Many schools in the district are however, providing affordable education to children on reasonable prices. The largest on the list at hand is the Police DAV School which educates around 600 children on annual charges of mere Rs 1,900 including tuition fee.