Branding vs education: When parents equate school fees to quality

Pune: Suhas Doshi and his wife Neha recently admitted their six-year-old son in nursery at a school in Magarpatta, which has cost them Rs 1.20 lakh in yearly fees. But, the couple is not complaining.
Considering the international curriculum, modern laboratories and tablets provided to each student for their classwork, this is all worth it, Doshi said.
"The school is in sync with the latest developments in the technology world. Once my son is out of school, he will be in know-how of the technological advancements that will help him in the long run. And when I emphasise on technology, I do not mean the traditional teaching methods, including the blackboards, pen and paper, are passé. However, we have to keep pace with the changing times," he added.
There are many like the Doshis who do not mind shelling out "exorbitant fees" to ensure "holistic growth" of their kids. However, the trend has failed to cut ice with experts, who believe school fees should not be the sole criterion when it comes to quality education.
A luxury good
Educationist Heramb Kulkarni said, "The popular belief among parents these days is that the schools charging higher fees are providing best in-class infrastructure and quality teaching faculty, leading to the holistic development of the students. All this combined together has made education a luxury good."
"It is important to give equal or rather more attention to the curriculum. Teaching methods play an important role in the holistic development of the child and should be taken into account," Kulkarni said.
Marketing gimmick
A close evaluation of the trend has also revealed that parents are eager to choose a school in a high profile location over a sub-standard one. They are more in awe of the branding - national or international tags - than the education imparted.
Most of the schools flaunting international tags provide latest gadgets as a marketing gimmick, education expert Madhav Deshpande said. "There is no shying away from the fact that education has become a business today. So all the gadgets provided by the schools are just meant to entice parents. Otherwise, pen and paper is all that counts when it comes to education," he added.
Service industry
Director of City Pride School, Nigdi, Ashwini Kulkarni said, "Education sector is now being treated as a service industry where a teacher is no more an educator but a service provider. Considering the paradigm shift, commercialisation of the sector is bound to happen."
"Having said that, if a particular school is popular then it should maintain the traditional value system and use its popularity to inculcate the same in the society," Kulkarni said, while citing an example where a parent came to see the school and objected to the Indian toilet system at the school. "He wanted a western toilet. However, we convinced him otherwise. We did not bow down to his demand. Certain values should be maintained," Kulkarni added.
PARADIGM SHIFT
How the definition of infrastructure has changed
Play grounds vs music, speech and drama, swimming pools, artificial turf for athletics
Ramps for disabled vs automatic lifts
Painted classroom walls vs digital walls displaying graphics of live sessions, interactive whiteboards and other audio-visual aids
Book library vs digital libraries with books on Kindle and iPads
Latest offerings
Introduction of leader boards
Awarding badges on completion of tasks
Showing daily graphs of progress
Breaking down learning in small tasks
Digital content library of curriculum-mapped, multimedia-rich, 3D content
Tech progress
Topic revision application and a self-assessment engine on mobile apps
Students evaluate their skills and knowledge on their own
Teachers can upload content, which can be accessed by students and parents for tasks such as homework and progress reports
Parents can monitor the progress of his or her child through the cloud-based ecosystem