Now that they are operating like businesses, schools have to stand out as experts offering a unique and superior product, says Usha Naidu.
Durban - If you are a parent with children at school, you have my sympathy. This is the time for that dreaded school fees letter to make its way home. It is a letter that brings trepidation and worry and results in furious calculation and redirection of funds. Whatever the response, every parent is aware of their obligation in providing their child with the best education they can afford.
Schools are simply the microcosms of society, big business serving a community of consumers, the product of which is a good education and the all-round development of the child. They are having to operate and think like businesses, with their partners being a bunch of savvy consumers who want value for their money and are, in most cases, willing to pay for it.
Our apartheid past left us with a legacy of various types of schools, from the township school to the ex-Model C to private schools, all catering for the socio-economic level of the parent. This means your child’s experience in a school environment is directly proportional to your income. I have been lucky enough to teach in all three.
The pinnacle, of course, is the private school with its generally superior facilities, smaller classes and attention to the specific needs of the individual child, helping him find his potential and develop it. It is perceived that teachers in these schools are experts in their fields, more involved with the pupils, engaged and enthusiastic about their profession, wholly concerned with the development of the child and unfettered by the endless paperwork and red tape that characterises government schools. This is the premium for which the parents pay.
Add to this, a nurturing and caring environment and a recognition and acknowledgement of the child’s culture, background and belief system, which inform his interactions and bring a uniqueness that is valued and celebrated, and you have the perceived ideal environment to support a child through his most formative years.
Private schooling is supposed to fulfil all these obligations. Yet this is the obligation of every school of whatever nature. This is the tacit agreement that is implied upon enrolment of the child, while the school gets on with the core business of educating him and socialising him to cope with this world.
Without doubt, pockets of excellence exist in all three schooling types, with their management and personnel duly aware of the burden of responsibility they carry in shaping young lives. Township schools, in particular, are doing it with the minimum of financial assistance.
Ex-Model C schools have gone the way of private schools in charging parents an acceptance fee, a capital development levy for future projects and expansion and a host of other fees that meet their operational expenses. Parents pay separately for tuition, textbooks, uniforms and stationery and for additional extras.
Combine these expenses and the stark reality is that school-related expenses consume a significant portion of the household budget.
This excludes incidental expenses like fund-raising drives, which tap into the wallets of fee-paying parents yet again. Schools’ marketing strategies include a social awareness component and this translates into numerous ventures, causes and events ultimately funded by already cash-strapped parents. The guilt factor plays a significant role in parents supporting what is seen to be “worthy causes”.
Fund-raising for capital development projects can also mobilise an entire school community in meeting the vision of the headmaster. His wish list can quickly become the bane of parents, embarrassed not to contribute, when others are doing so with zeal.
Now that they are operating like businesses, schools have to stand out as experts offering a unique and superior product. They have had to find a niche which distinguishes them from the rest and embark on elaborate plans to market that niche, hence the aquatics centres, arts, dance and music schools, academies, special education centres and other special facilities that get top billing in their professionally printed brochures. Inevitably, the cost of these is borne by the parent body, who pay for the privilege of sending their child to a school perceived as “the best” in that field, even though their child’s interest lies elsewhere. Savvy parents are weighing perceived value against actual value when choosing schools for their children.
Most of them are also aware that schools hand out scholarships and bursaries every year, to attract the best pupil “talent”, whether sport or academic, to the school. In a results-driven environment, the matric pass rate and the raft of A-symbols garnered by the matric body have become selling points.
Top sports results have become marketing tools used to attract children to the school. If a child shows potential, he is offered a scholarship to secure his tenure at the school. Those who have already distinguished themselves are often courted by schools hoping to gain mileage from their sporting or academic prowess. The competition is high in harnessing the best talent.
Schools have evolved to mirror business entities in response to a government that is concerned with addressing the imbalances of the past and therefore directs minimal or no funding their way. Corporate and Old Boy funding has become a dwindling resource, with the recession and attrition rate of wealthy Old Boys, making this an income source that cannot be depended upon.
Survival means tapping into another source for this cash, hence the rise in school fees every year.
The school of the past, which was simply an institution of learning and growth, exists no more. It has morphed into a highly competitive environment that seeks to create the most “celebrities” among its pupil body, because they carry the school and ensure its future longevity.
In response, parents have also become more discerning in their choice. As in life, when they are dissatisfied with a product that does not meet their needs, they object, complain and shop elsewhere.
Their choice of school is dictated by value for money, how safe and protected the child feels in the school environment, the competency of the teachers, the “customer service” aspect of the school in tending to their queries and needs, the fairness and justness of the school in selecting and nurturing their child into achieving his potential, the moral rectitude of the school’s personnel and whether they display the respect that one should mete to anyone paying hard-earned money for an essential service.
While schools guard their reputations jealously, they have become open to scrutiny and censure.
Transparency and accountability are expectations of the parent-school relationship. Should this delicate relationship be infringed, parents vote with their feet. Their money allows them to do just that.
* Usha Naidu is an educator at Eden College, Durban and a freelance journalist.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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