Parent's quest for quality education

This article appeared in kathmandu post available in following link http://m.ekantipur.com/2012/04/24/oped/our-school-bazaars/352869.html

Parent's quest for ramro school

Dadhiram Khanal

Neeti Aryal Khanal

apednepal@gmail.com

Before, the misconception sets in, we have few disclaimers. First, we are not experts in education. Second, we are neither against private nor public education system. We do not present solutions, just share the dilemmas of parents which we feel hasn't been appropriately addressed by the government and concerned educational institutions. 

Despite the difference, all middle class parents have one thing in common: we have limited means but unlimited dreams. And a part of that dream is future of our children in which education plays an important role. We earn our livelihood through lawful means. We may not be able to fulfill all wishes and whims of our children. We compromise on our living style but we do not want to leave any stone unturned in pursuit of quality education for our children. 

Let's start from the very simple question? Which school do we want to put our child in? Let's be frank, it's true that public school do not count even as an option.  Even low income working parents cut their expenses in basic needs to put their children in "boarding" school. Why is this, we will this question for experts to sort out. 

Search for ramro school usually starts when the child is born but becomes more profound when the child turns around six and is about to start grade one. Usually parents start planning almost a year ahead consulting other parents who have been lucky enough to find the "right" school. Almost 2, 3 months prior admission, we start visiting several ramro schools and collecting brochure which often comes with a heavy price of the admission form. In the month of chaitra, we hop in from one school to another for entrance exams.  We are impressed and scared at the same time by some school's academic rigor, seeing the piece of paper that gives us details about the questions to be covered in entrance exams. And in the playground we sit and chat with other waiting parents and heave a sigh of relief that we are not the only one going through this rite de passage.  

If we look closely, the experience is similar to that of shopping for fashionable T-Shirt. Like fashion houses, there are education houses with a particular brand name:  big and small. Each school comes with bright color, attractive messages, slogans and one liner which they call "motto". On top of that, like a fashion brand, schools are advertised in media. Past few days, we keenly observed few advertisement of the school in television. One school boasted of "swimming pool", another bragged of "computer based learning". The most interesting of all, was an advertisement showing a boy not being able to solve a color puzzle. Then the girl joined in and solved it in an instant, then came the voice over, stating the name of school she studied in. And the camera lingered a bit on the face of proud mother who made the "right" choice. The question is, does a good school even need to advertise? Indeed, education has become a commodity. It seems as if parents are buyers; schools are retailers selling dreams of "quality education". In this whole process of buying and selling, our children are transformed into a product themselves, to be molded according to dreams of parents and guarantees offered by school. But what about children themselves?

What is the yardstick to measure ramro school? Buildings, desks, benches, playground, toys, swimming pool? The missing puzzle is the teachers. What matters most is how child is taught, the environment in the classroom, is there a teacher who is genuinely interested in teaching? Is that teacher well trained, is that teacher well paid? These questions are seldom asked and rarely answered. 

It seems as if we believe that the more expensive the school is the more quality education it offers. But is it really so? Few days back, one of our relatives announced that he is enrolling his child into a very "good" school which is better than one of the big brand name school in Kathmandu. We wanted to know how he came to that conclusion. "Fees", he said, "they charge higher fees than that good school". When we heard the amount of fees charged by some of the very ramro schools, our jaws dropped. We even felt little guilty over being such a bad parent for not being able to afford "quality" education. 

Majority of parents in Kathmandu send their children to school far from their home in quest of quality education. This requires children to eat dal bhat around 7.30 am in morning and reach bus stop at 8. In evening, they come back with homework which leaves them little time to play and have fun. The most challenging transition is for the children who start their grade one in new schools. From a close knit small pre-schools, they move into larger schools. For these new grade oners, their school hours become longer and their bags heavier.  

If only there was one single education system which ensured similar level of quality in all schools. With this, we could send our children to nearest school forgoing an hour long bus journey back and forth in traffic mad, busy street of Kathmandu. If only, education for our children was more about learning and discovering than being the bearer of a brand name of education houses. But these are still farfetched dreams. 

Thus, we must embrace the reality. Our son is starting new school from today. Waking early ourselves, we nudge the sleepy little boy and steer him to bathroom. While eating daal bhat, he can't stop talking about his new uniform and glossy new books. He can't wait to play in large playground and colorful slide at his new school.  The doubts linger while we hold his little hand ushering him to his new big school bus. Will he be able to make friends, will his teachers care for him, will he survive? But then, looking at all those bright young faces in a bus along with him, a relief comes over. If they made it, he will too. 

As parents of two children, the writers are interested in different issues relating to parenting in   Nepal.