Yash is barely 7 years old, belongs to an upper middle-class family and stays in Secunderabad with his younger sister, stay-at-home Mom and Dad working in a private bank.
Yash goes to a “concept” school which charges Rs. 3.5 lacs as annual fees under the guise of tuition fee, building fund, extracurricular activities and so on. Though I am in favor of a kid undergoing all-round development in his formative years, what made me squirm in total bewilderment is the amount of fees that some of these “concept” schools are charging as ransom from the docile parents of Yash’s ilk. I would hazard a hypothesis that the “concept” schools would have started when they saw that some parents have the wherewithal to give the top-of-class education to their wards, but they don’t have the necessary self-assumed “content”. I am an absolute believer of the saying that “necessity is the mother of all inventions”. So, I would spare further elaboration on the origin of “concept” schools, which have mushroomed in all major cities of India in the recent years, having identified the need of parents like Yash’s.
Which takes me back to Yash’s parents, who after spending Rs. 3.5 lacs, are feeling much relieved that they are giving allegedly the best education to Yash. This reminds me of a recent birthday party me & my wife were invited to. The kid’s parents just mentioned the birth date to the hotel and the hotel arranged everything for the birthday party. I call it “outsourcing parenthood”. I still know some families where such parties are a family affair, where the mother would take the kid for ordering for the cake, would choose the snacks to be made and the father would choose the return gifts to be given to the kid guests.
With the increasing prevalence of double-income families, night shifts in BPOs, all-work-no-play schedules in high-pressure jobs, people have been constantly moving towards buying emotional needs. “Outsourcing Parenthood” is one more manifestation of the times we are in. What Yash’s parents can give to him can never be replaced by the best of the “concept” schools. Yash’s parents think that he would come back from school a learned and wise man, quite often relegating their parental responsibilities. I believe that learning does not stop at the school, it gets supplemented and complemented by what the kid learns at home. As they say, “Home is the first school and School is like a second Home”. Alas! by sending Yash to a 3,50,000 rupees-a-year school, he may only turn out to be a half-wise man.
Boarding schools also had children staying away from families and completing their education for which parents had to shell out big bucks. Albeit the boarding schools churned out smarter boys and girls, as they carried years of vintage in education and grooming, which is found wanting in today’s “concept schools”. The villain of this piece is not the “concept school” per se, but the change in attitude of the parents that sets in. While the parents should make themselves cognizant of their responsibilities and not outsource parenthood, it should be the moral responsibility of the school also to ensure that the parents take sufficient interest in the upbringing of the kid for him to grow up to be a complete man. The school along with the parents and students forms the triad which is integral to the complete development of the student to not only excel in academics but also thrive in the big journey called life.
