The Hindu Business Line : A different school of thought

With a discerning and choosy set of parents, there is demand for an upmarket education that allows a child to avail of the best in terms of academics and extra curricular activities.

The launch of Ananda International School.

After Dehradun, it seems like it's Chandigarh's turn to emerge as a city buzzing with educational activity, and tune in to the concept of `branded schooling.'

With a discerning and choosy set of parents, there is demand for an upmarket education that allows parents to keep their child with them as also see him avail of the best in terms of sports, academics and extra curricular activities.

Chandigarh has seen the entry of reputed names from Delhi like the Ryans and the Rais setting up their respective branches. Delhi Public School (DPS), one of the country's leading names especially when it comes to the kind of results students notch up and the seats they procure in professional colleges countrywide, has been `selling' its franchises to parties interested in bringing quality branded education to their cities. Chandigarh opened its DPS branch, with the school making a pitch to a large section of parents who made a beeline for enrolments last year.

Post-October 2003, newer and fancier names have entered the fray. Huge financial allocations have been made by start-up schools to publicise educational `ventures' that promise to be `different', `holistic' and `child friendly.' Much like corporate entities, they spend money on areas where schools have never concentrated before.

Special PR firms have been hired, designer advertisement campaigns created, promotional literature put together, road shows organised, demo presentations readied and orientation workshops organised on themes pertaining to education, child psychology, issues such as learning difficulties and behavioural adjustment in order to reach out to target parents, especially those who can understand and appreciate the schools' unique `offerings'.

In much the same way that a company would test the market with a pre-publicity drive and create a brand consciousness, these schools too organise `events' to create a favourable impression and to outdo others with their own unique USPs.

Chitkara International School has entered into an arrangement with the local British Council Library to hold workshops for children on story-telling and puppeteering.

Chitkara is another local name, but one which has earned for itself a formidable reputation in terms of preparing students for board and competitive exams like the IIT. A full-fledged academy where thousands of children pass out, the centre has carved a reputation for itself, besides being cash rich too.

The Strawberry Fields World School, whose 35-year-old Director Atul Khanna has been running the city's rather elitist kindergarten for the last decade, has now expanded the facility by coming up with this full-fledged High School. The school outsources the curriculum planning, staff selection, training, promotion and complete management to professional education consultants, the Harvard-trained iDiscoveri team.

Says Khanna, "Though I could have run the school myself, I felt it was better to bring in a group which was dynamic and confident of trying out new and bold concepts in the ultimate interests of the child. I visited practically all the well-known schools in the country and am glad that what we are offering is geared to meet the needs and challenges of today's child."

This World School is being designed and constructed by Mani Chowfla Associates, which has put together Delhi's celebrated India Habitat Centre. At a weeklong retreat at Morni Hills, a quaint getaway out of the city, the selected teachers attended a camp where the educational consultants put them through the paces. Games, interactive exercises and various behavioural testing processes enabled each to establish a better understanding of what was expected of them as also motivate them to expand their talents and capabilities. Subsequent training sessions have included workshops with anchors from National Geographic channel holding forth on how to teach geography and science. And all this before the school has even formally begun its first academic year!

Built on the lines of similar schools in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, where such international schools are run by industrial houses like that of the Goenkas, Birlas and Reliance, they promise to equip children with education that has a global perspective.

Ananda International School was yet another international school that tied up with Shri Ram Educare, a consultancy division of the Shri Ram Group of Schools in New Delhi entering into what was a "technical collaboration".

This allowed Ananda to capitalise on Shri Ram's strengths, incorporating their teaching methodology, taking a cue from tried and tested procedures and systems for staff selection and curriculum planning.

According to Analjit Thind, a senior banker with Bank of Punjab and a parent with the Strawberry Fields World School, "Chandigarh is a city with enormous snob appeal. The more expensive and the more different a set-up, the more the takers. Yet having said that, when it comes to shelling out money, people may withdraw since the city is basically one with a sarkari set-up, where salaried people live." To shell out Rs 8,000-Rs 10,000 per month as school fees and close to Rs 40,000 at the time of admissions is a huge sum, even for the well-heeled.

It is these concerns that recently translated into the transfer of the management of the Ananda International School. In spite of a well-planned launch and a perfectly worked out set of modalities, the school did not meet its targeted number of enrolments, resulting in a switch in management.

How well the other international schools end up faring is something only time will tell, but there is enough debate in town as to what exactly the term international means.

Do programmes offered by such schools help you to enter the international league or is it something to do with equipment, training and an overall ethos? And if the school is indeed international, does it imply that all children should go overseas to study and that those who do not would then be at a disadvantage?

Are these just elitist tags where one spews fancy jargon and impressive technical lingo while maintaining physical structures which don't look like schools, rather like corridors of corporate offices or spick and span designer hospitals?

At the end of the day, it is all about bottom lines. The pie has clearly to be shared amongst existing players.

Parents definitely have a wider choice, existing schools have to pull up their socks and the new ones will have to struggle a while before a clear picture emerges.

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