WHERE ARE THE TOP SCHOOLS OF YESTERYEARS?

Escape the dinosaur syndrome- change with the times!

Let me share a startling fact with you. The top 10 US exchange companies that were roaring and unputdownable in 1900s are no longer around, except one. Even the ones that were in top form just a few decades back are mere skeletons of their old form. You will certainly be amazed that of the top 10 US companies of 2013, based on market capitalization, none of the giants of yonder years exist, except General Electric. No, this is not a blog canvassing the GE Company. I am trying to draw a parallel between the failure of top companies and top schools. Most top schools in Ahmedabad in 1980 are no longer top schools. While one would want a proven schooling system for their child, but last 50 years’ experience shows that people have to put in new schools! The reasons for failure are quite similar and there is plenty to learn from those who managed to sustain their lofty heights.

                                              GROWTH VALUES AT GE

Source: Harvard Business Review

Reasons why top schools fail to sustain themselves?

  1.       Not adaptable enough: Let’s leave the US companies aside and strike closer to home, in our own city, Ahmedabad. A few decades back, the top schools of Ahmedabad were CN, Diwan Ballubhai , Udgam, A G High School,St. Xaviers, Mount Carmel, GLS and Shreyas to name a few. Today when we talk about top schools, how many of these erstwhile good schools feature on the list? The main reason why these schools could not sustain over the years is that they did not adapt themselves to the changing needs of their market segment. Happily one name remains evergreen. Can you guess which one? The only reason is ‘adaptability’.

  2.       Burgeoning classrooms: Earlier most schools had one section with limited students with a teacher student ratio of 1:25. With the ever increasing demand of Indian population, schools started growing but the teacher student ratio suffered as the infrastructure did not adjust to the additional needs.

  3.       Medium of education: Gujarati to English is a leap indeed but this leap has been necessitated by hard core globalization. So change we must keeping with the times. But many of the old giants did not feel this necessity or were very rigid about changing and the school standards suffer as a result.

  4.       Board of education: If a board like CBSE is regarded to be the best in terms of the changing times, then what better than to switch over and reap the benefits. After all a school which has the interest of the students at heart should make changes wherever possible. But again many of the older schools feel happy with their lot and are averse to change.

  5.       Location of school: Most old schools have grown and so has the city around them. The result is restricted spaces or the need to move to a bigger campus.

  6.       Facilities of school: With the growing needs and changing times, it is no longer ok to confine to the old method of ‘chalk and talk’. Resorting to the blackboard as the only teaching aid and restricting learning to the prescribed book no longer suits the wide scale globalisation which necessitates that a teacher brings the world to the classroom. Along with academics extra-curricular activities play a major role too but are sidelined in many schools.

  7.       Technology in education: Today technology plays a very important role in education and not only as a part of Computer Studies. But how many teachers have been retrained and how many schools actually spend on technology in the real sense?

The changing scenario and accompanying hitches

There has been rampant change in all fields and the world is no longer what it used to be a few decades back. Companies have either adapted by making major changes or faded out. Moving ahead with the times is the mantra but is easier said than done at times. Some of the obstacles that schools face in the pursuit to change are-

·         The outcome of schooling from a parent’s perspective has changed. Parents are overambitious with child being the centre of all planning and the outcome being more important than the process. In a bid to satisfy their own ambitions and outweigh their associates, parents are no longer satisfied with what the best Indian colleges have to offer in terms of higher education. They now yearn for international education and the number of students who flock westwards and sometimes further east, stands testimony to this.

·         Schools are forced to raise the fees and this may be higher in proportion to the facilities offered or additional facilities are included to justify the whopping fees that the schools charge. The main reason for this is the increasing income of parents. Schools are of the view that if the fees do not match the income of parents then parents have a preconceived notion about the standard of the school. Higher fees indicate better standards for most schools, whether true or not.

·         Almost everything has transformed drastically except Government regulations. The cap on fees and other factors that the Government has made mandatory for schools makes it difficult for schools to adapt even if they want to. Newer schools are better off in this aspect than the existing ones.

So what is to be done to remain at the top?

The necessary edge that schools have over companies is they are like old wine. They get better as they mature due to proven practices, intellectual research and the absence of experimentation. Parents still prefer the teachers who have become stalwarts with their experience and tenure. But it is also a fact that it is difficult to retain the old and adapt to the new at the same time.

So what is actually required is making change in doses or increments. Measure by measure is the method to be used to avoid becoming a dinosaur in the field. Extinction is imminent if a school stays rigid and unbending.

The Udgam Example

Udgam School for Children has been around for the last 48 years! There are no two views about the good name of Udgam and this has been so for the past four decades. This is one name that has remained on the Top 10 list while others have either fizzled out or closed down or are mere remnants of what they used to be. So, what makes Udgam tick and stand the test of time? The answer is one word- ADAPT!

Over the period of almost half a century, Udgam School has grown from a handful of students in one small building to almost 3000 students in two branches in sprawling premises. When the need arose and students increased,   Udgam grew and changed location to accommodate the increasing amenities. Udgam was performing outstandingly as a Gujarat Board affiliated school but changed over to CBSE as a means to dissolve boundaries in education. Udgam School is the only reasonably good school in Ahmedabad which has changed its board and its location its lifetime. This makes the school the most Adaptable school also. The good name in academics has remained unchanged and year after year Udgam toppers have done brilliantly, if you see the recent results of CBSE of 10^th and 12^th.

Udgam implemented technology like no other. The environment friendly initiatives are ahead of the times.  One finds a seamless confluence of tradition and change, academics and activities, values amidst street smartness, experienced stalwarts and innovative freshers in a school that is of the children, for the children and by the children.

Truly justifying its name!