By V M Sathish
Indian Social Club, ISC Kerala Wing leaders advise members not to seek fee reduction in Indian schools
MUSCAT — The revised Board of Directors of Indian Schools
has been asked to make a detailed
study of the fees structure in 14 Indian schools and come out
with suggestions to rationalise and
possibly, restructure the same.
It is learned that two members of the
board of directors, Dr Sanjay Dalal and George Mathew, are
assigned to study fees structure in co-operation with others
and suggest reduction in cost of
operation wherever possible. There is wide difference in fees
among 14 Indian schools.
Parents of Indian schools are keenly
watching the ongoing changes in the functioning of Indian
schools and most of them want to know whether there will be any
change in the fee structure,
which they feel is high.
For many parents the main concern is
the fees. While in one school the fee is as high as RO 40
per month, there are schools functioning efficiently with half
of that amount as fees.
Some of the parents who are not well
versed in English could not respond to the survey being
conducted by the Patron of Indian Schools as they cannot comprehend
the questionnaire in
English, let alone writing replies in English.
While an Indian social organisation
announced that it would help such parents who need
language help, the Indian Social Club has raised objections and
warned the linguistic wings from
taking such steps.
"Indian Social Club has nothing
to do with Indian Schools. We have proper guidelines as to what
to do and what not to do. We don't have any objections, if anybody
is doing it on a personal
capacity," says Dr Sathish Nambiar, Chairman, ISC —
a new member of the school board of
directors.
A leading social organisation has prepared
ready-made replies to the questionnaire in English,
which are circulated among parents who cannot communicate in
English. Though they are
prepared in the individual capacity of the ISC Kerala Wing members,
office bearers of the
association, said that they are trying to help ordinary parents.
"I am reasonably satisfied with
the current state of affairs, particularly in terms of fees structure,'
says the response prepared and circulated by the office bearers
of Indian Social Club, Kerala
Wing, which has been vocal in helping the common man.
However, C Preman, Co-Convenor, ISC
Kerala Wing said that they are not authorised to speak
about school issue but the replies are prepared on the basis
of feedback given by parents. Some
members alleged that the leaders are serving the private school
promoters interests. Due to lack
of language help and fear, many parents remain indifferent to
the survey.
It is learned that in the same fashion
separate answers are made for parents of four Indian
Schools in the capital with same suggestions about fees structure.
One of the parents who got such letters
from the community leaders told the Observer that he
does not intend to give such replies to the Patron.
Now that the ready made answers supplied
by his community leaders are not matching his
thoughts and interests, he will have to approach someone else
who know English and prepare
another reply to the Patron demanding a reduction in fees.
"The ready made answer starts with
a statement that parents are not concerned about high fees
in Indian schools. This is misleading and against my wishes,"
the parent told Observer.
He added that the Patron should identify
such misleading "mass responses" written in the same
language and content. Thanks to the role of social organisation,
parents have already sent
hundreds of such replies to the Patron.
ISC Malayalam Wing too said they are
not allowed to speak about such issues. However, a study
made by the Wing said that out of half a million Indians working
in the Sultanate, 85 per cent are
ordinary workers who earn less than RO 100 per month.
The Indian Social Club Malayalam Wing
study said majority of the remaining 15 per cent of
Indians in Oman earn less than RO 200 per month.
"Sixty per cent of the Indians
in Oman are earnings in the range of RO 40 -RO 75 per month,"
the
study said. These statistics were widely quoted by the ISC while
presenting a memorandum to
reduce the airfare to India.
The community members feel that the
same logic should be applied in the school case. 'High
airfare is paid only once in two or three years. On the contrary
the fees structure in Indian
schools affect even the well to do middle class parents, as they
have to shell out fees every
month. Some of the ISC Malayalam Wing members too felt that while
community schools are
relatively cheap the fee is high in ISG.
An ISC official told Observer that they
took up the high fees structure when Indian School Al
Ghubra raised fees to the current level and according to him
was planning to hike it to RO 50 per
month. This was stopped by the timely intervention of parents
and the Patron.
The community leaders who have prepared
answers are advising parents that the ISG, which is
charging the highest fees, should start a new division for the
economically weaker sections of the
Indian community — a community school within a private school.
Some replies also suggest that
the existing fees in the capital should be taken as a benchmark
for the other schools.
