Your old school akin to your old parents

How did you react to the news of state government derecognising Byculla’s St Mary’s School?

There have been reports that the school was found guilty on 12 counts and I am not going to go into the merits and demerits of the case. It is for the school authorities to defend their actions and the state authorities theirs. I am on a different ground altogether and that is the responsibility of us, the erstwhile school kids, to our schools, our education system, and to its sustenance.

You must be aware that our state expenditure is far more on the higher education than our primary and secondary education. There are few who suggest that we spend 85% of our education budget on the 15% (or even less) on those seeking higher education. I am not sure if the stats are correct, but the fact remains that we have ignored primary education.

The state’s attitude towards school education is pathetic — they will delay salary grants, may not give non-salary grants for years and aid is now thrown out of the window. How are the schools expected to survive, let alone offer quality education? But it’s time we grew beyond our mentality of blaming everything on the government and politicians and shared some of the responsibility ourselves.

Do we care how the kids in the BMC schools study? When was the last time you visited a civic school and spent some time there? The conditions are pathetic and I am not talking about the quality of education. - broken benches, stuffy classrooms, and grossly unhygienic toilets that emanate a stench that travels for miles.

Why should I bother, you might say. I go to the school where my kid is studying and I am paying to ensure he/she gets the best. What happened to your school? Did you try to find out how the authorities are struggling to just breathe? Not all schools are on a moneymaking spree. Sometimes they are forced to ask for small sums from the parents as the government delays their dues. Staff recruitment, even if it must and urgent, is not sanctioned on time, but the school must hire hands. How will they pay the salaries?

There is a small thing that you and I can do. Why not form a small alumni association and adopt your school? Several reputed schools  have one and we often read reports how they have donated crores to their schools. Can they adopt schools that don’t have affluent alumni?

Remember it was your school where the foundation was laid and it has a huge contribution to what you are today — just like your old parents. Do we abandon them when we grow rich and they grow old?

Schools are like our parents. They need us. They need you. So next week, when you drop your school kid to his school, spare an hour and visit your own school.