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ShareNew Era, heaven forbid. "It's of course for the real estate!" We were at a dinner the same evening as the New Era school rasta roko. The gentleman making this assertion was the CEO of an ad agency, and he said this with so much authority that we had no reason to disbelieve him.
"But the Birlas have so much property," I said.
"Yes, but everyone wants more. And why would anyone want to give prime property to a school?"
"Since you know about this, tell me some more," I said. "I will write about this."
He began to fidget. "No, no. I don't know this for a fact. I was just using my common sense."
Aha, that old term 'Common Sense', a remarkably inappropriate term because common sense is so uncommon in this world.
Let's first look at the question of real estate. New Era isn't the only school on what might be regarded as valuable property. There are very many schools in areas which are either as prime or even more so because of their location, such as Cathedral, JB Petit, Campion, and Villa Theresa, to name a few. Why don't the trusts that run them hatch nefarious schemes to turn them into offices, shopping malls, or whatever?
A related question: aren't government regulations particularly strict about changing the usage of schools?
Another related question: the New Era school students were to be shifted to another location for two years while the present building was being redone. Was this in some remote, far-flung corner of Mumbai? In fact, the temporary location was the GT Girls High School, which is at DN Road. If real estate is so important and schools can be so easily converted to another use, why didn't the owners of GT School do that in 2004 when that school shut down?
Other common-sense questions occur to me: If the Birlas bought the New Era school for the real estate, why did they go through the expense of renovating the building a few years ago, and why are they now prepared to go through the expense of leasing GT school as temporary accommodation? The real estate angle just does not make sense.
So what does? That it is the intention of the new New Era trustees to shut down the SSC stream and turn the school into an IB/ICSE school because that is more lucrative? Some IB schools do charge very high fees, but does this economic angle make sense?
The school belongs to the Birlas. In the recent past, they have put money into many educational institutions, especially schools. Would the prime objective of this be to make money? Industrialists, especially the size of the Birla group, will have far more lucrative ways of making money than through education. Besides which, as our politicians have shown all over the country, if you want to make money through education, it is through the capitation route in medical and engineering colleges. As a cash cow, the school, IB or otherwise, is the poorest option.
So what are the New Era parents protesting about? Why don't they accept the word of the city's three leading structural consultants that the building is not safe and needs to be reinforced? To give you an idea of the quality of these consultants, let us look at the credentials of just one.
Structwell Designers and Consultants is currently working on the heritage wing of the Taj Mahal Hotel after its 26/11 damage. The firm is also working on the renovation of the Haji Ali shrine. As I learnt from speaking to Chetan Raikar of Structwell, apparently the New Era building is vulnerable to wind pressure and earthquakes should they strike Mumbai.
Now that the New Era parents have 'won' their little battle, perhaps they should think of this: is the temporary inconvenience of shifting so bad that they would sacrifice the safety of their children?
If I had a school-going child, I know what my answer would be.
