CHALLENGES IN SCHOOL START-UPS

CHALLENGES IN SCHOOL START-UPS

In the recent times, there has been a substantial increase in the number of investors in school enterprises. One can classify them into two broad categories – the first, who have enough resources and are willing to invest huge funds and provide a five star infrastructure supported by amenities matching global standards, but have no in depth understanding of the nuances of the field in which they are investing,- yet looking for overnight returns on their investments;  the second, some passionate people who want to play reformists by providing quality education, because they understand what it is, but have no resources to provide even the basics to match their vision and still looking for reasonable returns so that they can expand their infrastructure and support systems. Either way we have a problem..

While it is to be acknowledged that any number of school start-ups will not suffice to meet our requirements in the next one decade and we need different strategies and models in school start-ups,  it is to be noted that unless the vision, the mission and the strategies match, the schools will not be able to brand themselves. The intense appetite to acquire a branded name by payment of royalties may help an early recovery of the investments, in the long run,  most of these franchises don’t match even one-fourth of the competencies with whom they have purchased the brand...in due course, and they stand exposed..

The essentiality of a school depends on the quality of the teachers and their professional competencies.. And to get such teachers is increasingly becoming a difficult task. Most institutions with good infrastructure are not delivering for this singular reason and to add, while the investors are willing to spend unlimited money in infrastructure, when it comes to the payments for quality teachers there is a huge hesitation.  This attitude needs correction. The HR aspects of the schools need a close attention. Continuous Professional Development of a teacher in a school is vital for the good health of the organization. Any amount of training acquired by the teacher is not sufficient unless the training programs are contextualised to the specificities of the geography and culture of the school location. Managements would do well to allocate a part of their income on this aspect as an essential component of their budgets ..This has to be one of the main features enlisted in the strategies for the start-up.

School systems do provide a reasonable profit to the investors, (if at all one feels that profits have to be one of the motives of running an educational enterprise) much better than other enterprises and with least risk. But to consider schools as the ducks hatching golden eggs and therefore attempting to play with their soul to have early returns for the investments will be a retrograde step. We need to learn lessons from that story!

School investors need a lot of patience... and if yes, they will do well..