Extortion in the name of School Uniforms
My 4 year old daughter goes to a school in my locality. It is the same school I went to. 17 years ago, this school was considered to be one of the expensive schools (not bragging here) as the monthly fee was much higher compared to other schools in the vicinity. Obviously our parents never complained (at least not when we were around or even if they did, we wouldn't understand)
But, now that my daughter is in the same school and given the ever increasing cost of living in a city like Bangalore, complaining and nagging has become a part of our lives. The amount of money our parents spent on our complete education is now being spent on a year of pre-school for our kids. Such is the state of education these days.
One of the most irritating/confusing facts is the idea of different uniforms for each grade in Schools. During our days, we had the same uniform for weekdays and a white uniform for the Saturdays. This was the same starting from Pre-school to High School. Once we got into High School, we had to switch from Shorts to Trousers
But these days, pre-school kids have a different uniform, LKG has one and UKG has a different one. Now someone please tell me how much of a physical change would kids exhibit between the age of 3 and 5? No kid would grow by 1 or 2 feet in height or grow their feet by 2 folds. But still, we are supposed to buy new uniforms every freaking year. Moreover, these uniforms have to be bought from the schools itself. Now, this is a chance for the schools to mint money by quoting exorbitant prices for uniforms as the design\pattern would be unique to the schools and we would not be able to get them elsewhere. Also, the cost of the shoes are on par with that of adults'. The brands of shoes that we could afford to buy with our salaries are now compulsory for kids who don't even know to tie the laces of
One might raise a question: Why do you want to put your kids into such a school knowing the time and money of yours it demands? Why don't you put him\her into a Govt. School? A kid interested in learning will learn in any school irrespective of whether it being a Private or a Govt. School.
However, there has been a notion or probably a misconception that the quality and mode of education provided in Private schools are much better than Govt. schools. But, is there a proof for this? Well, nobody has the time to research or does not want to take the risk of putting their kids into a Govt. School and then compare.
Is there something we can do about this, wherein we could get these private schools to rework their uniform policies so we parents could save some of our earnings? Though not great amounts, but a penny saved is penny earned! Or will we continue to 'Adjust' in the name of kid's education and get used to being extorted in the name of education?
