Fr Principal: Mediocrity vs. excellence

For the last few weeks De Nobili Schools have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons or so it was made to appear in the media. Besides the hooliganism by a section of parents and a few politically motivated groups, who went to the extent of locking up the entrance gates of some of our schools, the electronic and the print media cast a slur on themselves by poisoning the minds of the public with clearly maneuvered stories and in the process projected the schools as exploiters and wrong doers. Why not? Why should the schools have hiked the fees? It seems that we for long have been providing ‘cheap' education, leading towards mediocrity than excellence. Why then was this sudden change? It might give a wrong notion to the people, who would want to believe that we have limited ourselves to a privileged few, who can cope with the high cost of education.

Besides the basic justification of the pay-structure, we have to answer some serious questions. Can we really afford to compromise with the quality of education, in the pretext of providing low cost education? On the other hand if the quality is only controlled by or proportional to monetary consideration, education and educators have lost the noble edge. Further, we cannot deny the harsh reality, as the results are there for us to see; both the education and the formation of our students have taken a bashing. Our succumbing to negative competitions and tendency to commercialisation - with an irresistible temptation for a few extra pennies, are costing dearly in the personal care and development of the students. The unprecedented emphasis on individualistic performances and marks, rather than on education for masses, has only promoted the growth of self-centred monsters, rather than altruistic leaders.

A few days ago a student in the course of our conversation told me that the relationship between the teachers and the students has become more commercial. I do not know whether he realised the full implication of such a statement. One would definitely agree that it is an indicator to many a truth.

Fr George Fernandes, SJ