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Not the Disruptions We Were Hoping!

To read a news article about 35000 teachers out of jobs in a South Indian state was not the inspiration that educators wanted to wake up to this morning. This mind you, as all our group chats are discussing, this is not restricted to the South or the East, it is spreading quickly and across the country and with school owners staring at a closure given their capital costs and upgrade investments, and their EMIs, not to mention salaries, this is alarming. In some cases, staff has been asked to discontinue, and in some cases, school owners are exiting themselves. Some names doing the rounds are quality institutes, and an exit could have a significant detrimental impact that many at the moment do not seem to think through.

This is not the education industry alone, I know of friends in other industries all caught in the pandemic-hit deep waters, and while economists argue about recovery rates be it the V or the U shaped curve, fact of the matter is that times are difficult and may be for very long. But other industries are rallying, and holding on to their man power and creating pathways ahead. There are discussions and forward or backward integrated partners are all coming together to find solutions so that their eco system ‘fights’ the storm as one unit. Industry moves ahead.

Lessons to be learnt for those in the education space?? An overwhelming yes!

Instead of flooding the courts with petitions for and against bans on line teaching, non payment of fees should we not concentrate on finding solutions?! Effort, man hours spent in those court strategies might as well be channelised in focusing on finding solutions. Each school understanding the capabilities of their parent body – need based of course and parents understanding the losses faced by school owners. Sorry I will have to point this out, this advocate (parents have shared these whats app fwds) circulating messages to join in a movement and luring parents with anticipated fee waivers has some parents signing up who have paid fees – can afford to. Their explanation is if a ‘discount’ is possible, why not? Why should I not avail of it? So what if I am not in a financial problem, why should I suffer because I have a contingent plan for it? Just because I always wanted to save for the rainy day, why should I pay that price and someone else gets a ‘discount’.

Me, I, my …… for me, I only took away, ‘personal‘ responses. I, me, myself! Yes I know we have to think of ourselves first, but this way, we will never get us over of this rut. We must think again. And think for the future and what our narrow views today can do.

By the way, this is what we try and teach our children in schools – we, us, and together, helping each other. In schools, we focus on kids learning to ‘share’ when the other one does not have what they have …. creating empathy. Clearly, adults are not understanding that if we can help each other and only demand when it is genuine, we will be able to save this eco system. This cannot be relayed on some television channel, these are engaging conversations we have with our children when in the virtual world as well!

If this does not happen, and there is a lack of empathy, the recovery will be peppered with quality compromises, regressive ideas and recovery rates that impacts the nation as a whole.

Please do not get me wrong. I am not being patronising. I am living this crisis as much as any of you. As an edupreneur, I have clients not honouring their commitments on time-lines, and requesting for extensions, citing financial difficulties. I have had to extend the OD’s to honour government GST payments as I do not get respite given that invoices have been raised. I am liable to pay late charges. We have had to deal with it, yet honouring all staff and admin salaries who are currently not contributing much because of the trying circumstances.

This is what owners go through. And rarely in this discussion has anyone tried to understand this point of view. The assumption, they had the funds to set it up, the funds are endless to sustain it. Untrue. And very very limiting. Do not penalise those that gave you better systems, quality teaching and infra which you were happy about in March and now the same people are not part of your support group!

At this point, I can only recognise that we have to deal with it one problem at a time – one demographic at a time. This is not a generalised verdict and certainly blanket decisions will not work.

My personal view is that Covid19 showed us loud and clear how far away we were from where we wanted to be as a progressive industry, and just when we came together and were building capabilities and capacity, governments intervened and halted that path of progress. Instead of upgrading teacher skills, becoming creative with content and changing our approach to teaching and learning and using socio emotional learning and life skills as a core, we are focusing on bans and petitions.

Parents, the ball is in your court, and managements you have a role to play. Learning has to be seamless for the sake of this future that is in our homes and classrooms tomorrow, and that it cannot stop.

Now how does this story pan out? Managements communicating with parents and providing flexibility (And i do not mean ‘discounts’ but staggered payments), parents respecting and honouring their commitment made when the child was enrolled, and saving teachers who need to keep at it if this learning has to be seamless.

Leave governments out of this discussion and learn to resolve problems as a unit. Like other industries are doing. Unemployment is not a solution. Think how to save this.

Focus on using this time to improve quality, not create obstacles.

Re-think. Re-adjust and yes, help others if you can – not just in your schools but those homes were devices are not in abundance and where connectivity is an issue …. each one, save one. It may be a start.

We have to think as a unit. Not a time for I, me but we and us.

IT companies, NGOs, CSR Heads – let’s rope them in, finance companies that can work something out …. let’s see how to move this forward, together.

And some progressive schools have already figured this out. Let’s duplicate these stories. For once I am in favour of duplication!

Author

  • Fatema Agarkar

    Fatema Agarkar, Founder and Chairperson , Agarkar Centre of Excellence (ACE) Veteran of 3 educational start-ups , now Founder of the Agarkar Centre of Excellence, Fatema’s passion for teaching-learning and children defines the different roles she has crafted in 20 years – as an edupreneur, educator and mentor. Fatema who is a State and University topper as part of the prestigious Mumbai based Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics, holds a degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Birmingham (UK), apart from her B.ED and ECCE degrees amassed when she decided education was her calling. Having kick-started her career in the corporate world and working with premier organizations like Commerzbank, Times of India and Egon Zehnder International, she always had an inner urge to bring about an enhancement in the sphere of education.. As an educationist and life-long learner, she has come a long way to intertwine modern methods of learning, teaching and customizing education as per the student’s intellectual requisites thus eradicating stress that stems from the education system. She has been sedulous in making comprehensive alterations in the education field in India. Being a risk-taker, Fatema has been focusing on the generation of innovative educational modules and her in-depth academic know-how, nothing but truly defines her ceaseless passion. Her name is synonymous with successful education models of the country and she is adjudged as Education World’s top 50 Educators in the year 2020. Adding more feathers to her hat, she has also been the recipient of several prestigious awards for her outstanding contribution to the field of education in the years 2013 and 2015. Fatema has been awarded by Giants Group for her outstanding contribution to the field of education in 2012, the Young Achiever’s Award in the year 2017, Singapore based, Best of Asia’s, ‘Enterprising Educator in the year 2018 and as an entrepreneur ‘Best Edupreneur 2019 and Best Leadership’ by Progressive Academic Excellence India (Maharashtra 2019) and one of the 10th finest inspirational educators in 2019 by TKR, India . Her name is synonymous with successful education models of the country and she is adjudged as Education World’s top 50 Educators in the year 2020. Adding more feathers to her hat With close to 2 decades of experience in education, Fatema is the recipient of several honours including the Indian Achiever’s Award 2021. In July 2023, Fatema was also awarded the ‘Mumbai’s top Women Leader’ award by the CMO Asia National Awards’ (10th edition). Fatema is also a Jury Member for Cambridge School Recognition Awards 2025. Having being associated with leading high school brands like DRS International, Hyderabad, NSS Hill Spring International, Mumbai, The Gera School, Goa, D Y Patil High School, Talegaon (Pune), SVM, Ratnagiri by the Gadre family, The Excellere World School, Gurgaon, JBCN International Schools, Mumbai, Fatema has now close to 40 pre-schools and high schools that she has set up from the grassroot level including a school for special needs’. Fatema is on the Advisory Board of several Trusts including EduTech India, Wockhardft Foundation as well as a jury member, Education World Awards, a platform that recognizes the efforts of educators pan India. Fatema is also the Vice President for Early Childhood Association (ECA) and the Mumbai Territory Head for Association for Primary Education & Research (APER) in India. Fatema has been appointed as the global ambassador of the Commonwealth Entrepreneurs Club. . Fatema is on the advisory board of the All-India Gaming Federation (AIGF) and currently appointed as the National Council Member for Financial Literacy & Management by WICCI. Given her access to parents and her ability to provide age appropriate strategies to enable them to make more informed choices, Fatema’s passion remains counselling in the hope that effective parenting will enable children to benefit the most. Fatema is also the special advisor of the Child Chapter Association (CCA), a non-governmental organisation registered as a Section 8. company under the Companies Act, 2013 whose mission is to spread awareness and eliminate child abuse, including child sexual abuse. Her role as a special advisor of CCA includes providing advice and guidance for their special outreach programs for Schools and teachers that tap into the child psyche and help them raise their voice against abuse. Fatema also played an instrumental role in the development of the CCA comic books and characters for their global campaign for child abuse awareness and prevention. Currently, Fatema is the Advisor & Mentor to Finland International School, Race Course and on course to start her own school in 2026. As a TedX speaker, and a avid blogger, Fatema is passionate about sharing her knowledge amassed and inspiring stakeholders be it teachers, parents or students. Her vision includes set up up of Soup Kitchens, Foster Homes and a community centre for the elderly under the Agarkar Foundation in time.

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