EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS

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It was a quiz program to test the knowledge of Tamil. Three schools participated out of which two had good brand value and were also from urban/metro areas. The third was from a small remote village near Kinathukadavu in Coimbatore district. I was delighted when the boys from this school won and earned handsome rewards in cash and kind.

It is a middle school of less than 500 students and KPA of teachers include visiting homes of students and convincing parents on value of education to send students to schools instead of work. In others words marketing of a school which did not have brand value.

The students wore new uniform for the program and were beaming with confidence to compete. The urge for knowledge and consequent respect and recognition it fetches ignited their spirit to be competitive. It was very pleasing to see the humble teacher accepting standing ovation equally humbly stating that NRIs from their district also have come to know of the school and are supporting.

When TV was new in the eighties and costing around 8000 rupees against a banker's average salary of Rs.4000/- someone chose to buy one Japanese brand for 15,000 rupees. The cheaper TVs too beamed good images but the costlier one no doubt was brighter. Most felt that it is waste of money to go for such costly TV. I do understand people attach lot of emotion and ambition to education unlike a TV and hence virtually throw money on branded schools expecting children to become brighter citizens.

As a proud student of a government school studied in Tamil medium, I always felt that the government schools like the one in Coimbatore district deserve more recognition and respect for certainly giving more value for almost nil money as fees. Schools as also colleges which are reputed and well branded mostly procure good products to make them great at a huge cost. The teacher who sells education as a necessity than product in rural areas helps broadening the arena helping both the buyer and the seller who do not profit but only benefit. In the case of TV, majority shunned the costlier variety but when it comes to education will they follow the same logic?

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