WHISK

Mrs. Kasuri, Chairperson of the Beaconhouse School System, has an interesting view of her schools and the standard of education imparted at these schools. Taken from her message on the Beaconhouse website, here are excerpts, and the discrepancies in her statements:

We support one of the highest students: staff ratios in the country of 1:15.

Wrong, the ratio is 1: 30. In actual fact, any grade in any school will be divided into as many as 8 sections, and each section will have 25 – 30 students. Because of an incomplete curriculum, each teacher spends, in addition to the 6 hours in school, at least 3 hours a day preparing for each class. There is no time for after-school activity or one-on-one counselling with any student in any of your schools.

We are a family at Beaconhouse, and every student is an individual, taught in small tutorial groups and personally known by his or her teachers.

Not uncommon in most private schools. However, there are no “small tutorial groups” at Beaconhouse, unless you refer only to the A’ Level sections. Since enrollment in the Beaconhouse A’ Level programme is low, this is the only case where you could apply this statement. And, since the A’ Level programme comprises less than 5% of the entire system, this statement, and the one above, are both false.

Beaconhouse has kept the best of traditional methods but our approach also adapts that best of what is new:

    * Using information technology to enhance, not replace, staff-student interaction.

Really? At the same time, each teacher spends days filling out approximately 30 report cards by hand (8 – 10 subjects each), because you are unable to use technology effectively. The comments in these report cards, incidentally, are formulaic. Each teacher is provided with a list of suitable comments and they are required to pick and choose the most appropriate comment word for word. This is more a reflection of the inability of the majority of your teachers to frame a simple sentence in English. They also do almost everything else by hand, including preparing papers and artwork - papers are handed over to an administrative assistance to type and format.

With limited IT experience, no teacher utilises any form of technology to interact with students. At the most, teachers are provided with a multimedia projection system, that too only at a higher level. Junior schools may have a TV and DVD player. For the large part, these are used to watch movies which can be adapted into a school play.

* Spending more per student on library and information systems than most other schools.
* Well-equipped computer rooms with unlimited internet access.

In actual fact, the school cannot spend on the most basic of teaching aids: posters, globes, flash cards, stationery, even photocopies, have to be bought and paid for by the teachers, not the school. Library and “Information Systems” are limited in their usefulness, because you have an average of 5000 students per school. Each school has one computer lab with 30 computers, and one library with 500 books. It’s a 30 hour week. You do the math.

* Offering extra help for students through remedial classes.

This is a joke. Beaconhouse is the only school that admits students with disabilities, and expects them to work at the same pace as the average child. Teachers have had to provide remedial classes for children with severe learning and physical disabilities, even though NONE of them are trained to do so.

The vastness of Beaconhouse does not mean that one feels lost for the atmosphere throughout our schools, is genuinely warm, supportive and friendly. At Beaconhouse we work hard to keep it that way.Beaconhouse prides itself on the quality and commitment of its entire staff - many of whom are respected figures in their chosen fields. When you choose Beaconhouse you will receive the best, from the best. Many of our staff, bring with them a wealth of experience. They are all well placed to help you.

I have seen the quality of staff that have passed through your hallowed halls. The process of promotion in Beaconhouse has everything to do with physical appearance and the level of flattery they can sustain in face of their superiors. The average staff member has no experience as a teacher prior to joining your school, and the only training they receive is in the implementation of that horror you call a curriculum. Less than 15% of them hold Science degrees, which is why they are unable to effectively teach the basics of any of the sciences.

Anyone spending a single day at any branch will soon see that the atmosphere goes well beyond routine office politics. Each teacher is truly out to save her own skin, and will not hesitate to grind into the dust anyone who gets in her way. Since the route to promotion is malleability and boot-licking, most Senior staff at your schools are highly incompetent, and take their frustrations and failures out on junior teachers.

There are clear cases of favoritism towards teachers’ children in the same school, or towards children of influential and wealthy parents, regardless of merit. Many teachers supplement their very low salaries with tuitions, and have no hesitation in making sure their students receive advance notice of tests, examinations and quizzes.

Before choosing a school for your child, do visit our campuses in your city and check out the facilities, talk to students and teachers, and in short, get to know us. Of the many students who visit us most of them are keen to share their coming years with us. If you do choose Beaconhouse for your child, we can confidently predict that it will be a rewarding and enriching experience for both you and your child alike.

Unless you are a teacher at Beaconhouse, or wealthy member of the community, your child will definitely be sidelined and ignored at every opportunity. Perhaps you should consider placing the bar a little higher for your staff and curricula. Doing better than the public school system in Pakistan is not an achievement.