Hyderabad: Schools make kids sales agents

Hyderabad: A few city schools are now distributing forms to students and asking them to get more students from their neighbourhoods, so that in the summer holidays teachers can increase the school strength by visiting the given addresses with the help of the data. 

According to parents, apart from students collecting data, even teachers get an enrollment target. Each teacher is given a target of bringing in a fixed number of admissions. The forms given to the students clearly state that the school is asking for neighbours’ contact number, address, parents’ contact, and sibling information. The students are asked to get at least six such contacts from their neigbourhood. This kind of promotion is taking place in many schools in the city, say parents. 

Mr K. Venkat Sai, a parent from Tarnaka said, “My son’s school has sent a form with him, so that he can get all the information of the neighouring kids and their parents.” Teachers can bring more students during the summer holidays by visiting these parents personally. Schools are trying to increase their business with the help of the existing students, which is strange. Why should students do admission work for the school? Students are not agents!’’. 

Mr Ashish Naredi, a parent from Attapur, said, “Many schools in the city give an enrollment target to teachers of a fixed number of admissions. Teachers are admonished if they don’t get the requisite admissions. Fee collection, also, in several schools is the responsibility of the teachers.” Teachers have to keep track of unpaid fees and in a few schools, they are forced to promote school bags to students and parents. A teacher must do ten other things besides teaching, he adds. 

Tiberewala Lalitha, a former school teacher from Hyderabad said, “Every teacher is given a target to bring at least five new admissions. If teachers bring admissions they are offered some amount. I could not get any new admissions. Many of my colleagues got a few.”