Whitefielders do it again! A school by parents for their children

Bengaluru: Annoyed by the mindless increase in school fees of their children, a few citizens in Whitefield have taken an initiative to launch a school on their own which will be managed by the parents and no one else.

The school could be a model for other areas as Whitefield residents have vowed to run it completely ethically. The school will be run on 'no profit, no loss’ model and all the expenses and accounts will be transparent and open for scrutiny.

Mr Abhilash Matlapudi, a Whitefielder who is spearheading the school project, said, “As I have two children, I was enquiring about schools in the vicinity of Whitefield. I was told that I have to shell out at least Rs 3 lakh per year, and I was shocked. When the parents from Whitefield held a protest recently against the increasing school fees, I thought of starting the school that will help my and others’ children as I did not want to go out of Whitefield because of heavy traffic. I am a software engineer, but even to me, Rs 3 lakh per year is too much to pay for my children’s school. What is the fate of other parents, who want to provide quality education to their children? That is the reason we want to have a school of our own that will have a democratic system, where decisions will be taken by the parents themselves.”

At present, they have 20-odd members in their committee. Anybody who wants to join has to fill a form on a Google website which will reveal the true intent of the parent and ensure that the new entrant would be in sync with the ideologies of the committee. They are now looking for the land to set up the school, which could be sponsored by the corporates or the government.

He said, “We prefer land from the government or any corporate or donor who is willing to lease it for free or at a very low cost so that we can pay once the school starts. We don't intend to make investments from our pockets, as it will make us look for return on our investments. That's exactly what is happening with private schools. We hope to get funds from corporates or NGOs for the construction of buildings and infrastructure as our motive is to provide good education at affordable fees without the management overheads. We may not have auditoriums initially, but it wil be on par with others.”                                                                                                

They plan to register the school as a trust and run it. The committee will meet on May 20 to brainstorm on the school and the way ahead. Already, many parents who have a background in teaching are willing to help with the curriculum and other aspects. Anybody willing help the school project can write to citizensschool.association@gmail.com. They target to open the school in June 2018.