THE BUSINESS OF EDUCATION - International Indian

[ COVER STORy ]
“We are probably the oldest for
profit education chain in the world.
Obviously there will always be two
schools of thought in education. But I
always tell people I will have the last
laugh because my objective is that
the children and parents get value
for money. I’m not here to run crappy
schools.
”
Varkey explains. “They are not really Trusts but an indirect way
of siphoning money by people. And therefore when we went to
India a few years ago to get involved in the management of schools,
I decided not to go in that direction. See, when you are teaching
children ethical values and principles as we do at our schools, then
you can’t get involved in hanky panky stuff. I’ve been offered land
many times in India, but with the condition of forming a society
or a trust to get government land. I have never agreed to that. I
run for-profit schools. Traditionally in India, education has been
a not-for-profit industry so to change that mindset will take time.
India is still not ready to accept ‘for profit’ schools. Other countries
are changing and I hope India follows them quickly. We at
GEMS have developed the right balance between education and
commerce and my standard phrase is that we are for-profit but we
don’t profiteer. “
But surely the point is whether such an education paradigm is
valid and ethical? Sunny obviously is used to being grilled about
the issue and he is upfront and candid. “The problem with notfor-profit’
schools is that they are not innovative, they don’t have
enough funds unless they constantly engage in fundraising. Their
teachers are laid back; they have no incentive to improve, or any
sense of accountability to perform. There are many inefficiencies
and much wastage. But in our case, we have to constantly perform
and upgrade. We can’t live on past glories. We are very different
from state schools and ‘non-profit’ schools.”
The age old Gurukul system in India is redundant and the respect
for teachers no longer the norm; and though Varkey believes
that teachers are the backbone of education, he says that given a
choice he would choose a candidate for whom teaching is a career
rather than a vocation.
But Sunny acknowledges the worth of teachers uniquely. “We
just launched the Guruvar Awards in India which has the highest
prize money in the world for teachers - US $500,000, of which
60% will be given as cash and the balance is for any project that
they recommend. We will do the same thing in the Middle East
Sunny Varkey with an image of the first school site in Al Bastakiya, Our Own
English High School, 1968
and then in the UK and USA. Eventually our goal is to create
teaching awards that are equivalent to the Oscars. Teachers are
undervalued and we want to change that. “
As far as attracting the best talent for teaching, Sunny points
out the GEMS advantage, “If a new school advertises for teachers,
they might get 100 responses. If I advertise for GEMS, I’ll probably
get 10,000 responses, simply because people know GEMS is
a brand… like a major five-star hotel chain.”
What about the rumors one hears about a large turnover of teachers
at GEMS? Sunny is not fazed by the query. “In regard to our
Western schools, our turnover is lower than the world average,” he
says. “It’s not because our teachers want to leave us, but because
we can’t afford to increase their salaries due to the UAE government
fee cap on some of our older Asian schools in the Emirates.”
He shows a letter that he’s just written to the Ministry of Education
in the UAE. “We have to remodel the low fee-paying schools,
but they won’t let us increase the fees. Our Own English High
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THE INTERNATIONAL INDIAN