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The Growing Influence of Corporate Marketing Strategies in Schools Raises Questions About the Changing Priorities of India's Education System
The Indian education industry is undergoing a paradigm shift in the functioning of educational institutes. Educational institutes, which have always been perceived as centers for imparting knowledge, values, discipline and personality development, seem to be resorting to the usual business practices of companies and organizations.
A recent report suggested that a Coaching Institute was giving incentives to teachers who were sending students to the said coaching institute from other educational institutions. While this kind of report has generated doubts regarding the increasing competition in the education industry, there is one more thing which has attracted my attention.
In a recent advertisement for the recruitment of personnel like Business Head, Marketing Lead and Field Marketing Executive in a school, the school claims to be "Powered by the same Coaching Institute".
It makes me wonder whether schools are getting transformed into professionally managed businesses and marketing organizations?
From Teachers to Student Acquisition: A Changing Education Landscape
Classically, there were always efforts made by schools to hire competent teachers, academics coordinators, principals, counsellors and other administrative officials.
The basic duty of these individuals used to be the provision of good education, keeping academic standards high, fostering the growth and development of the students and providing a conducive learning environment.
Nevertheless, the inclusion of posts like Business Head and Field Marketing Executive in a school recruitment notice indicates a shift from this classic approach.
These posts are normally found in corporate institutions and it is the duty of the individuals occupying these posts to develop businesses, generate leads, acquire customers and accomplish sales and market developments.
The introduction of these posts in the educational sector prompts one to think whether schools have changed their priorities.
Is admission the business goal of schools today?
Education or Business Expansion?
No one can deny the fact that schools must have financial sustainability. Operating an institution of education means spending money on infrastructure, technology, teachers' salaries, labs, sports facility, transportation, and many more.
The marketing process itself is justified because marketing allows parents to know about the educational institution and facilities offered to their children.
But here comes a big difference between the communication of the institution's educational prowess and the way of treating student admission as a business deal.
If the process of admission is made too much about the number of students, money generated from it and expansion into the market, then the aspect of academic prowess may lose its significance.
But academic success of a school cannot be determined by the number of students enrolled during the academic session only. Other aspects such as teaching standard, student achievement, teacher development, classroom experience, discipline and child development should also be considered.
The Growing Corporate Influence in the Education Sector
The involvement of large educational organizations and ed tech firms in traditional schooling has brought in new management paradigms, technology-based classrooms, standardized academic systems and professionalized marketing.
While some of these aspects may certainly be beneficial for schools and students,
professional management will make schools efficient, technology will make classrooms effective, and better communications will enable schools to contact parents.
But the education industry should be careful about embracing all these practices without understanding their repercussions.
A school is not a business organization that sells products to customers, and students are not customers that need to be targeted through marketing campaigns.
Parents select schools on the basis of trust, academic reputation, capabilities of teachers, safety, values, and the quality of education imparted to their children.
If institutions start prioritizing brand-building and admission targets over these fundamental factors, then the whole essence of schooling will change.
What About Teachers and Their Professional Dignity?
The next issue is the changing nature of the teacher’s profession.
A teacher’s profession is supposed to motivate students, nurture critical thinking skills and encourage creativity in preparing students for life. It is the teaching skills, subject expertise and effectiveness of interaction with the students that should define the professional merit of a teacher.
When teachers start being encouraged or incentivized to attract students from competing organizations, as indicated in the news article that I read, one wonders whether the teacher’s responsibility area is being expanded beyond education.
Teachers should be acknowledged for their contribution in education, innovations and mentoring students.
What Should Be the Real Priority of a School?
Indian education system itself is encountering many problems like lack of teachers, learning gaps, examination stress, inequalities in education, need of better infrastructure and facilities.
It is during such a period that there is increasing focus on corporate way of functioning in schools which needs to be debated.
Certainly schools require good administration and planning but that needs to be a supplement to education.
What is important to understand is that the true success of any school should be judged by the kind of students it produces and not by how many admissions it makes.
A Question for Education Policymakers and School Managements
Education industry evolution is a normal process, and there can be nothing wrong with professional management of private educational institutions under the existing regulatory framework.
Still, it is very important to draw a distinct line between professional management and commercial approach to the management of an educational institution.
The National Education Policy 2020 calls for holistic, multi-disciplinary, skill and student-centric education.
In general, the reform of the educational system should be oriented toward the development of children, teaching them how to think creatively and critically.
It is vital for school managements, education policy-makers and parents to ask themselves a key question – “Are we building institutions that educate future generations or are we creating competing businesses?”
Education Must Remain the Priority
The emergence of professional recruitment roles within schools, especially those linked with major education franchises, might be an indicator of the changing trend in the field of Indian education system. It does not necessarily imply that all such schools have traded their focus on academics.
However, it certainly is a significant change which warrants due consideration and discussion.
Professional management, marketing, and business planning can be an aid to educational institutes; but never at the cost of teachers, students, and education.
An institute must be known for the knowledge it imparts, the values it nurtures and the future it creates and not for its marketing team, admissions targets or growth in business.
Education is no ordinary business. It forms the basis of a country’s future.
Maybe it’s time we ask ourselves: When schools begin to act like corporate entities, then who will act to ensure that education thinks of students first?
