Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Chasing Day

One of the sad realities at any school where pupils have to pay to attend is that, when they don't, there are consequences. Both my schools rely on student fees to provide for almost the entire operating budget as there is no government funding. These fees are not all that large, but for people with low (or no) incomes they can be difficult to pay. Then again, there are also those who just don't really care about their children's education and so don't bother to pay. I think that generally the schools have significant pity for the former but none for the latter.

To make parents pay up, schools have a policy of "chasing" those who have yet to pay. Starting a couple weeks into the term and on a regular basis from then on, the headmaster will go to each class with the list of who has and has not paid. Those who haven't paid yet will be taken outside, yelled at for awhile, and then "chased" - sent home. I never really have gotten used to the sight of large portions of a class being taken outside and disciplined in this matter. It is also a little bizarre to teach on "chasing day" because your class is suddenly half full. If you have a class of 40, and twenty of them have been chased, you get a pleasant class size of 20 for the day.

"Chasing" is a reality of community school life. After all, the school needs to receive the school fees to pay for maintenance and, hopefully, the teachers. Nonetheless, I can't say that I like being around when the exercise takes place. I feel sorry for some of the kids because they can't afford to pay, and for others because their parents don't bother paying.

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