ADMINISTRATORS ARE BORN NOT TRAINED

Ms. Purvi Sharma joined as Vice Principal of Maheshwari Public School, Kolkatta on 6th March, 2006. She is an M. Sc. (Zoology) and B. Ed. She has also done M. A.(English) as private candidate. She has got pleasing personality. She served a school in Patna for nearly 9 months before marriage. After marriage, she shifted to Kolkatta and joined as PGT (Biology) in St. Xavier School and served there for nearly 5 years before taking this assignment.

Sri Maheshwari Samaj is a social organization working in the field of education in most part of India. There school at Jaipur is one of the pioneer schools of the city. MPS, Kolkatta has nothing to do with MPS, Jaipur except the name. In 2004 Sri Maheshwari Samaj, Kolkatta was allotted nearly 8000 sq, mts. of land in salt lake which is an upcoming township. The present President Sri R. K. Somani was elected in 2004 and the elected Vice President has been given additional charge of Secretary. Sri Vijay Malpani, present secretary is a retired engineer from Government of West Bengal. As per the bylaws of Sri Maheshwari Samaj, Kolkatta, the President , Secretary and Treasurer in the Samaj gets the same post in School Management Committee (SMC) which was constituted in 2006 as per Central Board of Secondary Education norms and have 15 members in total. The designation in the SMC becomes Chairman for President, Hon. Secretary for Secretary and member for treasurer. In absence of Principal, Ms. Purvi Sharma became the Member Secretary of the SMC as per CBSE Bylaws.

Ms. Sharma was selected by the selection committee with thinking that being young and energetic she will grow with the organization and will be promoted to Principal. Maheshwari Public School, Kolkatta started its first session in 2006 up to class VII with a view of adding one class every year and become a full flagged +2 school affiliated to CBSE. The office bearers of the Samaj are mostly top businessman of the city and have little time to devote when they have to manage a big Samaj Bhavan also. But their concern for education can be seen from the decision that they appointed Dr A K Pandey as the consultant of the project. The consultant visits the school once a month.

Dr. A. K. Pandey is a well-known academician. He has done his Master in Zoology and Master in Education. He completed his Diploma in Distance Education & Diploma in Higher Education from Indira Gandhi National Open University. He has done PG Diploma in Education Management and MBA from Indira Gandhi National Open University. He is working on his D. Lit. Degree in Education Management. He started his career as PGT (Biology) in Kolkatta and served as Lecturer teaching Education Management to Principals at Institute of Educational Administration Kolkatta. He has vast experience as Educational Administrator including Principal of Diamond Mining Project Panna, District Project Coordinator of Bihar Education Project, an Education Programme of World Bank, Education Director of Hermann Gmeiner Schools, Delhi and headed Maheshwari Public School, Jaipur for nearly 7 years as Principal. More than 35 of his research papers have been published in journals of repute. He attended more than 20 seminars and conferences on modern trends of education. He is on the Board of prestigious Public Schools and All India Examinations. He is member of Professional Bodies in Education and Human Resources. He has authored two books on Education Management and consultant of six major upcoming educational institutions. He has been awarded several times by reputed organizations being a pioneer in the field of Education Management. Dr Pandey is the CEO of Pandey Education Trust, a registered trust working in the field of quality education support service in rural area of Bihar as well as he has several consultancy for new education projects. He is a good motivational trainer of teachers and has trained more than 2000 teachers for achieving quality in class rooms.

The SMC instructed Ms. Sharma at the time of joining that she will be working in confidence with Dr Pandey and follow his instructions. As she has never worked in any responsible capacity in the school, Dr Pandey used to mentor her time and again to avoid any mistake in administrative decision but she always took it lightly creating confusion for the management. Most of the times during SMC meeting the parent’s representative complained about poor correction works in the school when the teacher student ratio is 1:5. No improvement was visible after repeated feedback. The HR of Ms. Sharma was also too week. She failed to establish herself as an academic leader. Her dealing with parents was not according to the ethos of the Samaj. Due to her wrong communication to chairman and Hon. Secretary the Samaj had to bear a loss of Rs.65, 000.00 and cut sorry figure in SMC. She committed a number of mistakes even in writing letters and note sheets. She had a habit of pulling on the matters and was of the opinion that good % of marks in the examination is the measuring stick of academic performance. She diluted the standard of question papers without bringing it to the notice of consultant or SMC. In a growing institution all these gave adverse publicity. Now the school has to apply for CBSE where appointing a Principal of the school is mandatory. The number of students is only 65 and the society is committed to pay the teachers as per CBSE norms. A Vice Principal is required when the school reaches class XI and the number of students is 1000 and more. What will be your suggestion regarding continuation of Ms. Sharma in the system and in what capacity?

Additional Questions for discussion:

1. Is it not right to pick a raw hand and train him/her according to your need?
2. Do you believe that leaders are born not made?
3. Is Maheshwari Samaj wrong in putting a consultant to help the Principal?
4. With a teacher student ratio of 1:5 will you accept any mistake in correction?
5. What will be your priorities in a school like this?
6. “Fire the dead horses” your reaction please in the light of this case.