Operating a private school is no simple task

by Marlon Madden

Operating a learning institution has changed dramatically over the past two years and will continue to demand greater use of technology, not
only because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but given the rising costs associated with such an operation and the need for parents to cut back as cost of living continues to increase.

Principal of the Ifill School Akil Ifill readily admits that operating such a business is no cheap undertaking, as he predicted that greater use of technology might be one way of helping to cut costs.

He also predicted that more parents will need to cut costs on their end as they try to cope with the rising cost of living, and which school their children attend will be one of those choices.

One of the main reasons a lot of people choose to send their children to private learning institutions is the smaller classroom size, when compared to that of the public schools. Private schools are more costly than that of public schools.

“Parents have to decide if it is more important to have their child at a private school or to send the child to a public school and then pay for lessons or supporting education such as after school activities. I see that trend happening more so than students enrolling in private schools,” said Ifill.

While the cost of attending such institutions can range from as little as $650 per term to as high as $3,000 per term for locals, and even higher in some cases for non-Barbadians, these schools incur several expenses including that of salaries, plant maintenance, in some cases rent, and other overheads.

“In Barbados we like to tout free education even though there is a cost to education. It is not free. Somebody is paying a cost somewhere and it is the highest bill the Government is paying,” said Ifill.

His comments came in light of the pending closure of the Ursuline Convent School, located at Collymore, St Michael.

Announcing the closure of that institution, which has an infant, junior and senior component, officials said “times have changed and the pandemic compounded the challenges we were already facing”. They said the “painful and hard decision” had to be taken after consultation “to end our educational service here in Barbados by August 2023”.

During the pandemic, schools were forced to modify their operations as they moved to an online teaching format, thereby eliminating some of the activities that would help to raise funds to support their operations.

From September last year, operators of the Ifill School took the conscious decision to move operations fully online, cutting back on costs. One drawback for parents with young children was that the school only started taking students from Class 3 and 4 and those at the secondary school level.

“There are things you have to look at when running a business and a private school is a business,” Ifill told Today’s BUSINESS. “For us, when you look at input cost, it costs a lot more money to run a physical school.

It doesn’t mean it isn’t to be costly in terms of running the school day-to-day, but with the online you don’t have certain overheads like a lease, rent or mortgage. That is a lot of the cost of running a physical school,”
he explained.

The Ifill School is among the newer set of private schools on the island, having officially opened its doors in 2018. Ifill believes technology will play a greater role in teaching and learning in Barbados in coming years, adding that this was a part of his vision for education on the island.

“My vision certainly includes technology and I do not think the public schools and private schools for the vast majority are using the technology. They are not leveraging the power that the technology can provide in education,” he said.

With a background in information technology, Ifill, his brother and father, were able to develop a learning platform that suited the learning experience he wanted students at the Ifill School to experience.

“However, at the same time you are fighting a situation where parents are apprehensive about online because for the most part, the online presented by other schools including public schools, was not good.

It did not lend itself to exams online or repeatability. It wasn’t sustainable. So many saw it as a short-term solution to a medium to long-term problem, whereas for us, it is something we always wanted to implement,” he said.

He said one of the major advantages of online classes is that it allowed for greater flexibility with students being able to travel as they learn or sign on over the weekend since some of the lessons are pre-recorded.

“For students who are weaker, they are able to do programmes. So we just started animation recently for example, and students can go on at 9 p.m. or 6 a.m. Saturday,” he explained.

“For us it hasn’t been a problem because it is something we sat down and planned thoroughly and we think that was the key and we also have the background knowledge,” he said.

“The most [worry] I would say is probably if the internet cuts out that is problematic but besides flexibility there is reduced cost. Students have more free time so they can do other activities. Note-taking is not as important because you can re-watch videos. So I have not had issues with that,” he said.

marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb