The commercialization of the school culture in the Darjeeling Hills.

The Darjeeling town has classically been the destination for fine boarding schools ever since the time of the British Raj. Darjeeling and the nearby towns of Kurseong and Kalimpong, have many missionary boarding schools with long successful histories. These schools are considered to be one of the best boarding schools in all of India with many of them attaining All India Ranks in the top 10. Darjeeling truly is an abode of education. The peaceful hills, mixed with the historical institutes and the abundance of wonderful teachers make it a truly unique place for schooling. Numerous personalities from actresses to royalty have studied at these schools. 

In these reputed schools however something rather sinister has been brewing for the past several years and has been corrupting the youth of the Hills ever since. Numerous parents have raised their voices against this issue and many teachers are concerned. This issue is of course the increasingly decadent and showy atmosphere of the schools which is making the cost of education go higher and higher each year. Students want only the best of the best in stationery, clothing and accessories, which is causing a greater burden on parents to provide. This issue is culminated and reaches its peak in the "birthday celebrations" of the student. Like most schools, in Darjeeling students are allowed to wear fancy dress and distribute sweets among friends. However with time this practice is becoming more and more expensive and extravagant. 

The population of Darjeeling and their income is quite varied, however on average a typical father earns 90,000 ₹ per year. The average cost of educating a child is around 1 lakh a year with some boarding schools going up to 5 lakhs a year. This is just for the basic tuition, stationery and uniform. Food and transportation will cost separately with extra expenses such as pocket money. Therefore we see why the issue is quite a big one as most parents cannot afford to educate their children and have to take up secondary jobs. After the 86th Amendment to the Constitution giving the Right to Education, all schools of Darjeeling had to allow a certain percentage of students from underprivileged backgrounds. This led to even expensive schools having students from not so well to do backgrounds. 

The administration of these schools have always endeavored to provide an equal atmosphere to all its students. Therefore you will see that almost all schools have uniforms which promote a sense of equality and togetherness among students. However recent research shows that uniforms are not very successful at creating "uniformity" among students. In fact uniforms are worse as since everyone has the same clothes, differences in quality, color, cleanliness and newness are very easily spotted. This makes students coming from lower backgrounds more susceptible to bullying, thus pressuring their parents to keep their uniforms new and clean. 

The atmosphere of the teenage social group is a vicious one and students will try and do anything to gain some footing or fame. It becomes very easy to be ostracized and bullied if you are wearing old clothes and torn shoes. Thus the pressure is created for students to spend as much money as possible on uniforms and stationary, but as we discussed before not all families can afford it. 

It is a very serious issue that is plaguing our schools. Many believe it to be a direct consequence of the rapid commercialization of Darjeeling culture itself. However the opposite is true, as the schools have become breeding grounds for the "consume and show" attitude. The race amongst students and parents to outperform and outspend each other has caused a very big shift in our society. Darjeeling has seen a huge rise in materialism and consumerism among its citizens. More and more people from the Hills focus on the material aspects of life and this has caused a sharp decline in the culture and tradition of the Hills. 

Thus we see that the commercialization of the school space is a huge problem that is corrupting not only our children but our society at large. Parents have to take an active responsibility to control materialistic tendencies in their children. However more often than not, we see that it is the parents themselves who push and encourage materialistic behavior on their children. Young children dont know any better, therefore it is the parents who must change and discourage such behavior from their children. 

Birthday celebrations at school have become the main focus of this issue. What used to be a simple affair in which the birthday boy/girl would bring a packet of cheap sweets and distribute among their classmates has been turned into an event of the year. The type of sweets being distributed has been a major factor with some parents even distributing imported chocolates such as Milky Way and Mars. What used to be two small eclairs per student has turned into a dedicated gift hamper with numerous toys, sweets and gifts. It is seriously absurd the level it has reached and many teachers and parents are working together to control this behavior. 

Meanwhile the less fortunate parents struggle to keep up. This causes resentment between the children and the parents which leads to even more problems in the household. The student has serious confidence and self esteem issues. They feel left out from the other students and are desperate to gain the approval of their peers, however they cant as their families are unable to spend the amounts the other families do. Thus we see that it is a small issue but one that is very relevant and very important to all of us. If left unchecked it will rot us to our very core. Schools are where values are built and the foundations of the society are created. If such rampant materialism is prevalent in our schools we can only imagine what a society that will create. 

Written by Ariyaan Moktan.