Monday 27 February 2012

What do you call a person...

...who diverts donations/funds meant for deaf pupils for her own personal use?

I had a long but interesting discussion with a passionate deaf young man who has just finished his national service. He served at a 'well-known' deaf school that caters from nursery to primary and junior secondary level. The only bright spots were the children whom he taught. His overall experience in the school was blighted by the selfishness of the proprietoress of the school. Apparently, the school is classified as a NGO and receives huge amounts of money from overseas donors. Which does not in any way reflect in the quality of the teachers employed in the school nor in the quality of equipment in the school.

I was told about a pupil whose parents were unable to pay the school fees and blatantly told to stay away from school. But why solicit for donations from dono and not even use the opportunity to ensure that no child drops out of school? Why charge exorbitant fees when the teachers empeloyed have the barest minimum of qualifications? What is the whole point of opening a deaf school when the deaf children who graduate don't even have a reasonable educational foundation?

Unfortunately for the school owner, she had a young person from the Netherlands doing work experience at the school for 6months. Incidentally, this person's parents donated a large sum to the school. On getting to the school, she was met with sad disappointment when she couldn't see any evidence that donations sent was used for the children's benefits. It would be sad if the pupils suffer because of this woman's greed.

It's so pathetic. An opportunity to impact young people's lives but yet squander it. Well, let's hope that these pupils (and many others from different schools) surmount the challenges of a poor educative start in life and become much greater than this sorry excuse of a woman and her children. You may ask 'Why did I bring her children into this?' And I'll say to you 'She is fully sponsoring her own child's studies to America whilst trampling on other people's children who are struggling to get a decent education.'

Just be mindful of the seeds you sow especially in young children... Life can be funny, very funny!

2 comments:

  1. Would have been excusable if it were a pure private, for profit school, but you receive donations and grants for the school and tell students that can't pay the fees to stay away? That is pure criminality. Unfortunately because this is pure private to private sector assistance, there may be no reporting and monitoring requirement. A classic case of market failure.

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    1. Thank you for your comment. I am, however, not 100% sure but I think that the school actually receives donations from foreign governmental organisations like embassies. The school is actually registered as a NGO. So none of that is excusable!

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