It's tough at the top, but schools can't put good PR over a child's life
Pressure to survive amid competition for pupils can never be an excuse for not giving students' well-being top priority, former principal argues in wake of Hong Kong coroner's criticism of a school's handling of pupil's deadly fall
Does a school's reputation mean more than the life of an individual student? That question springs to mind when considering the death of a pupil who fell from the roof of a school in 2013. A coroner lambasted the school's senior staff for their handling of the incident. Its aftermath has triggered considerable concern.
Most comments dwelt on the improper attitude and insensitivity of the staff, who allegedly placed more importance on the potential damage to the school's name than the child's life. Apparently, staff refrained from calling the emergency services after the incident for fear of the unfavourable publicity it would bring.
Some showed concern for the victim's parents, the anxieties of other parents who entrusted their kids to the school, and the well-being of the students, who have been bewildered by the whole affair.
Understandably, little sympathy has been shown to the school's leadership. Other than comments about their ethical conduct, not much was said about their predicament in today's educational landscape and the way out. Even less was said about the underlying cause for the common phenomenon of schools trying desperately to protect their image. The incident illustrates the multifaceted challenge confronting schools nowadays.
Past school closures and the threat of future closures have spawned stiff competition among schools. The system whereby parents try to get their children into already high-performing schools had led to a situation wherein unfit and underperforming schools are rooted out. This reliance on competition to drive school improvement - often at odds with educational ideals - sounds reasonable in our highly commercialised society. Schools that do not win parents' approval will naturally lose out.
However, without the likes of vital statistics on performance to guide parental choice, schools' images, PR gimmicks, and word-of-mouth popularity among members of the community will naturally become important reference standards.
