Education in India: An Analysis

Political

• Schools being privatised (like the NHS).A government initiative creates the risk that the school may fail to deliver the policy or be diverted away from local priorities etc.Changes to the skills required to be a teacher/ tutor.Changes to curriculum with short lead times.Requirement to be self-managing.Requirement to be self-financing.

Economic

• Central or local government funding decisions may affect school/ establishment finances.Closure of a local industry may affect fund raising plans etc.Ability of parents to raise funds for optional activities.The need to run breakfast/ after schools clubs.Ability to invest ‘savings/ surpluses’.Cost of providing resources:
• Staff – teaching & support.Basics – books/ paper.Technology solutions laptops etc.
Interest rates.Shortages of materials on national/ international markets.Over provision of school places in the area resulting in competition from neighbouring schools.The risk of highly valued, key staff moving on to more ‘up and coming’ schools/ academies.

Social

• Decline in birth rate, reflecting national trends.Local population changes (increasing/ decreasing numbers).Demographic changes may affect likely pupil rolls or the nature of pupils needs, e.g. pupils with English as a second language etc.Closure of local firms providing employment.Inability to attract staff.Social networking – blogs, Facebook, Twitter.Changes to qualifications expected.Integration with local community.Integration of students with support needs.Parental preference – an increase in ‘parent power’ has allowed parents more freedom of choice over their child’s school.The risk of highly valued, key staff moving on to more up-and-coming establishments.Information is accessible to staff anywhere in the world via the Internet.Staff were not given enough training or access to effectively change their habits and how they expected information to be made available.

Technological

• Changes to standards/ equipment required.Risk of selecting the wrong technology at times of change (i.e. windows -v- open source).New computer viruses may affect school/ college operations.Disturbing/ illegal images on the internet may affect ICT security measures etc.Move from paper based books to e-book readers.Computer hardware being out of date.Computer software being out of date.Time to manage IT systems.

Legislative

• New legislation may create risks of non-compliance with the law, create new administrative burdens etc.Changes to child protection legislation.Raise the age of school leaving age.Raise/ lower the age of starting school.Nursery/ kindergarten.Change to school opening hours.Changes to funding of charity based organisations.Health & safety legislation.

Environmental

• A new highway layout near the school may create new dangers for pupils etc.Waste disposal.Reduction of green space available for activities.Changes to local bus routes.Using a significant amounts of paper and photocopier toner to produce printed information.