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Dinesh Kothari: In the field by chance and by choice

Head of DPS in the UAE speaks about the importance of quality education, rising fee structures and the condition of teachers

For Dinesh Kothari, pro vice-chairman and managing director of the three Delhi Private Schools in the UAE, stepping into the education business was serendipity. He believes that teachers are the soul of any school. The Delhi Private School Sharjah, affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) New Delhi, is the first school in the UAE which has branched out from its parent institute Delhi Public School, New Delhi, India.

With three campuses in Dubai and Sharjah, the DPS family has grown to accommodate 10,000 students in its CBSE curriculum schools and 300 in the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) syllabus school. “Unfortunately school fees are really high here and several education providers are in the business to make money. I can confidently say that DPS is the desired choice among parents for education. I won’t say that it is the primary choice for parents, but more the desired choice because we offer quality education at an affordable fee structure in comparison to market rates,” Kothari said. In an interview with Khaleej Times Kothari spoke about how he got into the business of education, the importance of quality education, rising fee structures in the UAE, Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) regulations, and the condition of teachers in the country.

Step one

“I first came to the UAE in 1974, so I’ve been here for 40 years. I started out as the finance manager for a company under the Bukhatir Group in Sharjah and by March 1978, I was made CEO of the firm. I was 28 years old then. It was my most wonderful learning phase. However, after 1987 I returned to India because there came a point when my children were addressing their grandparents as visitors and I understood that I had to go back home. I entered the education market in 1997; wherein I opened the first DPS in Jodhpur and that still happens to be a not-for-profit school. We opened our first school in Sharjah in the year 2000 and the DPS Greens campus in 2003, after which we took a nine-year hiatus, which I think was really important for the growth of both these schools. In the nine years we spend time nurturing the schools, focusing on both quality and reputation. And last year we opened the doors of DPS Academy, and though we have 300 students now, the school can house about 3,500 students. It was a fast track project and we finished construction in about nine months.”

The ‘business’ of education

“In the business of education, you must not be in a hurry and to see a successful educational structure, you must focus on quality and you will see the numbers go up automatically. Schools must not be run for profits, and whatever you earn from the school must be invested in increasing the salaries of teachers.

For me education happened by choice and chance, both. In 1997 I opened my first not-for-profit school in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. It was my way of giving something back to my hometown and today it is a 15-acre school housing 5,000 students. Dubai is a very good place to do business because officials in top positions are very easily accessible. I got into education more by accident than design and my target market is middle and upper middle class parents. I believe in providing value education and holistic development of the child at an affordable cost. I can tell you that if I were to double my fees, I wouldn’t lose a single student because that is the kind of standard we have set.”

The ‘stress’ over KHDA

The KHDA inspection of schools put a lot of undue pressure on both teachers and students. I suggest that the inspections take place once in three years or every alternative year, instead of every year, so that schools have the time to implement the recommendations that has been set by the authority. The regulatory body must give the schools some flexibility and breathing space to grow, especially when it comes to bringing in teachers. One of the stricter things that the body can implement is that no teacher must be allowed to leave mid-term, because that can be very detrimental for the students. On the issue of fee hikes, the KHDA must form four to five brackets to grade schools based on tuition fees, in that way a lot of stress of high fees is taken away from parents. Right now the problem is that upcoming schools can charge whatever kind of fee that they want, which makes it driven by profit.

Investing in teachers

I don’t think teachers are paid as much as they deserve and I believe that teachers are the soul of the school and the school puts in a lot of effort into investing into continuous and professional development of teachers. One of the biggest benefits of being a part of the DPS system is that there are 200 schools in the DPS family, and the resources are enormous. There is a continuous exchange of resources and professional development.

Future of education

We are on the right path. If we can weed out a few irregularities in infrastructure and payment of teachers, then there would be clarity of direction.

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com