The UK Labour government has introduced 20% VAT on Independent school fees. What are the wider implications of this and do you see the government revisiting this issue?
The election took place a couple of days ago, and we all know where we are now. So, yes, this policy is obviously coming in. They are introducing this 20% VAT to independent school fees. Now, I’m going to be very honest. Everybody is kicking against it saying it’s going to increase fees, it’s going to do this, it’s going to do that. When you look at what the government says it wants to do with this increase, we just hope that that is what’s going to happen. Because if that’s truly what’s going to happen, then I’m not seeing it as a bad thing. I’m seeing it as okay. It’s to increase the general education standards, to bring it up to where it ought to be because let’s remind ourselves, you went to Shiplake, or you went to Eton or Harrow. Those are independent schools. Guess what? Dami down the road didn’t go to Eton, didn’t go to Shiplake, didn’t go to Harrow or anywhere like that. He went to Dalston College, for example. But guess what? Because he’s smart, even though he went to Dalston College, all of you can end up at Imperial College. All of you can end up at Oxford University or at Warwick University, regardless of which secondary school you attended. So we have the likes of you who went to top independent schools and then we have Dami down the road who went to a regular college just next door to where he lives. Nobody has even heard of Dalston College, but it’s there. And because he’s smart enough, he got the grades, he applied to Oxford, he got into Oxford. So, if at the end of the day, all of us are going to end up in these top universities, why don’t we truly raise the standard of this Dalston College? So yes, if that truly is what this extra 20% VAT on fees is going to do, then I don’t see it as a bad thing. Let’s be honest. For the parents who send their children to independent schools, putting aside the ones on bursaries or scholarships or whatever, the rest will still send their children there anyway. In England, there are 560,000 students attending 2500 independent schools. Out of the 560,000 students, only a third of them receive bursaries and scholarships. And out of that, only 1% receive 100% bursaries. Of course, the ones on full bursaries will not be affected because they don’t pay anything anyway. Now, the other third that receive these bursaries are obviously smart kids. If the increase is so high and the parents can’t afford it, remember, they are just one third. The remaining two thirds who pay the full fees will still send their children to these schools because that’s what they do. That is what they want. For many, it’s even a family tradition. In some cases it’s even the grandparents who pay because that is what they have been doing all their lives. It’s just the norm for them. Some of them don’t even know that state schools exist. Now, the ones that would probably be affected are the ones who are on bursaries and scholarships that are not full. The point however is this. If that money can be transferred to the state school sector to raise the standards, the argument surely must be that, if the standard is going to be great in the state school sector, then there’s no reason for you to attend an independent school anyway. If you can’t afford it, which some on bursaries and scholarships may no longer be able to, all they need to do is look to the state school school. Now, within the state school sector, there are also grammar schools. We have the likes of King Edward’s Grammar, Manchester Grammar and some other very good grammar schools that are even doing better than some of the independent schools. What we may then find is a situation where a majority of these parents, even the ones who can afford it, decide to put that money into buying properties closer to where these good grammar schools are, because grammar schools are based on catchment areas, just like all state schools are based on catchment areas. So, if I live in Kent for instance, and I live close to Dartford Grammar School, then I will go to Dartford Grammar School. Even if I don’t pass the test, there’s still a way for me to get in. That’s what they call partial selection. This means some will get in based on the fact that they live close to the school, while others will get in based on scoring the highest marks. Which means things will still work. So, the impact for me is a win-win situation. That’s the way I’m looking at it. I’m seeing a win -win situation. I’m seeing this extra money that is being levied on independent schools going to improve standards of schools generally. And remember, all these independent schools have charitable status, which means they’re charitable schools anyway. There are other things that they can still get the money from so they don’t have to put the fees on that extra VAT, they don’t have to put it on parents. Most of these independent schools are magnificent with beautiful halls, stunning extensive grounds which they can further monetise by hiring out for wedding receptions (during school holidays) saving the couple a small fortune which would be spent on hiring a hall in central London. Others can hire out their sports centre so there are so many ways in which they can get that extra money that doesn’t have to impact the learning of their students. So the way I see it, it’s a win-win situation, everybody wins, nobody should lose here. The kids in the state schools get better teaching, because part of this money is to bring in an extra 2500 teachers to the schools and to give teachers bonuses so that they are encouraged to remain in the profession and not want to leave teaching to retrain and become a dentist or something. So I think it’s a win-win situation and that’s how I’m seeing it. I’m seeing it as a positive thing that would benefit both sectors.
Turning now to the certificate you earned in Leadership and Decision Making. Since the buck will always stop on the table of the leader, is a leader therefore expected to know it all, since he/she will make the final decision?
No, I definitely do not think so. I don’t think so at all. I think the fact that the leader probably owns the organization or has been employed to make all these decisions, I don’t think that decision should rest on him alone. Why? Because as much as you might have the knowledge, the intention, you know what you want from this, I think bringing other ideas in, getting the input of your team is really, really important because what you think you know, you’ll be shocked to discover that actually, you know absolutely nothing. So I think the way to get the best outcome and to make the right decision at the end of the day is to get input from your team members. Get their opinion and then work together on it. Not to say, this is the way. I don’t think that’s good leadership skills at all. I think to be a good leader is to listen to your team members and even other people within that sector. Whatever it is that you are working on, what is their opinion? Why should we go with this? Why shouldn’t we go with that? So, at the end of the day, we all come to a consensus, agree on something tangible and then deliver. That’s how I think it should be. I do not think it should lie solely with the leader just because they have the role of leader.
What is the difference between scholarships and bursaries?
Scholarships are awarded based on academic excellence or a remarkable, valuable talent of some kind i.e in sports or music. Bursaries on the other hand pay less attention to academic prowess or talent but are based on the applicant’s financial needs or inability to meet the financial demand.
We seldom know if the decision we take is the right one until we see or experience the outcome. Is it possible to know before or while taking the decision?
I think once you’ve decided on what you want to do, you probably have an idea of what you want. But you’ll find out at the very last minute that things can change and when those variables change, you have to be ready to change whatever that decision was, so no, I don’t think it’s set in stone like that. I think you should be open to change. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Being open to change if variables change, if situations change, if circumstances change. But I’ll tell you this. Look at what we discussed a few minutes ago. Prior to the Labour Party winning the election in the UK, I was 100% against the 20% VAT. And now that they’ve actually got in, I’ve had to think about this carefully and now I’m thinking it can actually work. I was initially blinded to all the benefits that they actually were looking to bring about – because this is not money that they are collecting to improve the labour party, but to improve education particularly for the less privileged – so why shouldn’t we do that? I mean it just makes sense that we should look to improve standards. Look, my granddaughter, right from when she joined her prep (private primary) school in year 6, she has had a professor teaching her English. She’s just starting year eight now. Many of her teachers are PhD holders. So these are not teachers that have just finished PGCE. In fact, when I went to the school and I did a tour, I visited the Design and Technology room and when I saw the quality of the work produced there, I had to remind myself that I was at a Prep school, which meant none of the children who produced the things I was seeing there could have been older than 13. The quality was just incredible. So, that is the beauty of what you’re paying at such fee paying schools. That’s why I say if we have a small fraction of children in society who are receiving this sort of excellent education while the majority do not receive anything that is anywhere near this, then I think we should support the person who is trying to bridge this gap. I mean so many people have said to me, Yemisi why don’t you start a school in Nigeria? And I tell them No, I would rather support the government schools that need support. It’s not about setting up another one. It reminds me of the saying that in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king. I don’t want to be that. I don’t want to go and set up that school that is supposed to be state of the art and all of that when most of the schools around me are crumbling. What’s the point? Let’s put all the resources into helping those individual schools at least to some level. When you think about it, of all the presidents that we’ve had in Nigeria, none of them has gone to one of these so-called private schools. They all went to the government schools that we had in Nigeria then. So, if that is where we’re recruiting from to get our president, then I think we need to improve those schools so that at least we have some decent people who will eventually become the president.
You have won several awards both in Nigeria and in the UK. Which touched you most?
It’s so funny you asked me that question because the moment I read it, there was just one thing that came to mind. There’s only one that really stands out for me and I’m so grateful for. It’s the Woman of Praise. And that is to do with my faith. So everything else, the education and all of that, they’re all great, but the one that I really appreciate the most, and please don’t get me wrong as I appreciate them all, but the one that really does it for me is the Woman of Praise award. Because that’s based on my faith. Without my faith, I can’t do any of the things that I do.
Compared to children in the UK, how well are Nigerian children doing in terms of knowing their rights?
You know, I’m sure they know their rights, but you see, culture plays a great part in Nigeria, culture and tradition. So, even when you know your rights – and I’m talking about children now, I’m not even talking about adults in Nigeria that know their rights – but because of culture, it suppresses whatever you think your rights are. I think we’re coming out of that. We saw a little bit of that during the EndSARS protest, when those young people came out and wanted to really stand their ground. In a society like this (UK) that would have worked, but in a society like Nigeria, it didn’t. I mean, you saw it quickly turn to something else when they now became targets and were termed rebels, which was not the intention at all. Those young people came out with the mindset of wanting a change. We know what our rights are, but unfortunately, it didn’t work. So yes, the kids in England, believe me, they know their rights, and I’m not even talking about 16-year-olds or 14-year-olds. I’m talking right from a very young age. They know their rights. Oh, no, you’re not allowed to do this. You’re not allowed to do that. Oh, ‘my teacher said this and he said that’, you know, because they teach them these things right from school. So the children know their rights. Yes, definitely the children in the UK, I believe, know their rights way, way more than the kids in Nigeria. I’ll give you an example. There was a young man who came to the UK as a caregiver – as they are giving work permits for caregivers and teachers. Yes, the British government has been asking people with such professions to come over. So, this young man had come over and had to go for some training. They gave him a set of questions to look at, about 20 in all. And those questions were hardly even questions as they were just asking him to look at some things. Those are the things that they need to be looking out for. Because if they notice these things in their patients, it means that the patient obviously has mental health issues. And when this guy finished the programme, he called his sister and he said, my goodness, he’s just come out of a class where they did an exercise. And he had experienced everything that they wrote there in Nigeria but as far as he was concerned, they were normal. That means he actually has mental health issues and unknown to him, he has actually been abused all his life. They said, if this is happening, that means this. If that is happening, it means this. And he’s been through every single one of them! But obviously, if he knew his rights, he wouldn’t have allowed these things to happen to him. So yes, to answer that question, definitely the kids in the UK, 100%. A major contributor to mental health issues and repression of rights in the African environment is the African culture. For instance, this thing about men not crying. Right from when they are still boys, they are being told that they are not allowed to cry so they grow up with that mentality of suppressing their emotions and they suffer in silence. But unfortunately, this turns into aggression in later years and of course, that can damage the individual and their family.
_____________________ Dr Yemisi Akindele studied Accounting and Finance and holds a postgraduate degree in Law as well as LLM, specialising in Education and Child Law. She also has a Certificate for Professional Development in Leadership and Decision making from both University College London and Harvard Continuity School. Dr Yemisi works freelance as a legal and educational Consultant with Obaseki Solicitors, advocating for children’s rights to an inclusive curriculum regardless of their learning needs as well as consulting for many independent schools both in the UK and in Africa. Dr Yemisi is a member of the society of Education Consultants, Association of Women Barristers and a member of The Inner Temple, ILM(Institute of leadership and management) She is the founder and CEO of High Achievers Academy, a supplementary school and Consulting Firm for Black Children in the UK and abroad, its’ aim is to prepare them for scholarships and bursaries into top UK independent schools. She founded High Achievers Global Foundation, an NGO supporting the Girl Child and the less privileged in Africa, She is the founder of High Achievers Women of Wealth, a Women leadership platform that was created to see women rise into Financial Freedom and she is the founder of BAEN British African Education Network, a platform for all Black Educators to showcase their products and services to help parents navigate the British Education System and find support in all spheres for their children. Dr Yemisi is the author of many published articles on Education Matters and the leadership book for parents, GREATNESS in me and my CHILD. She is the recipient of several awards including the honorary doctoral award from GWIIN(Global Women Investor and Innovators Network), the Thurrock Black History month award, the Women of Praise award and the Nigerian School leaders award.
EduTimes Africa, a product of Education Times Africa, is a magazine publication that aims to lend its support to close the yawning gap in Africa's educational development.
