Request for fee reduction and online live classes at BSM

Comments

#3

I have children in both Primary and Secondary. I find it wrong on principle to charge parents so excessively for terms where kids are bot even in school!

Sana Imran (Muscat, 2020-05-20)

#4

I totally agree

Fatima Mobeen (Muscat, 2020-05-20)

#6

I'm happy to sign for both though if live online lessons were implemented I'd accept payment of full fees.

Katherine Pery (Muscat, 2020-05-20)

#20

I'm signing because we have been putting tremendous effort for our kids education which supposed to be done by the school, and the effort that school and teachers are putting are not sufficient and not equivalent to the fees we are paying for term 2 and term 3.

for next year fees it should be reduced as the economic situation was highly impacted and financials was interrupted alot and will last for long period. if the school insist to ignore our request of reducing the fees and recovering some of term 3 fees then ww will consider changing school as we don't see value or cooperation from school anymore, although this is the last resort we could do and not willing to interrupt our kids well being but this is highly considerable option for us now and we discuss this on daily basis

Ibrahim Abuawwad (Muscat, 2020-05-20)

#21

I'm signing this because we are considering to move our kids from school as the value of money we are paying is way behind the quality if education received also we were shocked from negligence of school management to the parents and disconnections they are playing. this show that it's not healthy institution to safeguard our kids with

Shaden Abushairah (Muscat, 2020-05-20)

#30

First of all because we are not receiving the same standard of education that we should. I feel I could just as easily have had my kids not following any education in the last 3 months. Second school is having less costs and as they pride themselves of being a non profit school this should be split to parents (don’t see how it can be possible it’s a non profit school though - impossible or some money are getting lost on the way)

Patricia Adeltoft (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#33

I'm signing because I know live classes can be made safe with some investment and children learn better with live interaction.

Helen Mehta (Muscat , 2020-05-21)

#38

I am signing this petition because the school is one of the most expensive schools in Oman while having one of the less functional online learning system. Other schools have more interaction in live streams and video conferencing. Additionally, the support needed from teaching staff is very little during online learning and it is unclear, why teachers have been kept as employees while all other organizations must terminate employees. There is no need for utility payments, maintenance and other usual needed payments. These savings plus less teaching staff must result in lower school fees. If not, it must be publicly shown where all the money goes and how much the employees in BSM earn.

Ernst Grissemann (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#41

I believe it is only fair for parents to receive a discount in fees

Reya Alsaid (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#42

I am signing, because school fees are unreasonably high for online education which was deployed by the school.

Sergei Razhko (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#43

I am a parent and charging us the full fee is not reasonable.

Hashim Shekhuna (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#44

Although the teachers are doing a great Job with providing materials and feedback, I feel that younger kids, especially in the FS classes, do miss out on the organised social aspect of their schooling. The social aspect takes a large chunk of their day and they are not getting that nor get to use the wonderful facilities the school provides.

Raffaella Nobili (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#45

At the pandemic, go to school is not an option for health safety concern, unless the virus outbreak situation is controlled at confident level. Daily Live broadcasting of school teaching is preferred. Prerecorded lessons have limitation on timely interaction with pupils. Thank you.

Wei Li (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#46

It is simply inconvenient to have to pay so much money for the use of websites and the teachers uploading videos or websites and we as parents need to do all the teaching to our kids.

Karam Mossa zaki (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#51

I’m signing because I agree with the petition.

Manish Rodrigues (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#53

Both my husband and I are in the service industry airline and hotel which as you know is affected drastically and we are on reduced pay. Due to the situation my husband moved to Ethiopia and the hotel is on lockdown. I'm working here and getting only 20 percent of my salary. We urge you to look into the school fees reduction.

Andrea Rodrigues (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#54

I believe that operational costs have been reduced and that our children are not receiving the education we are paying for (ie facilties, extra curriculars, social interaction etc)

Tara Nofal (muscat, 2020-05-21)

#55

BSM needs to move with the times - especially when salaries are being cut, people are losing jobs and futures are uncertain. Also live classes will enable a certain amount of dedication from students while now they are just being monitored remotely.

Shilpa Viraj (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#56

I'm signing because school fees aren't worth the level of study.
I fully agree with every single point stated in petition.

Kirill Muromtsev (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#58

I supporting the effort to have reduction on the school fee especially no school facility has being used all this time.

Virnita Hasianna (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#60

I am signing this petition because i agree 100% that there should be a fee reduction. Families are providing all stationary, print outs etc for the kids supplies for their work. School has been paid a full amount and the campus is, obviously not even 70% in use. The school needs to far more considerate of parents especially those with more than 1 or 2 children in school and those who have had pay reduction.

Anum Tarique (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#64

Asmaa ahmed

Asmaa Hassanain (Musact, 2020-05-21)

#72

We are facing critical financial issues in the country and we expect the school to help us as well in these situations to continue to deliver quality teaching to our children’s

Medhat Habeeb (Muscat , 2020-05-21)

#76

I agree with all the highlighted items and reflect myself in the same position having two children ( 1 in FS2 and 1 in Y7) learning from home .
Thank you,
Best regards

Gergana Encheva (Muscat , 2020-05-21)

#78

My husband lost the job and we should pay the school fee

Maryam Tahouri (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#79

The burden should be shared by everyone.

Irene Sennhauser (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#89

These two points i agree with and feel short recorded videos could be made on the school premises (if teachers are unable to do them at home) to make the work less monotonous and boring for the older students
Gcse years and A level years more effort should be made

Louise Sinnett (Muscat , 2020-05-21)

#100

Hello
We have our two children studying in BSM. Globally we are facing this unprecedented challenge posed by Covid-19. This is a unique situation which needs to be managed. I am paying for the school fees on my own and my company has reduced salaries, benefits and perks. Hence I am requesting for the reduction of school fees from BSM.

Manimaran Mariappan (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#102

Value for money is dissatisfactory

Karen Hardan (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#107

In case school classes have to be run remotely, it won't be fair to pay the same amount of school fees for less education quality, much less interaction, and no access to school premises that are essential to learning.

Sufyan ALSHEHAB (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#108

I feel the school fees should be reduced because salaries have been cut and delayed and with many have lost their jobs.

Emmylou Males (Sultanate of Oman, 2020-05-21)

#113

I feel the petition is just and need if the hour.

Arindam Basu (MUSCAT, 2020-05-21)

#117

Current Economic scenario is very Difficult for everyone and we can pass through it only by joining hands in hands with each other. This effort is for school to join hands with parents. They need to reduce their expenses also so the difference can be shared with parents.

Zeeshan Javaid (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#121

Abid Hussain

Abid Hussain (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#122

Simply because employers have either laid off some employees like myself or have cut their salaries like many others so the burden should be distributed equally to all including the BSM staff. From the other side the education and its overhead cost has dropped due to no physical attendance so the saving should be reglected on the fees.

Regards,
M Reza

Mohammad Reza Heidari Barnmkhasti (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#123

I feel under current circumstances these are the right thing to do.

Aditya Jitani (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#124

I agree with the valid points in this petition.

Tajammal Hussain (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#128

Request teachers to teach the content on video call and not just setting tasks. Thank you

Haposan Situmorang (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#131

I’m fully agree with this initiative. I do pay the school fees by myself and it’s quite huge amount compared to my salary. I’m Now forced to take leave and would put the request to BSM to consider the proposal.

Saroj Senapati (Muscat , 2020-05-21)

#133

Considering situation most of jobs will be at risk and parents will struggle to pay large fees. Plus online class reduce cost to the school as they don’t need outsource staff activity. Less assistant require per class. Therefore atleast 30% reduction for 2020/21 should be applied.

Adnan Haroon (Muscat , 2020-05-21)

#135

I am signing here because our salary now is half,, and the situation after corona is different than before corona

Leila Jaber (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#136

I got a salary cut of 35%

Ousama Salloum (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#144

Struggling in current situation with reduced hrs work of my husband. I'm housewife . Paying full fees for two kids become nightmare as we pay for our kids by own nog mh company. Expecting fees discount from BSM.

Jayashree Senapati (Muscat, 2020-05-21)

#147

In the current times most of the employers are looking at either reducing salaries or laying off people. In these dificult times we request school to reconsider fees .

Savita Kulkarni (MUSCAT, 2020-05-22)

#148

About recently situation our job have problems

Ghazal Takhshidi (Muscat, 2020-05-22)

#149

Bearing in mind the current financial state of the country and peoples degrading personal finances, twined with the fact and that our children are both not attending school or receiving the standard of education we paid for.
I believe to charge over 2400 OMR for approximately 50 days home schooling is unjustifiable and unacceptable.

While I believe the school and teachers are doing an excellent job with home learning in my view we are simply not getting the same education standard that our fees pay for. 

Calvin Robinson (Muscat, 2020-05-22)

#150

We think online teaching is becoming a need as We have doubts our child is getting the concepts of lessons right, student should be able to get in touch with a teacher immediately when a lesson is given to be able to ask a question or/ and get a feedback on his work.
Us as parents may have a wrong approach to a certain topic or lesson and may not be able in lots of the times to explain properly to their kids.

Nahla Karhani (Muscat , 2020-05-22)

#153

I'm signing because I fully agree with all the points mentioned in this petition.

Maithe Da Silva (Muscat, 2020-05-22)

#154

There were no classes held after 25 April,2020. My daughter is in year 13, got no tests. She has not used any logistics for this period. So, why shall not I get fees exemtion?

Sumit Das (Al Khuwair Muscat, 2020-05-22)

#155

To reduce the pressure on family financially and get the best education for our kids

Moosa Al Raisi (Muscat , 2020-05-22)

#158

Really sorry to read the anecdotal experiences of some parents at our school. To have your pay reduced is a terrible situation to be in. I am not sure which request is pivotal in this petition. Is it about live teaching or fees?

Please be aware that demanding a discount on fees may have various consequences, i.e. redundancies, staff paycuts leading to reduced hours of teaching and learning that undermines the validity of live teaching. An interesting paradox.

There has been a ferocious debate about this on other social media platforms; and the frustration of parents is something that the classroom teachers have been working endlessly to address since the lockdown. Teachers have been making videos, offering audio, video and technological feedback. They have been busy working with their class-links in primary, responding to Google classroom/emails in senior and pioneering different ways to offer academic support. The level of personalisation has been driven by your teachers' duty of care for your children. It hasn't been perfect, but it has evolved into something that with your cooperation can be special. Live teaching may work for some by giving a sense of what we had in the classroom, but this may not be suitable for children who have individual needs or are abroad elsewhere or have siblings at home who will have to be connected online with another class.

Are we willing to to accept live conferencing at the expense of quality, so that our children are connected continuously online to appease a didactic idea of education? Have we even asked the children what they want? Are we respecting the professional advice of the school who use research inform their decisions in and out of the classroom? Or is about giving the fee payers what they want?

BSM Staff member (Muscat, 2020-05-22)

#162

Fee reduction

Ramy Hamdoun (Muscat, 2020-05-22)

#165

I'm signing because BSM needs to be sensitive to the current crises.

Alexandre Bachkirov (Muscat, 2020-05-22)

#171

We are parents of a 7 year old boy, studying in class 2J. I work in Dubai, where my salary has been subordinated , due to covid 19, to pay for staff. My wife in Muscat is currently between jobs. These are difficult times. BSM must help

Ian Bradshaw (Dubai, 2020-05-23)

#173

A few points in response to the comments made by a BSM Staff Member in #158 of this petition.


1. No 'fee payers' = no BSM. Just because 'fee payers' are not BSM staff doesn't make their opinion ill-informed or invalid.

2. A conservatively estimated 25% of BSM families have signed this petition so far, supporting one or both points raised. Bearing in mind that a reasonable proportion of BSM parents are either staff or are leaving Oman or indeed have their fees currently paid and therefore might not sign such a petition; this proportion of discontented parents may warrant BSM having a rethink. One point may well negate the other but there could be a perception of greater value for money, were live interactive sessions and even remote extra curricular sessions included in the current offering. Equally a fee discount could be offered if no further effort is planned to echo as closely as possible the real school experience, or face the possible loss of pupils looking for cheaper online alternatives in the future.

3. BSM will note that some other schools have already had to make tough decisions for next academic year, in line with recent events and potential intake for Sept. Some schools in other countries are offering online education at a fraction of usual school fee costs in anticipation of a possible ongoing remote learning situation in September. BSM would do well to engage with the 'fee payers' rather than alienating them through a lack of transparency and a stubborn, inflexible, patronising attitude.

4. Many fee paying schools all over the world are making a success of live online learning as a whole or a part of their educational and social interaction with their students. Why does BSM management think itself wiser than all these educational establishments? No doubt parents will have discussed this idea with their children. Any minor disadvantages listed in #158 are perfectly resolvable with a little thought and creativity. If BSM is comparing its self-perceived successful remote learning programme against the UK state sector then it has set the bar extremely low since the UK state sector has, in many schools, utterly failed to engage its pupils in any kind of effective remote learning system. Yes, live online lessons are not perfect and seem to work best in combination with other techniques, yes they are more challenging for some staff, who liken it to going back to teacher-training college, yes it has been a steep learning curve for those who are now offering live online teaching but wholly worthwhile. BSM staff are, on the whole, a young, progressive, tech-savvy bunch and are probably also capabable of managing and making a success of a remote live group situation. It is arrogance to deny BSM pupils this opportunity to have further improvements on what is already on offer at BSM.

5. Agreed, primary staff have made a great effort within the rigid anti-live limitations imposed by BSM management. However, engagement between staff and students in senior is limited, sporadic and at times, lacklustre. Being given worksheets, day in day out, is hardly going to inspire kids to learn. Some have zoned out to a greater or lesser extent.

6. Why not add live engagement to BSM's current programme? There are no good reasons why not, as proved by many other schools world wide. They have demonstrated it gives staff and students the chance to feel a degree of togetherness and promotes an enthusiasm for learning. Equally, why no live parent/teacher engagement? Many parents have not met with their children's teachers since term one and in some cases not at all. Has BSM forgotten that a big part of education and being at school is having students and staff working together to promote a happy collective learning experience and help alleviate the sense of isolation many are currently feeling. It doesn't have to be all about academia. The current reliance on parents in primary is, for some, overwhelming.

7. One of the long standing problems with BSM is that it has a chairman of the board of governors who has stood at the top, unchallenged for over 20 years. Together with senior management they make an unaccountable, at times bullying force that no disillusioned staff member or unhappy parent has managed to penetrate, no matter how hard they try when faced with an issue they feel is wrong. This petition is the closest thing to an authority challenge that BSM hierarchy has faced in years. And they have tried in vain to silence it. No more sweeping inconvenient secrets under the carpet. Parent power is a perhaps stronger now with the likelihood of a quantity of kids leaving BSM at the end of this term.

BSM Parent (Muscat, 2020-05-23)

#174

Comment 173 hits the nail on the head.

https://twitter.com/SchoolVoice3/status/1264262698298150914?s=19

#schoolvoice2020

School Voice (Muscat, 2020-05-23)

#175

I don’t think this petition is going to change any bodies mind about fees or live teaching - the only thing the school will act on is if people take their children out and send them to the other schools like Tasim or aba - I am not sure if they have reduced their fees or do live lessons but at least when bsm see lots of children leaving they will have to do something. There are lots of other options in Muscat let’s use our buying power to show them and move to the other schools - is ags doing exam classes yet? Does any one know what their results are like?

BSM parent Bsm (Muscat, 2020-05-23)

#177

The only way I can have control over things at the moment is to have a go at the school! The whole issue for me is the school. I don't like anything they do and when they try, it's not good enough. School management are greedy and the teachers are fat and lazy. If only I didn't feel inclined to have my children attend this pantomime show. It doesn't matter matter what BSM do, it won't be good enough for me. Rise up against this authoritarian regime.. "No fees = No BSM... No fees = No BSM" I therefore pitch a new motion: (1) Free schooling during the pandemic. (2) 24 HR live teaching and drop in to teachers on demand. (3) Electronic tag teachers to check that they are working. (4) Free access to the school pool. (5) Free food from Sodexo tuck shop on return. (6) Automatic maximum scores on all tests and exams that my child sits. (7) Rotate the chairman of the board every 6 months like the EU nations do. (8) UK to rejoin the EU. (9) Kai Vacher makes a video rapping to a Dr. Dre back track, 'Nuthin But A 'G' Thang'. (10) Nice plants around the school site. (11) Allow caning of teachers. (12) More videos by Mrs. Dellman. I like to watch them when my kids are not around.

Frank Swifty (Muscat, 2020-05-24)

#179

I'm on reduced pay and won't know if we can remain in Oman. When the airports open, we'll have a better idea ifmy company will keep me on. Already downs selling things and looking at UK schools. We have paid our term 3 fees in full. I am not too fussed about live teaching, because my children work at own speed. The system at the moment is fine. Their teachers aregood. Maybe they need live pastoral conferencing. And to be honest, there are plenty of staff at BSM who are infill salary but not interacting with students. For example, assistant heads in primary and all the leaders in senior. It is very clear (away from the inspiring facilities) that it is about the interaction between the teacher and the child. They can reduce fees by putting those not teaching a class on reduced salaries like the rest of us. That includes, Mr Vacher, Ms Dellman, Ms Megnin etc. This will take the pressure off the classroom teachers and let them teach. On a separate note, I noticed recently that we are in partnership with a school in Salalah. I only noticed when my daughter watched footage of a teacher that she had never seen before. Have we as parents been informed about the change in school structure, unless I've missed it. And are our fees going towards another school? These are questions that need to be addressed as well as those petitioned.

Primary Parent (Muscat, 2020-05-24)

#188

Would like a fee reduction of course. Who wouldn't? School has made it's decision and was clear about it. Some people just need to accept it. If you don't like it, then you had a choice not to pay term 3. If you still feel strongly about it, stop moaning, take your kids to a cheaper school and be done with it.

J P (Muscat, 2020-05-27)



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