School Consultants in India

Are school consultants necessary for school projects? What is the role of a school consultant in India? In this post, we explore various scenarios in which school consultants can add value. Let’s dive in.

Who needs a school consultant?

These are some of the main reasons for bringing a school consultant on board:

If you are an entrepreneur setting up a new school and making an investment into land and building, you should definitely hire a school consultant to walk with you through the project. They can guide you on making a better school, one that will withstand the changes over time and still deliver an amazing experience for students.
If you have an existing school and are looking at upgrading the infrastructure or the quality of the school, school consultants can add value to the change process.
If you have an existing school that is doing well, they can do an audit and give you an independent perspective of where you stand and what could be improved.

School consultants are usually brought on board by the owners, management or board of governors of a school. While they may work with school leaders, staff, students and parents, they usually submit the required reports to the school owners so that appropriate plans can be drawn to implement changes.

What are the types of school consultants in India?

There are numerous school consultants in India and they can be broadly categorised into the following:

Academic Consultants: Consultancies setup by ex-Principals or teachers usually focus on the academic side of the school – they work on defining the curriculum, teacher training, recruitment’s etc.
Project Consultants: These are school consultants who have experience in launching new schools and creating infrastructure for school projects. Project consultants often define the financial projections of the school, plan the kind of school to be created and help in getting the infrastructure ready for operations. They are usually recruited at the beginning of a new project and their roles end once the school is ready for launch.
General Consultants: Consultants who cannot be defined as educational or project consultants fall in this category. They have expertise in school operations and management, and can act as a bridge between school owners and everyday operations of schools.

Over the years, Newton Schools has provided services for all the above 3 functions to various schools. While the core team at Newton Schools has expertise in School Project Consultancy, we have team members who also service the other functions.

There are other kinds of educational consultants providing services for enrolling students in universities abroad, only recruitment services etc. They are not relevant from the perspective being considered here.

What are the benefits of a school consultant?

As a school owner or management team member, you are involved in creating or operating a particular school or group of schools. You would need perspective on each decision, that is not clouded by your current thinking and operations. Experienced school consultants would have worked with multiple school projects and gained a variety of experience. They bring this value to the table and ensure your school benefits. Bringing on board an experience school consultant benefits in the following additional ways:

Cost Savings: Experienced school consultants can help your school save costs, they know how to avail services at reasonable prices and know the source of good service providers.
Avoid Mistakes: Many schools have tried various things and made several mistakes and learnt from them. You can avoid those mistakes, saving time and money, by bringing in experienced school consultants.
Wider Vision: While you may have a great vision and a plan for your school, it helps to validate the same by discussing it with school consultants. Often, the vision and the plan are enhanced by the inputs provided by the consultants.
Better execution: This is especially true for new schools that are to be constructed. School consultants can ensure the whole project is executed well, avoiding delays and mistakes that have significant costs.

How much do school consultants charge?

While this answer isn’t applicable on all, some of the ways in which school consultants charge are:

1. Project Cost: School consultants offer a proposal for executing a particular project and define a fixed cost for the project. In such proposals, the time consumed by the consultants or the time span of the project is defined. This is usually done for smaller, shorter projects.
2. Retainers: Most school consultants offer a retainer service, where they contribute a fixed amount of time per month to the school. Their role during that time is defined. Retainers help schools in getting maximum inputs from consultants at a fixed cost over a long period of time.
3. Project Percentage: This method of charging is usually applied by school consultants for new school projects, where it is expected that the project consultants will help save costs. A defined percentage of the entire project value is charged as a fee by the school consultants and their role is defined to ensure the project proceeds smoothly, within a budget.
4. Time Basis: There are consultants who charge by the hour. They usually have a minimum number of hours defined per week or per month and the role is also accordingly limited.

In most of the above, any travel and outstation stay of a consultant is billed to the school. If the consultancy is a firm with additional manpower supporting the main school consultants, the charges are accordingly billed to include services of all the people involved. The charges of all consultancy services vary, based on their expertise level, the services they provide and the specific requirements of your school.

For additional information or to talk to us at Newton Schools, please contact us.