Let’s get this clear from the outset. We know less about these two schools than we do about any others in the group. But we have been asked to share what we do know due to a dearth of information out there about these two schools. Having done a bit of digging around to try and see what other info is out, we found that there was a complete vacuum of information about TBI Cibubur and Depok. As a result we decided it was a good idea to tell people what we do know. 

The first thing which Cam has told me is that the owner is also the owner of a hot-dog franchise. We could be wrong, but we think that it is called ‘Hotdog Booth’, and as the name implies, it is less of a real restaurant than a booth in a mall. There is, or at least was, a ‘Hotdog Booth’ outlet in Cibubur Square and there used to be in Mal Setiabudi too. Perhaps this owner is a franchise fan as her portfolio now includes both a hotdog booth franchise and 2 Bullshit Institute franchises. In the trade they call that ‘diversification’! You see one of the things to know about TBI Cibubur and Depok is that they have the same owner. Cibubur opened first and Depok opened a year or so later. The date of the opening of Depok franchise was pushed further and further back due to financial and staffing problems at Cibubur and it only limped into existence in January 2012 or thereabouts.

Like most of the franchise owners she is Chinese-Indonesian. It is the owner’s sister who is more involved in the day to day running of the business. From the sources we have, she has very clear ideas of how things should be done and doesn’t want to spend money on wages. (But more on this in our next installment.) Luke Preece told us that most of the Chinese-Indonesian owners don’t care less about education, which partly explains why standards have ended up so low in these franchise schools. Having dealt with Pauwsan Sutanto for 3 years, I can assure you this rings true to me. The man had no more idea about education than I understand the pharmaceutical industry, in which he works. 

People are weird about education. There is some idea that it is a noble profession and that the people who invest in it must have noble values. At TBI (The British institute), this is absolutely not the case. As Cam said to me, would you assume that the Chinese-Indonesian owner of a ‘Hotdog Booth’ franchise is passionate about hot dogs? Of course not. You’d assume that she thinks that there is money to be made in a frankfurter on a bread roll. What reason is there to assume that she sees TBI as any different to her hot dog booth? It is just a way to make a buck. This explains a lot about the sloppy standards you see in TBI franchise schools generally. We will explore this theme further tomorrow. [ Sumber informasi- Luke Preece ]

Would you like some TEFL with your hot dog?