School's Portfolio Creep

There was a time when schools had a simple mandate - teach children to read, write, and do arithmetic. That was it. 

A school’s job was to provide a solid academic foundation, and everything else - moral values, physical well-being, and financial prudence - was left to families and society. But over time, the list of expectations has grown. Schools are now expected to cover everything from nutrition to mental health, from financial literacy to environmental awareness. The scope keeps expanding, but the time available for schooling has either stayed the same or shrunk.

This is what we call portfolio creep - a phenomenon where an institution’s responsibilities keep expanding beyond its original mandate. The problem is, while the demands on the system have grown exponentially, the system’s ability to deliver has not kept pace.

The Expanding Mandate of Schools

Take a step back and look at the trajectory of schooling over the decades.

1. Academics First – Schools were originally set up to teach basic academic skills. The focus was on literacy, numeracy, and general knowledge.

2. Character and Morals – Then came the push for moral and ethical education. Schools started taking on the responsibility of teaching right from wrong, values, and civic duties.

3. Sports and Physical Health – At some point, it became clear that children needed structured physical activity, and sports programs became a core part of schooling.

4. Nutrition and Diet – With concerns about childhood obesity and malnutrition, schools began introducing mid-day meal programs and nutrition education.

5. Mental Health Awareness – As anxiety and depression in children became a pressing issue, schools were expected to provide counseling and mental health support.

6. Financial Literacy, Sex Education, and Beyond – More recently, schools have been asked to equip students with financial literacy, digital literacy, and social awareness.

Each of these additions has merit. In isolation, no one would argue against teaching children financial responsibility or the importance of mental health. The issue is that the list keeps growing, and schools are being expected to do all of this without additional time, resources, or systemic reforms.

The time children spend in school has either remained the same or, in some cases, even decreased due to shifts in education policies. Meanwhile, class sizes remain large, teachers remain overburdened, and the curriculum keeps expanding.

In an ideal world, expanding the role of schools would be matched by increasing investments in teacher training, school infrastructure, and innovative pedagogy. But that has not happened. Instead, schools have been asked to do more with less—more responsibilities, less time, more expectations, fewer resources.

This is an unsustainable trajectory. When schools are expected to cover everything, they end up covering nothing well. Instead of ensuring deep, meaningful learning, we create a system where teachers scramble to check boxes, and students become passive recipients of fragmented, shallow knowledge.

A System Set Up to Fail

The biggest risk of portfolio creep is that it sets up schools to fail. The more responsibilities we add, the less effective schools become at their core function - providing quality education. The targets keep moving, and when schools inevitably fall short, the blame game begins. We criticize teachers for not being “engaging enough,” administrators for not implementing reforms, and students for not performing well. The real issue is systemic.

If we continue down this path, schools will become bloated, inefficient institutions that try to do everything and succeed at nothing. The way forward is to redefine priorities.

1. Acknowledge Trade-offs – Every addition to the curriculum comes at a cost. If we introduce financial literacy, what are we willing to remove? If we add mental health programs, where does that time come from?

2. Strengthen Core Education – The foundation of education should remain academics. Without strong literacy and numeracy skills, none of the additional subjects will have much impact.

3. Distribute Responsibilities – Not everything needs to be taught in schools. Parents, communities, and specialized institutions can play a larger role in areas like mental health, financial literacy, and moral education.

4. Focus on Quality Over Quantity – Instead of trying to cover every topic superficially, schools should go deeper into fewer subjects, ensuring students actually learn and retain knowledge.

Portfolio creep is a classic case of mission drift. Schools were created for education, but we now expect them to solve nearly every social problem. If we don’t rethink this trend, we will end up with a system that fails at everything it sets out to do.

The question we need to ask is simple: What do we want schools to be? If we want them to be everything, they will end up being nothing. It’s time to set realistic expectations—before the entire system collapses under its own weight.