Imparting knowledge seems to have become a shrewd business where you are not even given your money’s worth
KARACHI: A certain chain of private schools, which I prefer not to name, accept security deposits of Rs30,000 on the day of admission of a student and return that fee when the child graduates. However, there is a catch. If the child does not withdraw from the school before a certain date — a date which remains undisclosed — the security deposit is not returned as it is part of the school’s policy not to do so.
I had to go through an ordeal that resulted from this unfair policy: Rs30,000 eaten up without even a notice or a warning. This incident made me realise that since the dawn of time, man, the ever-resourceful creature that it is, has found a way, to earn a livelihood.
But nowadays, earning a living almost seems synonymous with taking unfair advantage of others. The proverbial ‘Man’ has always exploited ‘the little guy’ in every way he knows. And recently he has found a new way, by exploiting even the fundamental right of education that everyone has. Imparting knowledge, it seems, has become nothing more than a shrewd business where you are not even given your money’s worth. How can we, as a country, prosper when something which, ideally, should broaden our minds, has become dishonest itself?
Syeda Maheen Qadri
Published in The Express Tribune, April 9th, 2015.
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