The cost of learning

Across the country, a unique movement against the hike in fees charged by private schools has been initiated by parents. There have been protests in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar. The demand of the parents, essentially, is that private schools be regulated and annual fee rises be kept at five per cent rather than exceeding this by large amounts. The restoration of the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority, which became redundant over a decade ago, has also been demanded and as the protests continue, the school administrations and government have begun to take some notice.

The question of whether private schools are acting as a cartel is now being looked into by relevant authorities, and in Sindh the education secretary has been asked by the commissioner of Karachi to look into the matter. Parents in the city have been particularly infuriated by the measures taken by a school in North Nazimabad, which raised its fee by 25 per cent for the upcoming year and then told parents who complained that they could either withdraw their child immediately or pay the current fee and seek help from a special schools body set up to help them transfer to other schools. This has been the reaction of other schools as well and they have essentially asked pupils to either pay up or leave. Such reaction has clearly riled parents even more. What we need is the setting up of a regulatory body to monitor the activities of private schools, as their actions right now threaten to put at risk the education of countless students. Given that public schools, over the years, have been unable to provide a quality education, parents have been forced to turn to private institutions. Many of these cater to the middle class and not to the wealthy alone, and the exorbitant fees they are expected to pay may be beyond them in many cases. Parents have a right to be treated fairly. Some regulatory mechanism must be set up as soon as possible.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th,  2015.

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