No matter how good a student of a govt school is, a graduate of a private school will be preferred when hiring
RAWALPINDI: This is with reference to the article “Is capping private school fees a sensible policy?” by Syed Mohammad Ali (October 9). The writer has given his thoughts about problems concerning private schools and raised certain questions which I agree with. However, we need to analyse the situation in a more profound manner as education does not just shape a community; it shapes the entire society.
The question here arises, how are private schools shaping our society? Firstly, they are creating divisions within our society, i.e., between the elite and the rest. It is usually only the elite who are able to send their children to the top private schools in the country. These are given preferences when hiring for jobs. No matter how good a student of a government school is, rest assured, a graduate of a private school will be preferred when hiring. That’s how polarisation within a society begins. This means that families belonging to the middle- and low-income groups strive by hook or by crook to enable their children to study in private schools for the sake of their future.
Secondly, imparting education has become more of a business venture with time. A business can produce a profit and loss statement, but not necessarily an educated society. Treating the imparting of education as a business has meant that only those segments can participate fully in national life which can afford to do so or have the ability to please authorities, thereby infesting society with a culture of corruption, bribery and greed. The victims, i.e., parents, just to enable their children to compete, go all out to fulfil the demands of private schools. This transforms education into exploitation.
The most drastic impact of private schools has been that education has lost its purpose, i.e., personal development of an individual with the overall aim of developing a civilised, tolerant society.
The writer’s proposal to direct the Competition Commission of Pakistan to address issues related to private schools needs to be assessed carefully. Historically, any department which was created to check irregularities, malpractices and corruption ended up being involved in corruption itself. To address this issue in the long term, with an aim to facilitate the majority of our countrymen, including middle- and low-income groups, legislation to monitor and regulate private schools is required, which may pave the way to end the reign of the private school mafia.
Syed Muhammad Ahmad
Published in The Express Tribune, October 12th, 2015.
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