Differences among schooling create a divide between students graduating from government schools and private school
DAHARKI: In Pakistan, the education sector is a commercial entity, a profiteering business. This is why schools are found in almost every area, especially ones catering to the middle-class of the populace. These English-medium schools are set up in small houses of three to four rooms with cheap quality furniture and unqualified teachers with meagre salaries.
While in comparison, private schools catering to the upper class of the country offer students a competitive and conducive learning environment along with a qualified teaching faculty. On the other hand, in government schools neither the environment is conducive to learning, nor the quality of education is anything to rave about. The syllabus is rarely completed and the faculty is not provided any training to modern teaching skills.
Such differences among schooling create a divide between students graduating from government schools and the ones passing from private school for the elite class and the middle class. The former find it hard to secure positions for high educations even in local institutions, while the latter are well-learned to get admissions to Ivy League universities abroad.
Despite the prevalent classism there is perhaps one thing that is common among these schools: neither of them equip their students with knowledge and understanding required for being a responsible citizen. Instead they all sell grades in a bid to become the best. In such a scenario, how can we expect our youth to compete at the national or international levels?
And what’s worse, more and more schools are being built that cater to the same saturated structure of education. The lack of any check and balance continues to hinder our literacy.
Arif Ahmed
Published in The Express Tribune, May 18th, 2017.
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