It is unfair to suggest that they are callous and self-absorbed because they send their children to a private school.
KARACHI: This is with reference to an article on your back page by Shaheryar Popalzai titled “I’m from KGS and I can’t study next to... flats?” (October 14). I know many people whose children study in the school and who have donated generously towards the flood relief effort, both in terms of time and money. They are also active in supporting educational NGOs as well as other causes. It is unfair to suggest that they are callous, self-absorbed individuals just because they can afford to send their children to a private school. Granted, KGS is elitist in the sense that only a tiny sliver of society can afford to go there but would the writer rather that there be no high-quality educational institutions at all in this country? Should everyone go to a government school and obtain a mediocre education because most people cannot afford to do otherwise? The solution is to improve the standard of education for the average Pakistani, not malign institutions that are already offering quality education.
Parents have valid concerns regarding both security and the environment if the construction of the high-rise building goes ahead. It has nothing to do with studying next to flats, nor the nala (which is located next to the senior section, not the junior section which is further down the road and is the one affected by the proposed high-rise). The high-rises next to the Saddar section were constructed before schools in this country came under threat. Also, if traffic in the vicinity of the school is already disrupted in the afternoons when classes are over, one can only imagine what it would be like with parking for a multi-storey commercial building creating more chaos?
Naziha Syed Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2010.
