Private re-education

Last year, a very important case was heard at the Supreme Court regarding fees charged by private schools from students and the logic of the rates.

At the end of the hearings, the Supreme Court ordered private schools to cut their fees by 20 per cent and return 50 per cent of the amount they receive during the summer vacations.

The order stood applicable to private schools across the country whose monthly fees are above Rs5,000.  This number came about after the court earlier asked to audit reports of these schools and formed a committee to find an amicable solution to the issue of exorbitant fees being collected from parents.

In these audit reports, some of which were later deemed inaccurate, it was revealed that some directors and top officials of schools had receive over Rs62 million in salaries in 2017. In comparison, Rs512m was spent on employee salaries.

In some cases, directors received monthly benefits of Rs8.3 million.  The counsel for the parents of the students enrolled in such schools, lawyer Faisal Siddiqui, told the court that no school had its fees approved by any regulator. The secretary Law and Justice told the court that certain schools had increased their fees by 63pc in five years.

On the one hand, it is a free market where private competition determines who can charge what but at the same time, as in the case with such markets, there is no regulator in place to prevent market distortions. And the distortions are many.

Private schools have time and again taken the plea that they are doing a service to the community by providing affordable and quality education. They say that education is the responsibility of the state and they are filling an important gap. We can all agree on this. The state has - by and large - failed miserably.

Based on their earnings, schools also argue that they are major taxpayers and benefit the economy. For example, counsel for one of the schools, Shahid Hamid, informed the court that his client paid Rs764m in taxes annually.

All well and good. But why are the students and hapless staff being victimised? One of the first responses to the Supreme Court order, unfortunately, was that some schools decided to cut the salaries of their staff by 20 per cent. Nothing could be more unfair.

It is high time we regulate the private school system in the country. Whether it is the schools operating out of bungalows or the larger more exclusive schools with purpose-built compounds, many of these entities are not only enjoying monopoly-like conditions, there are quite oblivious to government rules and regulations. It is ironic that the same schools have bought land at concessionary rates in various housing areas of the country but today are running as fully commercial enterprises. Others have taken concessionary loans in their earlier days from international and national financial agencies and institutions on the very basis of their work. But today they only focus on profits.

Some spade work needs to be done in this regard. We can start by separating the schools that are providing quality education at reasonable rates from those that are not. This will allow the government to be able to focus on the bad eggs in the business.

One not only needs to ask how much the fees is but whether market-based salaries are paid to staff. Also, have other charges and conditions are imposed on parents. We have seen in the past how several schools have made buildings at the expense of their students. Others have created a mafia of transport, books, uniforms and other such requirements. This needs to be broken.

The government should empower the ministry of education to ensure that schools charge for what they offer. They cannot provide sub-standard education and charge an arm and a leg.

Like the HEC audits universities, there must be some entity that can do the same for private schools. The present provincial education departments cannot fulfill this function.

One friend of mine insists that for those school owners who are not willing to listen, the concept of employee buy-outs can be introduced. Staff can buy out the stake of the management and then improve their own schools, becoming stake-holders in the process. Food for thought.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2019.

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