Daily Times

Sir: Beacon Light Academy, located in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Block 7, Karachi, is a classic example of a private academic institution taking unfair advantage of those who had no other recourse to sending their children to schools nearby and private as well. In the wake of government forgetting its responsibility to provide free of cost elementary education to its citizens, the poor people are left to be exploited by the education mafia as is being done by the Beacon Light Academy. The school has departmentalized girls and boys education, the latter getting attention and somewhat quality education while the girls are left to suffer in the hands of untrained teachers. The girls of senior classes are denied classrooms and are forced to study in makeshift arrangements. On top of all this, the school has been charging, as they will this year as well, fees for the months of June and July, though the school finishes its annual term in May and those appearing for matriculation don’t even return to the school. Threatened with not getting the roll number slip to appear in the matriculation examination, the parents are left with no option but to bear with the exploitation. We badly need somebody like Malala, who had stood up for the rights of girls’ education in a Taliban-dominated area. Can there be anyone like her? Meanwhile, while we wait for such a miracle to happen, your esteemed newspaper is requested to help us promote the right to education for girls in a decent environment, without discrimination.

Hania Fatima

Karachi