Daily Times

In Pakistan we have different form of schooling. One, government schools, two, private English medium schools, three, religious schools or seminaries and fourth, we have elite schools. Most of Pakistanis admit their kids in government and private English medium schools. While the people with less privileged background admit their children in religious seminaries. However, the few who can afford high fees and expenses admit their kids in elite schools.

The elite schools have their own standard and they do their best to maintain it one way or the other in big cities like Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi  Peshawar. They charge high fees for providing standard teaching and studying environment in capital cities. Their fee structures as per their performance in big cities is justified.

However, when they apply the same policies in small cities where their standard drastically gets low then it becomes questionable. For in small cities the teaching staff remains quiet unpolished and unskilled. Thus, one can’t expect the same level of input from them what the teachers of elite schools imparts in capital cities. Moreover, their teaching staff in small cities work less hard. They don’t do individual counselling of students and concentrate less on their conceptual understanding.

Now despite of all that the management of these elite schools charge almost the same fee which they charge in capital cities. In other words without providing the same standard of teaching and studying environment these elite schools are raking in huge sum of money in small cities. This amounts to robbing the parents of their life long savings in garb of the standard education which these elite schools claim to deliver.

That being said, all the parents who can afford high fees wish that their children get quality education. Therefore, they are compelled to admit their children in schools carrying brand names. But these elite schools in small cities exploit this compulsion of parents.

the high standard schools in small cities are cheating the parents who desire to give their children good learning environment

To top it all, the management of these elite schools in small cities intentionally recruit incompetent teaching staff against low salaries. The staff’s skill level is way more substandard then what these elite schools have in big cities. But even then the management charge almost the same fee which they get in federal and provincial capitals. Resultantly, they save huge money as their expenses remain less in small cities. Such facts makes the whole exercise completely unfair.

Apart from all this, this double game on the part of elite schools’ management in small cities has tarred the image of education in the eyes of general public. They made education a business rather than a noble cause. Thus, the incumbent government should look into this bluff on the part of high standard schools’ management. It would definitely benefit many parents that are victim of this betrayal of elite schools.

To conclude, the high standard schools in small cities are cheating the parents who desire to give their children good learning environment. They recruit inept teaching staff just to save maximum of the high fees they get from innocent parents who want bright future of their children. In return the children remain average and parents’ lifelong savings are squandered. Thus, it’s requested that the present government should pay heed to this blatant deception on the part of elite schools.

The writer can be contacted at asifmahsud44@yahoo.com

Published in Daily Times, October 17^th 2018.