On August 18th, parents of children studying in private schools in Karachi gathered at Shahra-e-Faisal to protest against the rising fees of Foundation Public School among other private schools.
Their claim was simple; best explained by the protest hashtag, #ParentsAreNotATMs. They argue that the annual increase in school fee is unjustifiable and solely done to increase revenue and profits.
Breaking The Law
The protesters urged the provincial government to take action against the 5% increase in fee announced. They claimed that it is a violation of the law announced by the Sindh High Court last year.
The Court had rejected a petition submitted by the private schools for letting them increasing their fee by more than 5% per year. The education department was instructed to restrict the increase in fee and was asked to submit an audited accounts report on a quarterly basis.
However despite the law, a hike in the school fee left the students and parents outraged. They organised a protest and raised banners with slogans such as “no fee till low fee,” and “stop increasing school fee”.
Who’s at Fault?
Most people observing the issue can sympathize with these parents. However people belonging to the upper-middle or upper-middle class are also to be held accountable for this extortion-like situation.
The rise of tuition culture is also another mistake made by them. Parents increasingly send their children to take tuitions along with school. They seldom ponder on the meaning of good-quality education and do not keep track of their child’s learning.
Another factor contributing to the issue is the urge to be part of the ‘social elite’. There are only a few schools in the country that historically hold the status of being socially elite. These schools have done so by carefully raising their fee to the amount only payable by a certain ‘class’ of people. Other schools seek to achieve this status by doing the same.
The blame cannot be set on just one cause or part of society. The situation is a result of multiple factors contributing equally towards the issue.
The protest, although justified, is unlikely to achieve much due to limited resources. A change will require a long-term process and effort to bring about a cultural-change in terms of education.
Via Samaa
No Law : Goverment Itna Arab Rupee Education K Naam Expense Karti hai :
Private Ko Bound Kare K 500 Ya Is Se Kam Fee Le :
Fee is one issue, most of the private sector Schools (TOP Names/Brands) charge fee during summer vacations but don’t pay salaries to teaching and other administrative staff.
agr Government Schools ki halat theek ho to.. Private schools ki fees bhe khm ho jain gi.. Waldain majboor hain.. and private school mafia doing business.
Below is the details for medium category private schools expenditure for only 1 student and have average 75 students per class (1 to 10), have monthly fee greater than 1000, where students mostly need tution service too.
12 times monthly fee (in case late, you will face the fines also.)
12 times computer fee
1 admission fee
1 course (books and writing material) fee
1 sports fee
1 summer vacation (june and july) free
3 social activity (picnic, going out for any visit ) fee
1 annual charges
1 board registration fee
1 board paper fee
1 Documents (marksheets, TCs, and certificates) fee
Other expenses
Transport fee
Fine charges
Uniform fee
Stationary items
Parties ( Eid parties, Competition, farewell etc )
Rare cases
Late fines
Document missing charges
Damages to any school resources
Which have these level of facilities
lack of clear environment (6/10)
play area (3/10)
quality education (5/10)
water, food, cleaning etc (4/10)
health check ups (3/10)
There average rates of getting grads in Matric Board Exams
A+ 5%
A 20%
B 50%
C 20%
D 5%
However, No check & balance by the government of their
Quality of education and teachers
Environment
vacation Fees
charges
Buy course material from school etc
Any Kind of Taxes
Don’t have any
Electric emergency situation like generator or UPS system
Purity of water
Equipment to handle any hot summer season.
Greduated Teachers
Upgradation System for Teacher
Fumigated clear evironments
Yep they advertise state of the art libraries and computer labs and whatnot on their pamphlets while in reality they have mediocre collection of books/novels and no proper sitting like a library should be and Windows XP running computers while the world is moving ahead. Their fees? Same as you have mentioned.
Education, health and justice must be government responsibility, else national disaster.
Education, health, justice and Housing but unfortunately in Pakistan these are the major profitable sectors………………….
Parents are not ATMs….. they are considered to be platinum credit cards…..