KARACHI: Parents seek monitoring of private schools
By Mukhtar Alam
KARACHI, May 4: While parents have a lot of grievances against the private schools and demand an independent regulatory body on these, the schools’ managements also want amendments to the private school (regulation and control) ordinance, 2001.
The parents of the school-going children maintain that the managements of the private schools are more resourceful and influential than the education department officers, parents, and teachers, as cases of rules violation by the schools, which are sometimes initiated by the education officials, are stifled halfway as the schools’ management have ways to do so.
The exorbitant tuition fees and other dues charged by the schools is not a new phenomena and both the school managements and the education departments of the city and provincial governments have failed to satisfy the parents in this regard.
Now most of the schools were resorting to a unilateral, 15 to 30 per cent increase in tuition fee, every year, while on the other hand they “extorted” uncalled for amount under the development, caution and other heads, said a parent, adding that most of the parents succumb to these ‘unjust’ demands as the government had failed to protect the rights of students.
Under the Sindh Private Educational Institutions (Regulation and Control) Ordinance, 2001, schools are also required to exempt 10 per cent students on a need-cum-merit basis, while the charges or funds collected by an institution, other than the tuition fee, are required to be approved by the registering authority at the time of registration.
However, schools were free to act as they liked and any body who dared to challenge their acts, had to face victimization of his or her ward at the school, alleged some parents.
Reportedly, some of the schools have taken undertaking from parents that as they were supposed to afford the school fees and they have no objection to it, so they would not demand any concession from the school management at any stage.
Such measures by the school management were a mockery of government rules, said another parent.
In addition to poor academic facilities, congested and unhygienic classrooms, inadequate premises, parents also feel disgusted over the adoption of books written and published by foreign writers and publishers, particularly on the subjects of Social Studies and Islamic Studies.
Books are not only beyond the purchasing capacity of parents, but the contents, in some cases, were not ‘suitable’ for the students, added parents, saying that there was a nexus between the publishers and school management with regard to introduction of books other than the textbooks approved by the government.
A parent said that a 50-65 page story book for Class VI student cost Rs 200-250. A mother complained that such costly books are prescribed by the schools but they never bothered to ensure whether the students were taught those book adequately or not.
Debating on the working days, it was claimed that schools generally worked from 155 to 180 days in a year, which included the days for preparation and conduct of various school examinations.
In addition to all this, there are extortions by transporters, who have got blessings of school management.
The parents opined that unless an independent regulatory body was set up to look into the matter of fee-structure, prescription of books, facilities provided to students at schools, character building of students and over all behaviour of school management and teachers, things would remain unchanged.
To overcome these problems, a parent-teachers body should be installed at every private school, which should prepare recommendations, pertaining to fee structure, and forward those to the proposed regulatory body, which should also invite public views on different issues pertaining to schools.
Contradicting the parents, owners of some private schools claimed that branding all the private schools as group of exploiters was unjust. Majority of the schools were operating in the interest of public and cared for the problems of parents and their students, while there were only a few schools which were busy in fleecing the students on one pretext or other, said a school owner.
Senior vice chairman of the Private School Management Association, Sharfuzzaman, said that on the demand of the provincial education minister the association had already submitted a report on private schools for legislation in the assembly.
According to the recommendations of the association, no school should be allowed to function without obtaining permission from the EDO (Education), while it should also be ensured that no other school existed within one furlong of any new school.
The provision of the 2001 ordinance that registering authority had nothing to do with the fee structure of the private schools, was also inappropriate and it should be changed, the association said, adding that private schools should be allowed to increase their fees by 10-15 per cent only after every three years.
The association also proposed a joint inspection team, comprising in-service education officials and representatives of private schools’ managements. This would help eliminate the alleged irregularities on both sides, ie private schools and education department.
It was further suggested that schools should be allowed to fix the salaries of their staff, proportionate to the fees charged, the condition of maintaining reserve fund by the school management should also be abolished.
The association also suggested some amendments to the existing rules for affiliation of private schools with the educational boards.
On the other hand a veteran academician said that it was unfortunate that education officials themselves never moved to check the “fishy” business and always pretended to be waiting for any complaint on behalf of the students or their parents, teachers or others concerned persons.
Education officials are of the view that education department of the city government could be made effective against the fleecing private schools only when the officers were delegated certain judicial powers.
