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April 7, 2002
ARTICLES: Denationalization on the cards
THE issue of the denationalization of some schools and colleges is again in the air. The government of Sindh has indicated that it is planning to hand back to their previous owners some of the denominational education institutions, which were nationalized under the 1972 reforms. Given the fact that 30 years on, the Pakistan People’s Party’s nationalization policy is now termed a disaster, denationalization should have posed no problems. But that is not how it is. Even on previous occasions when some educational institutions were denationalized hitches were encountered.
The major factor, which has not allowed the process of denationalization to be smooth, is the wide gap between the private and public sector educational institutions. While the private institutions charge higher fees from their students, many of them do not offer as favourable terms of service - in terms of salary and duty hours - as the teachers in the government cadre receive. Hence denationalization would inevitably result in the enhancement of fees while many of the teachers might be retrenched. Hence the need for arrangements to bridge over the transition period.
The government has indicated that it will foot the bill for the golden handshake, which would be offered to the staff at the time of denationalization. But the city Nazim has appealed for a three-year freeze on the scheme because he believes it will be detrimental to the people. It is still not clear what course of action is to be followed. From previous experience, one can expect the erstwhile owners to be reluctant to take back their institutions if they are not given a relatively free hand in managing and operating them.
Two appalling facts emerge from the on-going debate on the issue. One, the government has, over the years, failed to expand the school and college networks in the same proportion as the growing population. Two, denationalization of educational institutions has been done on an ad hoc basis from time to time without any long-term planning going into it. Had this not been the case, the dependence on the existing institutions would not have been as much as it is today.
Sensible planning would have ensured the establishment of government schools and colleges in the vicinity of the nationalized ones to ease the pain of denationalization when it came. It is still not too late to draw up a plan. This should be done within the framework of an effective education policy , which should, among other things, define the roles of the private and public sectors in education. Needless to say, the private sector, which now occupies quite a big share in education, should be consulted in the course of this exercise.
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