May 18, 2003

Are private educational institutions and coaching centres the cause or the result of the poor standards of the government-run institutions?

IT is an acknowledged fact that the standard of education in Sindh leaves a lot to be desired. The provincial authorities rightly face criticism for being inefficient and negligent in their duties, which has resulted in the present deplorable state of the education department. This state of affairs has led to the mushrooming of private educational institutions and coaching centres in both the cities and small towns of the province.

The teachers and officials of the government-run schools and colleges lack dedication and sincerity. Teachers don’t take classes punctually and when they do, they don’t complete the syllabus or bother about whether students are following the lectures or not. In such a scenario, it is not surprising that private schools and colleges, and tuition centres are gaining popularity where students turn to achieve good grades in the present competitive scenario where there are many aspiring for admissions in prestigious educational institutions.

Parents complain that their domestic budget has shot up due to the extra burden of tuition fees that they have to pay to coaching centres or private tutors. There is no fixed fee for tuition or coaching as it is not determined by the education department.

According to the provincial education department’s top brass, they are considering imposition of a ban on government teachers who have opened up their own coaching centres to make extra money. These teachers don’t work hard at teaching the students in their respective classes at government institutions and, in fact, some of them force the students to take private tuitions from them at home or at their tuition centres. The teachers may also, somehow, get hold of the board exams’ question papers in advance and teach accordingly, leaving out the rest of the syllabus. The scope of studies thus remains limited to a small part of the entire syllabus, but in this way they are able to achieve 95% marks in the exams.

An extensive survey reveals that private teaching and coaching institutes located in posh areas charge higher fees than those in the north of Karachi. Leading setups charge as much as Rs2,000 per subject or course per month, at an average. A London-based centre charges Rs8,200 for a six-month English language programme. They claim that the certificates they give are issued from the United Kingdom.

It is interesting to note that students and company executives are offered coaching, preparation and training in MCSE, MCSA, MS Office, upgrades for MBA, BBA, GRE, GMAT, SAT, TOEFL, IELTS, BS(fast), computer-based GMAT & GRE, PDWE (Professional Diploma in Web Engineering), quick pro series, Bachelors in Multimedia, ADIM (Advanced Diploma in Multimedia), upgrades for USMLE, PMDC, PLAB, MRCP, MOH, FCPS, MBBS, CSS, LLB, Masters degree in various subjects, journalism, research work, thesis, presentations, feasibilities, O & A Levels with facilities for practicals and so on.

A centre offering a three-year course of Bachelors in Multimedia charges Rs260,000 for the degree classes and they claim to have 32 registered students, and that their institute is registered in accordance with the Government of Sindh Charter. Four IBA graduates have setup a coaching centre in North Nazimabad, where some 20 to 30 students are being coached for the entrance tests of MBA and BBA in IBA. They are charging Rs14,000 per student for the period till they appear for the entrance tests. When asked why they have opted for this mode of earning their living, their reply was a straightforward one that the large-scale “production” of MBAs and BBAs has lowered the salaries in regular employment. “Jobs have become scarce and more competitive. An MBA can hardly earn a decent living now,” said one of the four instructors.

Some of these setups are now going as far as offering visa facilities for admissions in colleges and universities of different countries. One such centre offers courses in IELTS, TOEFL, GMAT and English language. It charges Rs3,000 per course for a period of two months, involving 20 sessions. And after completion of the courses, they charge Rs50,000 for visa consultancy. When applying for admission for the courses, the students are unaware that the cost of normal admission fees, semester fees, unforeseen expenses and air tickets for the intended country runs into millions of rupees. By the time they come to know of this, it is too late to claim the locally-invested money in the form of consultation fees and application charges.

A foreign-qualified person has opened up a coaching and preparatory centre for students appearing in CSS examination and viva. The charges are Rs3,000 per course. He disclosed that there is a lot of potential in preparing students for CSS as no candidate from Sindh was able to clear the previous exam. He attributed the reason for this to the low standard of education in government schools, colleges and vocational institutes. “Government servants are not insecure about their jobs because there is no accountability. They are not bothered by the decline in the educational standards,” he commented.

A staff of a collegiate in North Nazimabad revealed that they teach around 4,000 students annually. Rupees 250 per subject per month is charged along with an admission fee of Rs50, with some students taking tuitions in three subjects. According to conservative estimates, the average earning from one student is Rs400 per month, which at the end of the year turns out to be about a whopping Rs19 million! The business of tuition centres is better than any other as the investment is small. The classes are conducted in tiny rooms and many centres lack regular laboratory facilities.

Sahar Habib of the said collegiate is a student of second year at a government college and is very critical of her college teachers. “They (teachers) just deliver a lecture and leave. There is no individual attention to students. The teachers have no time to spare for the students. We are forced to join coaching centres as we need to get high grades, particularly for admissions in good institutions,” said Sahar in a sombre tone.

A close study of the curriculum of the coaching centres shows that instructors scan question papers of the past few years and restrict their teaching to only the topics that appear in the exams. However, the said collegiate claimed that they do not follow old question papers but cover the entire course as prescribed in various syllabi.

Coming to the Sindh Private Educational Institutions (Regulation and Control) Ordinance 2001, it has been revealed that private coaching and training centres do not consider themselves to be governed under this legislation. The ordinance was promulgated by former Sindh Governor Mohammadmian Soomro when the present provincial assembly had not been elected, but it is still in force. According to the contents, the word ‘institution’ means a privately-managed university, college, school, technical, professional, vocational or commercial institution imparting any type of education, by any system of education or medium of instruction. These institutions had been asked to register with the provincial education department by April 10, 2003. The penalty for running any institution in contravention of the provisions shall be punished with imprisonment, which may extend to one year or with a fine which may extend to Rs500 for each day that exceeds the deadline.

The Chairman of All Private Schools Management Association, Sindh, Mr Khalid Shah disclosed that they have accepted the ordinance in earnest, understanding that their schools should be legally operated. According to figures provided by the Association some time back, 347 institutions have been registered with the education department under this law while applications for an additional 100 are under process. But Mr Khalid felt that there are thousands of coaching and tuition centres where the management is evading income and other taxes without being detected. He was, however, critical about one of the new rules for registration which states: “The pay-scales of the teaching and non-teaching staff, allowances, leave facilities and other benefits shall be at least commensurate with pay and allowances admissible to such staff in a government institution and the deviation, if any, shall be subject to approval of the registering authority.” He also disclosed that once an institution is registered, the management concerned will not be able to terminate the services of any teacher or rusticate any student.

“We are holding discussions with the education authorities on these two issues as both the rules cannot be implemented in private institutions for the obvious reasons of political affiliation, misbehaviour, misconduct, etc.,” he added.

Authorities feel that it will be a Herculean task to curb the mushroom growth of private educational institutes and bring them under the tax net. The top brass now seem to show a determination that special raids will be conducted to implement the ordinance while making an earnest attempt to bring some sanity to the provincial education system. That can only be done if the deadline for registration is not extended for the third time.

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