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IF one could hear the thoughts of Pakistan’s rich and resourceful elite, one would hear the expression “Thank God! This is not my problem” over and over again. This powerful elite has insulated itself from almost all the problems that an ordinary Pakistani faces. One such problem is the basic education of one’s children.
Private schools are often way too expensive and government schools are either over-enrolled or do not impart anything resembling quality education. But this again is not the problem of society’s movers and shakers, for they make plenty of money — by hook or by crook — to be able to afford quality education for their kids. It is young, middle-class parents that form the cohort that is being fleeced by private schools while the government stays aloof as usual. The fee structure of private schools seems to be designed for parents who own a couple of oil wells in the Middle East but somehow have decided to settle in Pakistan.
Pakistan is a country where even basic amenities of life like clean drinking water or education can only be obtained by spending a lot of money. Parents of a four-year-old have to pay around Rs15,000 per month as tuition fee if their child is enrolled in the kindergarten of a reputed private school. Admission and registration fees, to be paid at the time of enrolment, are in addition to the recurring monthly fee. The latter follows a steep upward trajectory as the child progresses through school.
The private schools that have become brands are fleecing parents across the country as well as right under the nose of the federal government. The Islamabad Capital Territory Private Educational Institutions (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2013 is the law that constitutes the Islamabad Capital Territory Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (ICT-PEIRA). One of the many aims of this regulatory authority is to determine and fix the fee being charged by private institutions. The achievement of other objectives, such as capacity building of teachers and uniform standards across various schools, also remains far from satisfactory but let us ignore those for now.
Why are private schools not regulated more thoroughly?
My question is: how are these private institutions being allowed to rob parents in the name of education? After all, it does not take a chartered accountant to figure out that the rates of fees are unjustified. It seems that those who matter in government can easily afford to educate their kids in places such as Dubai or London which explains their apathy towards regulating private schools in this country.
Moreover, despite charging outrageous fees many private schools lack basic infrastructure such as proper parking spaces or playgrounds. Similarly, they hire teachers without following any standard recruitment procedures and pay them meagre salaries. If such is the state of affairs in the federal capital then one can very well assess the situation in the rest of the country.
Last year, the Inspector General of Police and Chief Commissioner Office Islamabad wrote to the regulatory body indicating the presence of private schools in residential areas and lack of parking facilities but no action seems to have been taken. One wonders how these schools opened up in rented houses and, despite not having a purpose-built campus, managed to get themselves registered with PEIRA. They make millions in profits, so why are they not forced to invest in infrastructure? What keeps PEIRA from taking action against them? Why is an audit of these institutions not done to ascertain a reasonable fee structure?
Government servants form a sizeable chunk of Islamabad’s population; a BPS-17 officer earns around Rs30,000 per month as salary. There is no quota for the children of government servants in government schools unlike that for the offspring of army personnel in army public schools. How the government expects a young officer posted in Islamabad with a couple of kids to make ends meet is anybody’s guess.
Granted, the number of seats in government schools is limited and private schools are necessary to fill the gap but a regulatory authority must do what it is supposed to do — regulate the activities of these private businesses. Sadly, we have laws but lack the will and integrity to implement them across the board.
What Ayesha Mumtaz of the Punjab Food Authority is doing is nothing extraordinary; the lady is just performing her job properly but such is the slumber of our civil servants that every once in a while if someone rises up and starts doing their duty we go gaga over it.
If we want to turn things around we will have to introspect and look beyond suo motu notices by the judiciary or the work of a few proactive individuals. We need to build institutions that are driven not by certain individuals but by certain objectives.
The writer is a former civil servant.
Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2015
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