KARACHI, Jan 16: The state of educational institutions in the country needs change as their performance has nose-dived since the 70’s.

The Sindh government is trying to solve the problem through denationalisation. Educationists, however, insist that the standard of educational institutions can be bettered only by reorganising them, and not necessarily through privatisation.

According to the Pakistan Business Update, the recent decision by the Sindh cabinet to denationalise some public sector institutions covers St.Joseph and St.Patrics colleges, the PECHS Girls Collage and a few others.

These institutions had previously belonged to churches and communities. Officials say that after the cabinet’s decision these institutions will be given back to their original owners.

According to provincial minister for education, Professor Anita Ghulam Ali, the main reason for this is that the buildings are in a very poor state and the government now has a policy of not spending anything on brick and water.

“We want to put our money into improving facilities for students and making closed institutions in the interior functional,” she says.

Educationists are of the view that turning these institutions into commercial ventures is not justifiable and will amount to a travesty of the people’s right to education.

They point out that the Punjab government has tried to denationalise educational institutions in the past, but it had to step back as those institutions are providing accessible and quality education.

They maintain that Sindh’s case is similar to that of the Punjab; most of the institution selected for denationalisation are the best in the city. These collages have established their name over the years and thousands of students are benefiting from them.

According to eminent educationist Dr.Manzoor Ahmed, it is the duty of the government to which we pay taxes; and in no developed or advanced country in the world education is wholly and solely the responsibility of business entrepreneurs. Public education is basically the responsibility of the civil society or the government.

Most students studying in these collages belong to middle- class families that cannot afford to pay high fees charged by private institutions.

Zehra Abidi, a student of St. Joseph Collage, says that no one in the government is speaking for the promotion of education, rather they are making it inaccessible to the common man.

At present students are paying Rs1950 a year. They fear that privatisation will put education beyond their limited monetary means, depriving them of one of their most basic rights.

The education minister, however, brushes aside these reservations, saying that the government will take care of the fee structure.

She says that people have been complaining about the quality of education in public institutions for long; students of most of these collages take A grades with 85% to 87% percent marks in the first year, whereas in second-year results we find many B and C graders.

Nevertheless parents and students, by and large, seem satisfied with the quality of education these nationalised collages provide, and say that the government should specifically take actions against collages exhibiting poor results.

Practically, the chances of denationalisation are bleak, as to regain their institutions the owners will have to pay all expenses of building extensions and civil works done by the government since 1972.

The provincial education minister is herself uncertain weather many original owners will be able to fulfil all the conditions for retaking their institutions as these are, the minister says, a little difficult to meet.— PPI