Private schools & parents’ woes
THIS refers to arbitrary increases in fees and various other rules’ violations by private school administrations. There must be a government functionary to save parents from school administrations involved in increasing fees now and then with or without any reason.
Parents are helpless in this regard. They do not even have a platform to raise their voice against those school administrations.
They can just raise their voice against such a school administration individually which does not make much difference. These school administrations have virtually rendered parents not only helpless but some of the school administrations also attempt to take an undertaking from parents willing to seek admission for their child that they would not file any application for concession in school fee if their child is given admission.
The way the school administrations are increasing their monthly fees and taking huge fees on the pretext of admission, it leaves one to think there is no one to monitor them.
Such school administrations know that parents of urban areas are so much concerned about the education of their children that they are willing to give them good education at any cost.
The government should educate parents of their rights through the press and electronic media. It should tell parents where they should lodge a complaint against school administrations which are blatantly violating rules.
Government functionaries should monitor schools how much money they are minting through monthly fees and what they are paying to their teachers. Usually, schools pay a meagre amount to teachers. It is hardly enough to survive for a week.
The monthly salary of these teachers should be enhanced. The salaries of these teachers are increased annually but it hardly makes any difference.
These school administrations should enhance the monthly salaries of their teachers in proportion to what they increase on account of monthly fees of their students.
I also want to urge parents to raise voice against exploitative school administrations which increase monthly fees of their children and ask for a hefty amount on account of admission fees.
The parents can do this only by establishing a platform like a parents’ association which should be strong enough to check exorbitant fees, lack of other facilities in schools and violation of rules by school administrations.
JAWED AHMED KHURSHEED
Karachi
The answer lies in providing quality education in government schools.
Mr. Javed, if you are so concerned about the education of this generation, point your fingers at the government which is primarily responsible to provide this education.
And kindly study the private school rules which clearly state schools are allowed to increase tuition fee 10% annually. Private schools are a business just like any other, and they have the right to increase fee just like any restaurant, hotel, shop, industry are continuously increasing due to the economic condition of Pakistan.
Also consider the increasing electricity bills, increasing price of paper, furniture, stationery.
And what they pay to their teachers or employees is their concern, not yours. You cannot question how a businessman runs his business. If the school is expensive, leave it, if you’re a teacher working in a school and not getting enough pay, leave it, JUST LIKE ANY OTHER BUSINESS. The government is responsible for providing quality education, because you are paying them for it (i hope).
And as a matter of fact, if it was not for private schools, your children, or most of anyone’s children would have been studying in Government schools with absent teachers, broken furniture, and low-class syllabus.
If not appreciate private schools, at least don’t CRITICIZE illogically.
Well said. Either ” YOU TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT “
Looks like u own a private school…
it should be our concern how much they pay the teachers on ourely humanitarian grounds…
Dr and Arshad: you must have some connections with these private schools / or running your own private schools.. and do not seem to read between the lines…
This is done very effectively in Dubai by KHDA (Knowledge & Human Development Authority). The KHDA is a regulatory authority of the Government of Dubai and is responsible for the growth, direction and quality of private education and learning in Dubai. No private school in Dubai can increase the school fee without the consent of KHDA Authorities to whom they have to justify the reasons for fee hike. In turn, KHDA wants better educational standards from the private schools to justify fee hike. It is KHDA who finalizes the percent hike in school fee and not the owner of the school and that too only if the case is justifiable. In many cases, the request by the school owner for fee hike is rejected by KHDA authorities. Every year, KHDA conducts inspections of all private schools in Dubai and releases their report about the educational standard of each school on the net. KHDA is totally independent from the Ministry of Education. For more details as to how KHDA works, please visit their web site: http://www.khda.gov.ae/en/Home.aspx.
We need something on the same pattern in Pakistan to govern and reign the private institutes. However, the authorities need to be careful because (as the case with other Govt. departments) the chances are that this dept. might also become corrupt. In that case, another govt. dept. would be added to whom the private school owners have to grease the hands of the officials and get the inspection report of their choice.