I WAS flabbergasted when I recently received a notification from the ‘renowned’ private school that my children attend. Mind you, the month of March has ended and the session at maximum goes on till May; so that makes it two months.

I have been instructed to buy math and science books of the local board. The official stance of the school on not following the single national curriculum (SNC) has been that the ‘publishers’ had not done enough to get a green signal from the government in time.

The entire year my children spent time in their respective grades without books. Why make us buy books at the end of the term, I ask. The unique selling proposition of the school thriving on a unique curriculum is up in the air.

Schooling is the one thing the middle class still has, and, mind you, we have a fast diminishing middle class, but it still exists. I just have one question for the amazing ruling elite: why disrupt everything for a half-cooked proposition which is already out of the window?

Parents are being forced to spend money and at the same time settle for a lot less in the form of a compromised curriculum. Had the right steps been taken, everyone in the country would have been lining up outside government schools, which still have a lot less to offer, thanks to multitude of controversies surrounding examinations results, and teaching staff’s recruitment practices. Who is accountable for the loss suffered during the year? It is not some external conspiracy, for sure.

Saman Hamid
Peshawar

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2022