EVERY year the government spends billions of rupees on the education sector, but it is unfortunate that our government-run educational institutions lack standards that are needed. The parents are not willing to admit their children to these government schools due to poor education standards.

It is because of this apathy and failure by the government that private-sector schools have been able to exploit the situation. They surely provide relatively better education than the government schools, but they are basically a money-minting mafia, demanding astronomical amounts in tuition fee and other heads. This is now an unbearable financial burden on parents.

Parents cannot even hope to provide quality education if they opt for public schools, and are not able to pay school fee and other illegal charges if they opt for private schools. Apart from such exorbitant school fee, parents have to pay amazing amounts to school van operators and private tutors, which are in addition to the fortune they have to spend on purchasing expensive school books of particular publishers that are designated by the schools.

It is a universal truth that no nation can progress without quality education. One finds government educational institutions being meticulously run by governments across the world. It is time we revived our public schools which once used to produce luminaries who served in various walks of life. Another problem is of shortage of public-sector universities. It is a huge impediment in the way of higher education.

Owing to a serious lack of professional universities, we see students vying for a few seats in medical or engineering universities. There are thousands of those who participate in the admission tests, but only a handful lucky manage to secure a seat for themselves.

Many among those who fail to get admission to these government universities discontinue their studies, while the few who can afford it, opt for private universities to complete their education. Others who face financial constraints cannot pay heavy fee of private universities and simply drop out.

Unfortunately, only a few universities are producing leaders/knowledgeable personalities. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) should take bold steps to formulate and regulate an affordable fee structure for all private universities and also ensure that they provide quality education.

Besides, creating more public-sector universities should be the focus to let meritorious students continue their studies.

Yaqub Lodhi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2023