BY Erum Jamal Tamimi
I came across a video a while ago which was about a father who visited a private school for his child’s admission. The lady in the admin office provided him with the details about the fee and the additional things required for the school.
The father asked her whether the school will provide his child with quality education despite the expensive fees, to which the lady smiled and told him that he will need to give his child tuition classes for a better result rather than relying on the school only. It was a joke but it is a harsh reality that every parent has to face if they want to provide proper education to their children. Parents are spending excessive amounts of their money for the sake of their child’s education but, should they rest assured that the schools are fulfilling their requirements?
Schools were made for the purpose of teaching children about different subjects along with teaching them moral values to make them better people. However, if we observe students nowadays, they only follow Western fashion trends with pride rather than having a good character. A mother I am familiar with went to her daughter’s ‘private’ school and shared her concern about her daughter’s overdressing and applying excessive makeup as if she was going to a fashion show. The school management advised the mother to give her daughter more space and autonomy, as they believed that too much interference would hinder her daughter’s personal growth. Despite switching schools, she soon realized that every private institution had its own flaws. Ethical education was often neglected.
A current trend at schools which is harming students’ health is taking in flavoured air, also known as vaping. Many students can be found buying expensive vapes just to follow the trend. If any student does not participate in smoking vape, their friends or classmates would make fun of them for being too innocent or outdated which is why some students start vaping just to prove them wrong.
However, the private school industry has shown that running a school is a lucrative venture in the country. They operate by their own standards with no oversight. They hike up the fees without any justification, and any parent who questions their decision is met with disdain.
Parents choose education from private schools because of the low quality of education provided by public schools. Middle-class parents are forced to send their children to private schools whether they can afford to pay the fees or not but somehow they make this sacrifice for the better future of their children.
In addition to charging exorbitant fees, the school course is also expensive as they require students to only use notebooks printed by the schools. These notebooks are usually with hard covers and high-quality papers to make them more pricey.
A major problem with many private schools is that they do not provide adequate facilities for their students. Instead of having spacious campuses with playgrounds and sports equipment, they are crammed into residential bungalows that have no room for outdoor activities. This deprives the children of physical activity, which is essential for their physical and mental health. Physical activity not only improves fitness and prevents obesity, but also enhances cognitive skills, mood, and self-esteem. Therefore, elite schools should invest more in creating playgrounds and encouraging their students to participate in sports and games.
Even paying huge sums to send the children to private schools is not enough because there is now a ‘tuition culture’ which forces children to join another institute of education after school, which places an additional financial burden on parents. The same school teachers are teaching in these academies. these teachers should have the responsibility to work hard on the children in the school so that they do not feel the need to take tuition. Even after charging so many fees, why don’t they provide complete education to the students? It is also the parent’s fault that why they are enduring these abuses. If you have more money then use that money to educate a poor child but don’t break the social norms and let the school fulfil their responsibilities. Currently, there is no alternative to sending the children to private schools, for which parents have to work day and night to meet the expenses.
If the government has failed to provide good education to the children through government schools, then it is the responsibility of the government to improve the system of private schools and keep a check and balance on them to improve and standardize the education system.
The government is requested to work to improve public schools so that parents do not have to look for options to provide quality education to their children or to visit private schools to see if they meet the standards of good schools. The purpose of education is to educate a young mind and prepare it for a bright future. It is hoped that private schools will make education a partnership with parents to lay the foundation for a bright future for children to create a stable society instead of a business.
