KARACHI - Terming the exorbitant fees of private schools as trade of education, Pasban President Altaf Shakoor has demanded to save parents from merciless fleecing of the private school mafia.
According to details, Pasban Democratic Party staged a demo in front of the Karachi Press Club (KPC) here Sunday to condemn very high fees of private schools and growing trend of the commercialised of education. A large number of citizens, parents, students and civil society members attended the protest.
Addressing the demo, Pasban President Altaf Shakoor said the exorbitant fees of private schools have eclipsed the brightness of education. He said the private schools have virtually become traders of education and they are busy selling the future of our children. He said the province of Sindh has taken the lead in stopping the private schools from taking very high fees. He said in Sindh the decision of the Sindh High Court against the steep fees of private schools came in September, while such decision of the Lahore High Court came in April.
However, the PTI government of Punjab showing bad governance failed to implement this decision timely, but the Sindh government’s education department set a good example by implementing the decision.
He said the Punjab government whose motto is ‘change’ did not bring any real change in education sector, but the government of Sindh, led by the PPP whose overall reputation is not good, took timely action to save the parents from excesses of private schools. He said for this initiative we congratulate Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah. He said the owners of private schools have already extorted millions of rupees as excess fees from the parents which should be refunded to the parents. He said it is feared that the owners of some big private schools may flee the country without refunding these fees so the parents demand that their names should be placed on the ECL.
Altaf Shakoor said that in Sindh the education sector still needs a lot of improvement. The condition of government schools is worrisome which should be given more focus. He said; however, the present education minister Syed Sardar Ali shah is taking steps to bring improvement in this sector which is highly welcome. He said Pasban Democratic Party despite political differences has always given due credit to the government for its good deeds. He said Pasban would extend all-out cooperation to Syed Sardar Ali Shah and his education department to improve crucial education sector in Sindh.
He said we fully believe that education is the key to end poverty and joblessness from Sindh province and we demand opening more educational institutions in the province. He said we demand opening of one university and one teaching hospital in every district of the province. He said technical and vocational education is necessary for catering the demand of market and industry. He said more agriculture colleges should be opened in the province to give a boost to our agro-based economy.
