Agitated parents often complain about private schools’ ever-rising fees showing their greed to maximise the profit through selling so-called quality education on the plea of increasingly lower standards of public education system in the country.
Calculate the investment yield in terms of the ratio of private schools’ earnings, and look at their spending on their costly advertisements appearing daily in the print media. This is more than enough to have a fair understanding of education-related business.
With this and to explore more avenues of earning, now late payment penalty innovated on the novel formula of plundering money at 2.5 percent of gross fee (after due date till the validity date) and five percent of gross fee (after the validity date) has been introduced. Moreover, this will be added as arrears when the next fee is paid.
Additionally, this was introduced right from pre-nursery to higher level recently by one ‘reputed’ private school. In other countries, irrespective of the fact whether they are poor or rich, education to the minimum extent – up to Class V – is free but here if parents fail, for any reason, to pay fee on the due date, they are required to deposit the same with late payment penalty.
Other failings aside, the root presumption is that people only care about anything if they are charged a lot of money for it. Well, it is only natural. We all care more if we pay a large fee for anything.
We would love our children more if we pay a conception tax, a birth tax, and an annual earnings-related tax, birthday party, picnic-cum-educational tour trip expenses, welcome and farewell party charges – all promoted by these schools.
In this scenario, how late payment penalty cannot be paid to further encourage private schools’ successful business tactics!
ALIZA REHAN
Karachi
