Parents join hands against excesses of private schools

• Haleem Adil Sheikh says PML-Q will remain in contact with parents union to fight unjust increase in school fees

 Parents of schoolchildren in Karachi have joined hands to fight the huge increase in fees by private schools, saying that the government is not interested in taking care of their genuine rights and in reining in private schools indulged in loot.

Speaking over the issue, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid Sindh chapter President Haleem Adil Sheikh said there should be a union of parents of schoolchildren to defend their due rights and interests.

He said his party was announcing a union of parents to fight the excesses being committed by private schools. He also said the Sindh government did not even know the exact number of private schools in the province.

Sheikh said the PML-Q would remain in contact with this parents union and fight for their rights. He said the private schools had become like an unruly horse, whereas the government authority set up to keep a check on them was being run without a chairman.

The PML-Q leader was of the view that there was a mafia that had been befooling people by giving fake reports that “all is well”. He said the education sector instead of working for a bright future of children had become a profit making machinery.

Sheikh said the raise in fees every three months and hefty admission fees had become an unbearable burden for poor parents. He said heavy amounts were being demanded under the garb of lab, sports and PT charges.

The PML-Q leader said that vans of private schools were ticking bombs due to their dangerous gas cylinders. He said the association of school vans following the footsteps of private school mafia had also increased pick-and-drop charges. He said the increase in fees of private schools by Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per month was a huge burden on inflation-stricken masses.

Sheikh saw a grave conspiracy behind the sudden increase in fees by all private schools and tuition centres across the country, and said the government had not made any efforts to raise the standard of public schools as they were being run under pathetic conditions.

Sheikh said that despite spending funds of billions of rupees half of the government schools were closed, and there was no one to take notice of this injustice. He said a major portion of the education budget was going to the pockets of corrupt officials for the past 25 years.

The PML-Q leader said the owners of private schools were not even ready to listen to the prime minister. He said poor parents had already been facing a lot of problems due to the price hike and joblessness and they should be more burdened.

Sheikh said the failure of the education system in the country was in fact the failure of the rulers. He said the rulers had not only failed in the education sector, but in all other sectors.