The Plight of Private Schools in Pakistan

In the past couple of years, I have taught in two private schools of Karachi. In this short tenure, I closely observed how the modern schooling system has evolved from being education-centric to consumer-centric. The modern teacher is the labour, the modern child and her parents are consumers, and the modern school is only a business entity.

While the business entity (the school) and consumers (students and parents) are well aware of their rights and responsibilities, it is the teacher who often ends up in confusion whether to maintain her professional identity as a principled educationist or merely a worker.

Now, to avoid making this post too academic, I just present my specific observations which all of us here should ponder over.

1. Parents often do not appreciate the teacher’s hard work. All corrective measures meant to discourage negative behaviours in children are given protection. To some parent’s, the child cannot be wrong!
2. School staff is expected to portray excellent student achievement during parent teacher meetings and other points of contact. Many teachers would be found making charts/drawings etc. just before such meetings. Ironically, some teachers would place names of their children to make the parents happy.
3. Overprotection of parents only amounts to neglect. One 9^th grader once warned me that I could not be impolite to him because he paid me fees.
4. Teacher’s salaries are worse given their qualification, time, effort and experience. Cheap labour and excess supply of teachers make schools readily exploit the poor bargaining power of teachers. Vacation salaries are often delayed on the next session. That is, the teacher would be paid June’s salary in August’ and July’s in September.
5. Just 20 years ago, only the child with learning disabilities would attend after-school tuition. All parents now make sure their child has one. The child, having a safety measure without being asked, attends school rather reluctantly. A 10^th grader told me she just comes to school for fun; it is at the coaching center that they seriously study.
6. Only a few school owners/administrators and teachers have their child enrolled in the same school as they work, reflecting either hypocricy or sheer dissatisfaction from the school’s performance.
7. Modern student, being raised around gadgets, busy parents and nuclear families, are extremely restless. Most suffer from attention disorders and inflated self esteems.
8. Like any other commercial institution, school won’t spare a moment to make profit. From uniforms to backpacks and books to stationary, they have their commissions and kickbacks set.
9. Parents often also seem to be in a pointless rat-race when it comes to their child’s education. Most would never even apply to convent schools where commercialized education has not seen its valor.
10. The examination system has also fell prey to foul tactics used by test preparers, schools, coaching centers etc. The syllabus does not get updated as fast as it used to be. Checking is becoming lenient. Examination bodies are being bribed.

 

In a nutshell, the private school system of Pakistan is developing consumers, not students. The examples given above are just manifestations of corruption we as a society have got plagued with. We need to check these issues so that the new generation presents us genuine hope and not a falsified illusion of useless degree holders.

The Only Reason to Thank God

Do we genuinely pray to God?

For ages, humans have been thanking God for reasons of greed, compulsion and fear. The greedy praise god for material desires. The compulsive pray in order to stick to their custom or tribe. The fearful want to avoid the torment of hell. In most cases, our idea behind thanking god mainly reflects a personal or individualized desire to have pleasant situations. Our prayers are, in most cases, very, very subjective.

The intelligent people thank god because they see so much ignorance around them. The rich praise god seeing the poor. The peaceful thank god because there is a lot of turmoil. The winners thank god because they didn’t lose; the successful because they didn’t fail. The healthy would be pleased because the disease lies elsewhere, the famous because the common man is mainstream, the family men because so many are orphaned or destitute.

But why care for the whole world? Why on earth would you ask the same thing for others not RELATED to you? Have you got the responsibility of the entire human race? Do you think god wants everyone to be equally happy? Are you crazy?

Yes, I do think so. I do believe god wanted us to have equal happiness. Why would god want some people to have their desires fulfilled and not of others? Would not god want to solve all the problems of humanity? Would it not be great if everyone was a winner?

God is just. He gives what one deserves, you would say. I completely agree. We can’t have a world where everyone wears the same shoes or has equal number of siblings or children or enjoy similar shape, size or health. That would not only be boring, but also disastrous.

But everyone deserves happiness. And if my happiness means sadness for others, I should better not have it. I just pray to god that people start off being a little less selfish in their prayers. The intent of their prayers must not smell of a desire to remain or become privileged. They should not demand anything that raises their socio-economic status. When they do so, they merely ask something that gives birth to a plethora of social conflicts, jealousy and intrigue.

We should rather ask for a simple life. We should look for enlightenment and enrichment of our souls. We should demand patience and wisdom, humility and humbleness, responsibility and discipline, peace and tranquility. These are the spiritual qualities which the god readily disposes if asked for. These are the prayers I believe every saint asked for.