Expensive Education In Pakistan
(Hafiz Muhammad Noman, Karachi)
I happened to visit a bookshop
along with my elder brother in order to buy course books for my nephew and
niece. When we entered the shop, there was a huge crowd waiting for their turn
to buy course books for their children as the season for new admissions or the
new sessions for 2012-13 have started in schools.
After a passage of time, our turn took place and we bought the required books
but I was shocked to see the bill for the books which were expensive enough to
confuse or worry a simple man and surely it is hard to bear academic expenses
for middle class families these days.
A little book which only consists of 10 to 15 pages is more expensive that a
person can’t believe. This is just because of bad governance and bad policies of
the government of Pakistan People’s Party. The government has imposed taxes on
paper owing to which the publishers publish books expensively and it feels that
the government does not want to subsidize a common man in Pakistan.
The matter of concern is that the rulers or the leaders of Pakistan have never
thought coming down to the level of the Pakistani nation and their own children
are getting education abroad that’s why they are unaware of the basic issues of
the nation. Would that our leaders faced the same issues which a common man
faces, they would surely have known of the rates of pulse and flour!
I was disappointed to compare Punjab government with Sindh government after the
situation and it can easily be gauged or judged through development projects and
subsidy in education sector that the government of Punjab thinks of or takes
care of its people and development of the province of Punjab whereas the ruling
party PPP neither considers development projects nor subsidizes in education
sector in Sindh.
The Punjab government provides free course books to the students learning in
schools in Punjab whereas every female student is awarded a thousand rupee note
as scholarship monthly and surely the education in Punjab is not only very cheap
but also good in quality.
The PPP government in this regard should feel ashamed and learn something from
Punjab government and avoid curses of common men who daily anathemise or damn
the Sindh government. All taxes on paper must be removed and subsidy in
education sector must be provided in order to improve over all condition of the
country because education is a weapon that can change the fate of the country.