IN Pakistan, private schools are a huge business, but the government has had very little involvement in regulating this sector.

Very few are on purpose-built campuses; most are simply houses in residential areas with no sports or parking facilities. Most hire inexperienced teachers and pay them poorly, but parents are charged extortionate fees. And, ever since terrorists started targeting them, schools are increasingly starting to look and feel more like prisons. If a security guard’s gun accidentally goes off and hits someone, who will take responsibility? Not to mention the fact that, between highly-securitised schools and after-school tuitions (which they need because the schools don’t teach them properly), children barely have any semblance of a happy, healthy childhood.

Recently, one such school campus near Sherpao Bridge in Lahore moved to Gulberg. Parents were only provided with 10 days notice. The only reason I sent my son there was because it was nearby. The new campus has rows of ugly classrooms, no sports ground, but still manages to have a Kitchen Cuisine outlet that supplies expensive snacks. The teachers and administration change almost daily.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I withdrew my son.

I am sure many other parents have faced similar problems and humiliations. And, yet, I am surprised schools like this one are still allowed to operate.

Sahar Rehman

Lahore

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2016