The quality of education in Pakistan is heading towards nowhere. With the few honourable exceptions, the owners of private schools are running their schools the same way as people are running their shops, prioritising benefit at any cost, while caring little about quality. Trouble, in essence, lies with society’s reasoning of considering public sector schools as meant for the poor where poor quality of education is imparted, whereas it accepts the private school education as qualitative, which stimulates them to opt it, regardless of whether the chosen school would live up to the sanctity of the required standards of education. What is even more worrisome is that parents are just content with sending their children to private schools with the false satisfaction of vying with the sophisticated society. Although public school sector has a lot more potential and resources to belie the perception of society, it remains complacent with being seen as incompetent. Government-run schools have received so much criticism that now education portfolio of the government has become accustomed to being vilified. While the educational environment of the private schools is more or less the same throughout the country, the government-run schools in Sindh tell a pathetic tale, with hardly anyone owning the responsibility of educating the rural Sindh. Despite so many repeated assurances and pledges given by the present provincial government, the strides made in the education could be seen on paper only. Both the provincial and federal governments must maintain proper checks on the education department. Riaz Mahar Sukkur
