The costly education

Some right thinking officials speak for all of us when they ask the nation's private colleges and universities to make education affordable for all. Education as trade should be discouraged.

“Indeed, it is a point that we at this newspaper have raised from time to time out of our feeling that education ought not to become an elitist affair. And yet the reality has been one of the private universities helping to develop a system where the poor and middle classes find the doors locked to further education,” says Imdad Hussain.

Ejaz Haider says: “If the principle behind the opening of private universities was one of providing the young with wide opportunities for higher education, given the pressure on the public universities as also the financial straitjacket they are often in, one can say with some disappointment that the principle has not been lived up to.”

“In a country where a majority of the population struggles to make both ends meet and within this struggle tries to educate its children, it is inconceivable that higher education at the private universities will continue to be a show for the well-to-do and the affluent,” says Shahbaz Ali.

“But when one observes the expenses involved in teaching the young at these colleges and universities, one cannot but comprehend the social barriers that a very large number of the young are up against because of their families' inability to cough up the kind of money needed for their education in the private colleges and universities. The result is then not only a sense of deprivation for these non-affluent young but also the creation of conditions where those who can afford such education are often not the best intake at these colleges and universities.

“Allegations have persisted that a very large number of students given admission into the private colleges and universities would not be able to qualify for classes at the public universities. It is such feelings that the private universities will need to push away through demonstrating their ability to put students through a rigorous admission process rather than looking to the issue of financial gain,” says Shafaat Hussain.

“More importantly, the thought must be held uppermost in mind that a provision of higher education is more an application of intellectual abilities than an infusion of money in the classroom,” adds Shafaat.

“I expect, in the days ahead, an overhaul of the teaching process at the private colleges and universities to the extent that it will make things easier for the under-privileged and academically deserving young to walk the corridors of these campuses. In poverty-driven societies, anything that gives off the odour of elitism can only lead to misery,” says Zeeshan Naqvi.