Education Environment In Public And Private Sector

As Abraham Lincoln said

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in
the next.

The educational landscape of Pakistan has gone through numerous transformations in the
past two decades. The changes in the education sector that have been taking place in
Pakistan have created an environment with numerous opportunities as well as challenges in
terms of policy development. The private schools facilities were found to be better off
than the government schools on most variables.

Education, especially primary education is mostly considered a public service which should be
provided to the citizens without discrimination, irrespective of affordability and mainly as the
government’s responsibility. This ideology was behind the nationalization of all education
institutions in 1972, which severely interrupted the role of the robust private sector particularly
at the post elementary level.

The negative experiences of government schools have instigated parents to shift children from
government to private schools. The unfortunate experiences the parents have regarding poor
facilities, locations and learning outcomes which reduces parents’ enthusiasm for government
schools.

If you want (In countries with well-functioning public sector, such as in the USA, the difference
was less than in countries with a poorer public sector such as India and Pakistan. However still,
according to the research, no evidence is available to show that private schools’ productivity
was less than that of the government schools.)

Quality of teaching and learning is a main factor in the rapid growth of private educational
institutions in Pakistan. The popular perception is that quality is much better in private schools
than the government schools. Generally, quality is hardly questioned as far as high-cost private
school chains which cater to the elite are concerned. The issue of quality is raised more
frequently for low-cost private schools which are prevalent in both rural and urban areas.

Parents can infer quality variation between schools through the range of fees which varies in
predictable ways to measured school inputs. They present evidence about academic
qualifications of private school teachers that are comparable with those of government school
teachers and low student-teacher ratios. However, they point out that most teachers in private
schools have little professional training which is a cause for concern.
The threshold for performance of private schools remains very low with the performance of
already failing public schools as the reference point for comparison. The comparative studies
also see private schools as providing a dynamic education marketplace which secures parents
right to choose from among the best that they can afford.
Hence quality remains a question. Educational environment needs are not fulfilled by any of the
sector and this is the major problem.

In the end I want to conclude that

Many countries and jurisdictions, government limit the tuition and fees that private schools can
charge, require that they consult the governments about any increases, or regulate the
distribution of tuition fees. These restrictions do not encourage private providers to get
involved in increasing the supply of education, therefore they have to have increase the quality
of education.

As John Dewey said “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” So let’s make
this life a matter of worth not wealth.