Quality education is undoubtedly the yardstick for the progress and prosperity of a nation. The developed nations of the world have excelled in quality education and are reaping the benefits in the shape of advanced technology. This ultimate goal was achieved through transparency and uniformity in their education system which is free from dichotomy, booty mafia, cheating and rote learning

Conversely, the same rules the roost in our education system and is flourishing without any let or hindrance. Our youth have been indoctrinated with the wrong notions of getting half-baked degrees. There are no facilities for proper assessment of students in educational institutions and coordination between parents and teachers is minimal and poor. Seizing the opportunity the private institutions have sprouted in every nook and corner of our country. The mushroom growth of these institutions has given a further setback to the education system. Some of these institutions no doubt impart quality education but are inaccessible to the underprivileged due to high fee structure. A good number of such institutions are merely doing their business extorting huge amounts from parents but their performance is not up to the mark. Chitral is no exception in this regard.

The private educational institutions in Chitral; with the exception of a few, are just there to mint money throwing the quality to the wind. They lack proper physical infrastructure, well-equipped labs and qualified faculty members. The management of these institutions rely on malpractices during the exams to enable their students get through in an easy way in collusion with some corrupt examiners who take bribes in the shape of money and sumptuous feast from the respective college management and the students.

An intermediate (part II) student Nahida Bibi told this scribe that she is reluctantly migrating from a private institution to a government- run girls college because of poor quality of education in her previous college. She said that the college management has engaged a B.A student to teach the intermiate English, who cannot do justice with it and was not removed despite the fact that they made persistent complaints against him to the principal. She further stated that the physical infrastructure of the college was not sufficient to accommodate the students and classrooms were overcrowded and the college performed poorly in the annual board exams.

According to many a people the private institutions are minting money instead of giving attention to quality education. Their kids were not being imparted education on modern scientific lines in spite of the fact that they spend heavily on them. "No efforts are undertaken in these institutions to bring out the hidden potentials of the students and to widen their intellectual capacity. What they make our kids do is the traditional method of learning by cramming and reproducing the course contents just to pass the exams", a parent stated.

A good number of parents and students expressed the same concerns over the deteriorating situation of quality education in private as well as in government run institutions. It becomes explicitly clear that the quality of education has been thrown into the background and the evils of cronyism, favoritism, booty mafia have crept into the system. However the posting of a new EDO in Chitral bodes well for the people of Chitral, who has recently identified the ghost schools and taken a stern notice of teachers' absenteeism to improve the quality of education in Chitral. Many people are optimistic that the said official will leave no stone unturned to enhance the quality of education in the district and leave behind a legacy for others to follow.

It is imperative that both private as well as public sector educational institutions should be monitored time and again by the respective board and university authorities to ensure the quality of education in these institutions. The concerned authorities seldom visit these institutions in Chitral and when they do they never take notice of the irregularities. It is evident from the fact that there has been no improvement in the quality of education in Chitral over the years and the malpractices are still rampant. The need of the hour is that we lay stress on quality more than quantity.--Khalid Pervez, Booni.-- Khalid Pervez, Booni, 31 July 2011.

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