I am a resident of Pindi Bhattian Tehsil, Hafizabad District. Education is the basic right of every human being. If we go through the history of developed nations, we find that they used education as their basic tool for achieving prosperity. unfortunately, there are many flaws in our system. Education and health facilities are not good but the situation seems to be improving in the near future. This is what I have been going through for the last 15 years. Transportation from the city to the locally adjoining villages and vice versa is almost another thing to regret. But the direst situation that needs immediate attention is the lack of entrance test classes facilities.
Since the entrance exams act as a gateway to students’ dream stream, coaching centers step in, offering help to decipher, drill in and practice these papers. Ideally, the preparation for their college exit exams should make students competent enough to crack the specialized entrance exams with minimal additional preparation. However, this is not the case, primarily due to a lack of alignment between what is tested and how it is tested in both exams.
Within a radius of 30 km, there are more than 20 different colleges offering FSC classes but none of them are required to offer MDCAT or ECAT classes which is a basic criterion for university admissions. I personally believe that many students who are hungry for higher education cannot manage to continue their education and their dreams are shattered due to lack of entrance test classes.
There is no availability of ample external assistance in the form of coaching and tutorials in major subjects starting from intermediate standards. As it turns out, this situation is worrisome and many students have to turn to Lahore or other major cities to meet this need. The dependence on coaching has created the perception that these are indispensable for securing good ranks in admission tests. The deep penetration of the philosophy of ‘no success without coaching’ has burdened the students mentally and physically. The additional spending by the parents for seeking coaching for their wards has loaded them financially, but the circumstances around do not permit them to leave this option untried.
The lack of these facilities needs to be fixed at the earliest to allow a smooth transition from college to university education. This is a very serious issue that needs to be addressed at the local and state levels. So the concerned authorities are requested to eliminate the problems hampering the attractive slogan: ‘education for all.’
The writer is a staff member of The Asian Mirror.
