WHAT initially came across as useful intervention in the schooling of children appears to have attained the hues of a cartel that is what can be read into the predicament described by protesters outside Islamabad`s National Press Club on Tuesday. The group spoke up against the inordinate increases in fees of private educational institutions, calling upon the authorities to streamline fee structures. They further complained against many private schools` requirement that uniforms and books be bought exclusively from them and the practice of levying other charges under heads such as extracurricular activities and learning aids.

Their grievances must have resonated with the parents of hundreds of thousands of private-school students across the country. There is no doubt about the gravity of the issue, and the fact that it is not faced only by those whose progeny go to elite schools. The fact is that over the past couple of decades in particular, the private-school sector has grown to such an extent that it has affected virtually every section of society regardless of income levels that has children in school. Whether the institution charges Rs1,000 a month or less, or even tens of thousands of rupees, unannounced hikes in fees often by unacceptably large margins tend to be the norm.

The problem is not that no effort has been made towards regulation. Tuesday`s protesters invoked the Islamabad Capital Territory Private Educational Institutions (Registration and Regulation) Act 2013 and called for interventions to rationalise fee structures and clamp down on unfair practices. In Sindh and Punjab, too, efforts have been made in this regard. However, the mere passing of legislation as the situation in Islamabad shows is not enough. Urgently needed is an effective implementing and regulatory mechanism that acts as a check on the operations of private schools and ensures compliance with standards. The schools` view is that people are free to send their offspring elsewhere. In practice, though, this is hardly viable given that private schools` associations function to promote mutual interest, and the public-sector education system is in a shambles, both in terms of quality and the pressure on it. This is a country where the young heavily outnumber the mature, and where enrolment and literacy rates are already abysmal. Shouldn`t the federal and provincial governments` focus be on doing all that is possible to remove barriers to education, while repairing the publicsector education system in earnest?