India is a country where education and health are considered basic rights. But when these rights take the form of a business, then these rights become a burden in the life of the common man. In today’s era, private schools and private hospitals have created such a system in the name of facilities that directly attacks the pocket of the common man. This attack is not only economic but also mental and social.
Education or business?
Related posts
Talking about private schools, these educational institutions now seem less like schools and more like five-star hotels. Lakhs of rupees are collected for admission in schools in the name of different items like donation, admission fees, annual charges, dress, books, shoes, bus fees, etc. Books have to be bought from the school’s ‘authorized vendor,’ whose price is double the market rate because the school’s commission is included in it. School uniforms also have to be bought from them, which are not available in the general market.
All this is not because parents demand these facilities but because schools have made it ‘compulsory.’ The thing called studies now happens less in the classroom and more in coaching institutes—and the interesting thing is that the owners of those coaching institutes are also often associated with the same school operators. The child goes to school all day, then coaching, then homework, and then tuition—no time for oneself, no thinking, no childhood.
The aim of all these is the same—’get’ 99%.’ And when these marks are not achieved, the children suffer from an inferiority complex. Parents start comparing them with other children, and this whole process turns into mental harassment.
Health name, business work
Now if this is the situation in education, the health sector is even more horrific. The structure of private hospitals is now more focused on ‘earnings’ than treatment. As soon as you enter the hospital, a ‘slip’ is issued, then various tests, expensive medicines, ICU, and demand for ‘advance payment’—and’ that too without telling you what the condition of the patient is.
Doctors treat even a common cold, cough, or fever as if life is in danger. By scaring people, they are advised to take long-term medicines and get admitted. Even if the patient recovers, the family gets sick after seeing the bill. The medicine, which is available outside for Rs. 10, costs Rs. 200 to 300 in the hospital bill.
Even after death, the body is kept for a day or two, and money is collected till the last breath in the name of ‘mortuary charges,’ ‘freezer charges,’ etc. This is a cruel joke on the family, which has already lost its loved ones.
Government’s silence—why?
The saddest aspect of this loot is that no one has to do it secretly—everything happens openly. Newspapers, social media, and news channels—this issue is raised everywhere. Every year there is a hue and cry over the fee hike of private schools and hospital bills, but every time this hue and cry is slowly suppressed.
Why? Because most private schools, colleges, and hospitals—there is some politician behind all of these. Whether he is from the ruling party or the opposition, most of the people sitting in the system are somehow involved in this game. Rules and laws are made, but they are not implemented.
RTE (Right to Education Act), CGHS (Health Care Scheme), and National Medical Council—these are all mere names used for publicity and not for providing relief to the common man.
The tragedy of the middle class
The government sometimes makes plans for the poor; the rich have no worries, but the middle class suffers the most. They are neither willing to be sent to a government school nor to a government hospital. Out of helplessness, they choose the private option and then get caught in the same trap—a trap in which there is no control, no accountability.
The middle class neither takes to the streets nor protests. Every month it cuts its pocket to pay EMI, pays school fees, pays hospital bills, and thinks only this: “There is no other way.”
Solution possibilities
If this problem is to be really tackled, some concrete steps will have to be taken. Transparency of private institutions—Schools and hospitals should publicly display information about their fees and services on websites and notice boards. There should be an independent regulatory body that monitors fees and quality of service. A system where common citizens can register their complaints and they are resolved in a timely manner. It should be ensured that the interests of any political person or their family are not linked to these institutions. Unless the general public unites and raises its voice, this chain of loot will continue.
Education and health are no longer a ‘service’—it’ is now a ‘service’ whose price is determined by your pocket. This situation is shameful for any sensitive and democratic society. Unless we wake up, raise our voice, and demand accountability from the system, this private system will continue to rob us like this.
We have to understand that by joining the race of showing off, we are putting our children’s childhood, our family’s peace, and our future stability at stake. This is the time to ask questions, to show the mirror to the system—otherwise not only your pocket will be lost, but self-respect will also be lost.
Author is a Research Scholar in Political Science, University of Delhi
Discussion about this post