Karachi, March 06: The Sindh Education Department's move to slash college fees substantially from September will be widely welcomed.

Given the fact that the cuts are considerable - 42 per cent for science students and 41 per cent for the humanities group - the new fee structure should provide tangible relief to those studying in government institutions.

Over the years the fees in colleges had been revised upwards although the quality of education provided was on the decline.

There had been protests from those affected but to no avail. Only youth from families with modest incomes now enrol in government educational institutions since private colleges providing better quality education at a higher cost have mushroomed in all urban centres of the province.

Hence the government's move to reduce fees will certainly provide relief to those who need it.

However, the fee structure is not the only problem faced by students enrolled in government colleges. The poor academic standard of these institutions is something that should worry the education department.

This also has financial implications for the students who are forced to spend hefty amounts on the tuition centres where they go because there is very little teaching being done in the colleges they are enrolled in.

The high rate of absenteeism among teachers strengthens this impression. What is more disquieting is that the teachers who should be giving their best to their students in college are concentrating on those enrolled in tuition centres for additional charges.

Hopefully now that the education department has responded positively to the public's needs, it will also look into the issue of academic standards at government colleges.

There is a need for drastic reform. It is also important that the lowering of fees does not become a pretext to cut back on the already inadequate facilities provided to the colleges. Dawn