Earlier today, the following picture started doing rounds on Facebook.

One of the most influential schools in Lahore sent out a notice to one of their student’s parents because they failed to pay their child’s school fee on time.

Soon after its upload, everybody began to chime in the debate with their two cents.

There are some that thought that this was just another case of receivables, just like in any other business situation given its a private school. It sort of goes along with the lines of “you buy services you can afford, if you can’t pay, you must find an alternative.”

@IVabdul You have to take a decision according to your finances. Its a private school. @Saad__H @Aamphilosofine @iBasitt

— Turtle (@TurtleOrder) September 9, 2016

LGS is a private institution, not a non-profit organization. It is hardly a disgrace to our education "system." https://t.co/4TL5I5GuVN

— Mango (@ManhattanMango) September 9, 2016

On the other side, there are some that argue that the school should have been more humanistic and the way they responded was possibly unethical. For starters, the language that is used in the note is threatening, to say the least.

@Saad__H @Aamphilosofine they need to mind their fuking tone

— Basit. (@iBasitt) September 9, 2016

While the school is justified in sending a reminder, institutions like these need to be empathetic, given their cause. No parent would want to see their kids suffer the humiliation of being sneered at, by their fellows while they walk out of their own school with bowed heads and shattered self-esteem.

Is this a one-time thing?

“I vividly remember throwing a severe tantrum at home when I received this notice for the first time. The first time I saw my name on the soft-board, the soft-board that stands right in the middle of the school, where EVERY single student is supposed to see their time-tables and other everyday notices,” says a Lahore Grammar School alumnus, a tinge of painful memory still etched distinctly in her mind.

“My name was there, on the list, with some others, for everyone to see. Now everybody knew how a bunch of us failed to pay their monthly fee. For me, it wasn’t a threat , it was more of a fear. The fear that forced me into thinking that I would actually be made to walk out of the school, in front of all my classmates. The fear of humiliation. I remember how I made sure that my father paid the fees the very same day. Maybe that’s why they make it sound that way, because they do get what they want in the end, right on time,” she continues.

She finished talking shortly after but I just could not get my mind off one of the most humiliating experiences I have ever heard. While most of us joke about how soul-sucking corporate slavery can be, none of us really has the courage to call a spade a spade. Maybe we’ve become too comfortable with the way we live?

I personally think that we have a broader discussion around this because it’s not really fair to put a child through such a traumatic experience or to use such a tone. What do you think?

Cover Image Via: archives.deccanchronicle.com