Media-related crash courses: unregistered institutes defrauding unemployed youth

A large number of fake and unregistered institutes, claiming to be imparting professional education, have sprung up in the city, defrauding unemployed youth by offering them lucrative jobs on completion of their courses. Already frustrated and depressed youth, who are struggling from pillar to post to get decent employment, fall easy prey to these unscrupulous persons who are running these institutes unchecked under the very nose of concerned authorities.
Since media boom in Pakistan, most of the institutes, which were earlier distracting jobless youth in daydreams to get respectable emoluments from information technology, accountancy and other professional education, have now changed modus operandi to deceive them.
These institutes, which are not authorised to conduct any professional course, are now making quick bucks by fantasising the fresh graduates and low literate segment of the society to start shiny careers in media industry. These private educational institutes, which were promoted because of blemished education system of public sector, are misusing the authority, causing to produce botchers for the country.
These institutes, which have adopted ecstatic SMS-marketing approach to attract youth, are offering several media-related crash courses with inadequate facilities and professional knowledge at Rs 4,000 to Rs 12,000 per month to groom the freshers for challenging media industry, albeit they are incapable to enhance the skills of the students.
The issue had surfaced when this scribe received unknown SMS in which one of the institutes (A) is offering media related five-month course at Rs 20,000 with 100 percent job assistance. When this scribe met Saeed, who is running the said institute, he said that there is no education requirement for the admission in the said course.
Saeed, who is an ACCA student, a professional accountancy course which requires no specific qualification but age limit for admission, is conducting this specialised short journalism course on the same pattern with the claim as facilitator for freshers to be part of media industry.
"Although we are offering this certification course for matriculates, journalism is the only professional field, which requires no specialised education. A person, who has only middle-school knowledge can become a good journalist," he said while admitting to have nil experience about journalism. He also disclosed several names of media industry as patrons of his institute, which is still unable to get licence from concerned authority to conduct the aforesaid certification courses.
When this scribe approached a 'call centre' agent of one of the prominent cellular companies to resolve the mystery how these institutes and e-marketers get the cell numbers for advertisements, on condition of anonymity confirmed that mobiles companies and mostly their call centre agents are used to provide all information of the customers including names, addresses and cell numbers to e-marketers against undue gains, despite having legal restriction to maintain secrecy in this regard.