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No fee hike, promises minister

By Kashif Abbasi 2015-09-23
ISLAMABAD: The federal government has claime d all private schools will continue to charge the same fee they charged in the year 2014-2015.

Addressing a press conference at the education ministry on Tuesday, State Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Balighur Rehman said schools that did not follow the government`s directive would face penalties under the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Act, 2013.

Under the law, owners of private schools could face fines of up to Rs 5,000 per day or a year in prison and the cancellation of their school`s registration.

After protests and demonstrations by parents against excessive fees and additional charges at private schools, the government swung into action and enforced the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) Act 2013, which empowers the regulatory body to determine fee structures for private schools in Islamabad.

The state minister said there will be no fee increases as per the PM`s directive and that schools that had already collected the increased amount were to adjust the sum in the fee bills for the coming months.

Mr. Rehman said the government was very serious about bringing a marked change in public and private sector education. He said, `We have increased the education budget significantly, while various steps, such as improvement in examination systems, are also being taken` According to the 18th constitutional amendment, education is a provincial subject and PEIR A is responsible for the affairs of ICT-based private educational institutions.

The Punjab government has already directed schools to charge the same fee as last year; Sindh has allowed a 10 per cent increase while the KPK and Balochistan governments have yet to take a decision.

Also present was Junaid Akhlag, PEIRA`s newlyappointed acting chairman.

Mr. Akhlag is also a Joint Secretary of the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) and has recently been appointed to fill a postthathadbeenvacantfor the past two years.

PML-N lawmaker Tariq Fazal Chaudhry also said steps were being taken to improve Islamabad`s education sector. But when he was asked about Islamabad Merabagwal Technical College, which has been waiting to open for around 26 years, Mr. Chaudhry said, `I have been following the issue of this college vigorously; it has been handed over to the Allama Iqbal Open University, which will start classes from next semester`.

The minister also interacted with parents, journalists and civil society at a seminar, titled `Qaumi Taleemi Jirgah`. Here, some parents argued that successive governments had absolved themselves from providing quality education which led to the success of private schools.

A parent from Swat recalled a time when government schools used to be the first option for parents looking for quality education for their children but now, `only those parents send their children to government schools who cannot afford fee for private schools`.

Another parent asked rhetorically, `If government schools provided quality education, why would parents like me choose expensive private schools?` PTI leader Fauzia Kasuri said the issue of high private school fees was just the tip of the iceberg. She said, `The objective of constitutionally guaranteed `free and compulsory` education for all Pakistani children cannot be reached without an examination of the quality of education being offered in government schools`.

Senior journalist Talat Hussain pointed out that the voices of the less-privileged were still not heard in this discussion. He said, `We are hearing so many arguments about the education system because corporate industrialists` children are affected by school fees structure. The children of non-elite Pakistanis don`t get quality education, but no one hears their voices.