KARACHI: Private schools in the province were on Monday reminded to fulfil their responsibility towards the downtrodden segments of society as the Directorate of Inspection and Registration of Private Institutions issued a notification to them to ensure admitting disadvantaged children in their campuses as provided by the law.

This was done after caretaker Chief Minister Justice retired Maqbool Bagar had taken notice of the private schools` constant evading of the implementation of the 2013 law of the right of children to free and compulsory education framed under Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan.

The caretaker chief minister had on Saturday directed the School Education Department to get 10 per cent statutory freeship to disadvantaged children in all private schools across the province within seven days before reporting back to him.

In alettertothe secretary ofschooleducation,he had written that chapter-iv, section 10 of `The Sindh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2013` said that the private schools (a) Shall provide free and compulsory education to such proportion of total strength of children admitted as mentioned hereinafter; and (b) Shall admit in class I, and in subsequent classes not less than 10 per cent of the strength of that class to disadvan-taged children.

Taking strict notice of the issue, the chief minister had said that the administrations of private schools continued to evade the implementation of the said law with impunity.

Therefore, a notification issued by Additional Director of Registration Rafia Javed asked private schools to ensure admitting children from disadvantaged groups in all classes from one to 10. Under the law, these students are said to constitute at least 10 per cent of the total strength of each class. The same rule shall apply to pre-primary classes as well.

This especially applies to disadvantaged groups whose family income is less than the minimum limit specified by the government. The schools are also expected to provide information about the number of seats they have reserved for this purpose and which have been occupied by the prescribed authority and the government.

The schools have also been directed to ensure that they protect such children from all forms of discrimination.

`Any non-compliance or inadequate compliance with the above policy would attract stern legal action against the responsible school administration as per clause-8 of the Sindh Private Educational Institutions (regulation and control) Ordinance-2001, amended Act-2003, Rules-2005, which may lead to cancellation or suspension of registration of the school,` the notificationfurthersaid.