PESHAWAR: The private sector educational institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have rejected the provincial government`s proposed Private Schools Regulatory Authority Bill 2016 and announced a two-day strike on May 19 and 20 across the province against it.

Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday, Provincial Action Council, a group of private educational institutions, asked the government to withdraw the proposed bill and extend support to the private sector institutions to improve quality ofeducation andachieve the targetofliteracy in the province.

Briefing mediapersons, council leaderKhwaja Yawar Naseer said that if the proposed bill was passed by the KP Assembly then every school would have to pay Rs15,000 minimum wage to each of its teachers and would be bound to submit all details to the authority in case of hiring and firing of employees and increase in the fee.

`If the bill is passed then most of the educational institutions will have to sack the staff and wind up the business as they are unable to afford the growing expenditures,` he feared.

Flanked by other council representatives, including Dr Zakir Shah, Attaullah, Mushtaq Hussain and Fazlullah Daudzai, Mr Naseer said that several meetings had been held with the education department officials to negotiate the issue, but to no avail.

`We have launched a protest movement against the proposed law and in this connection demonstrations will be held at all the district headquarters in KP on May 11 and 12, he said.

The council leader said that the owners andprincipals of the private educational institutions would hold a rally on May 16 outside the KP Assembly building. Similarly, on May 19 and 20 all the private schools and colleges would remain closed in protest in the province and on May 21 a joint meeting would be held to decide the next line of action.

Mr Daudzai said that the council would take leaders of all the political parties into confidence to muster their support against the proposed law. He claimed that the proposed regulatory authority was a direct threat to the private sector and the worst affected would be the schools in rural areas where the tuition fee used to be a few hundred rupees.

Zakir Shah and other members said that it was an issue to be discussed by all the stakeholders. They said that the government had failed to upgrade its own schools and now the private sector was being targeted. They urged the government to avoid political intervention and encourage qualified educationists to supervise the education system in the province.