ISLAMABAD: The federal government has empowered School Monitoring Committees (SMCs) to monitor the performance of schools in the capital. A Private Bill was presented in the National Assembly with a recommendation to grant additional powers to SMCs to enhance and improve the performance of schools. Merit-based admissions process at every grade and evening shifts were among the prime recommendations proposed by the School Monitoring Committees. The draft of the bill presented in the NA was titled: “Free and Compulsory Education Act 2017”. Parliamentarians Dr Fozia Hameed, Mehboob Alam, Iqbal Hamad Ali Khan, Sajid Ahmed and Sheikh Salah U Din presented the bill. Published in Daily Times, July 3rd , 2017.