Daily Times

KARACHI: The parents, whose children are enrolled in private schools, organized a protest against unlawful fee hike by private institutions at Foundation Public School’s head office located near Dunkin Donuts Shahrah-e-Faisal on Friday.

The protest was organized by All Sindh Parents Association, an unannounced body working for the rights of children’s parents. The protestors were joined by civil society members and social activists in raising their voice against the reflexive action which has been taken management of the school. The demonstrators gathered around 10 am at the Lal Muhammad Chaudhary Road, a link road of Shahrah-e-Faisal from where they walked towards Foundation Public School’s head office.

Private Schools in Sindh are governed by Sindh Private Educational Institutions Regulation and Control Authority under the Ordinance, 2001 and Sindh Private Educational Institutions Regulation & Control Rules, 2005. In which it is clearly stated that all the private schools functioning in Sindh can’t increase their fees by more than 5% per annum and that also with the prior approval of the authority.

“Exponential increase in fees year after year has brought the parents to a point where it has become unaffordable and endurable”, said Faisal Ahmed added that the parents have no choice excluding to take the children out from the schools which is not a way solution and justification.

A number of protesters said that hike in fees is unjustified which the private schools have charged without any justification. As per law, schools can only increase fee up to 5% subject to approval from concerned authorities.

On the other hand the officials of the Private Schools Institutions Regulation and Controlling Authority are unable to control those elite class schools. The authority’s officials even can’t visit those branded schools to check out its maintenance and quality education for which the management and owners of these schools are draging huge money from the pockets of parents.

“The matter of hike in fees by branded schools is under hearing in Sindh High Court, which has literally converted into a long legal battle” said Mansoob Hussain Siddiqui, private schools which charge average fees, are included in it but those elite schools like, Foundation School, Cambridge School, Beaconhouse School System and other elite schools don’t consider them under the rule of law.

“We can’t take action against any of those schools until the court’s decision comes because these schools have filed a lawsuit in the SHC jointly against the intervention of the authority”, he lamented, added that we are trying to handle the case properly for the enforcement of law in which we have got a little success.

Published in Daily Times, August 19^th 2017.