Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Private Educational Institutions (Registration and Fee Determination) Rules, 2016 have been notified by the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD ) for implementation in the Islamabad Capital Territory.

These rules shall come into force immediately with the previous rules of 2006 being repealed forthwith.

The process of registration and renewal has been streamlined, unnecessary formalities have been dropped off and renewal of registration has been simplified so that majority of the PEIs do not need any type of formal or informal assistance for completing the requisite modalities and feel encouraged to directly respond to the outreach of the Regulator/Authority.

At present, the private education sector faces a lot of challenges.

Those institutions that provide quality education, charge according to their own parameters; those schools which do not charge much generally do not provide a conducive environment. To bring an improvement in the environment of a school and to discourage corner-shop type facilities, the new rules provide that institutions seeking registration with the Authority at the primary level shall have an infrastructure capacity of a minimum of 160 students, at the middle level, a minimum of 220 students, at the secondary or ‘O’ level, a minimum of 260 students at the Higher Secondary or ‘A’ level.

The maximum permissible strength in any classroom shall be 30 students while the dimensions of the classroom have also been prescribed. Minimum qualifications for the teaching staff for each grade of instruction have been laid out. It has been made mandatory to celebrate national days including Pakistan Day (23rd March), Independence Day (14th August), Iqbal Day (9th November) and the birth anniversary of the Quaid-e-Azam (25th December).

The rules require that all tuition centres and day-care centres shall have to be registered with the Authority (ICT-PEIRA) and stipulate that no tuition centre be registered/allowed for the middle level and grades below.

The Authority shall ensure that the management, staff and the students shall not take part in activities prejudicial to the integrity and solidarity of the state or disseminate opinions tending to excite feelings of hatred and disloyalty towards the state, religion or bias, prejudice or discriminatory against minorities, from the platform of the institution.

The Authority shall carry out performance evaluation of registered institutions on a two-year basis and award a rating category A, B or C based on factors clearly spelt out in the Rules.

This categorisation will evolve into certification for the quality of education that a particular PEI provides and will serve not only as a matter of honour and prestige for the PEI and its students but also a potent signal for the parents at the time of selection of a school for their children.

It will be a mandatory requirement that a private educational institution shall not engage in any anti-competitive practice of uniform and product-tying with any specific shop. It shall only prescribe the specifications and design of its uniform and products and let the open market cater to the consumers.

All PEIs shall constitute parent-teacher syndicates to decide disciplinary action against students, examine and review the service contracts and related matters of the teaching staff and make recommendations to the Authority, redressal of grievances of teachers pertaining to their service matters, assisting the management to ensure minimum of 180 academic or working days for students, redressal of grievances related to school leaving certificates, refund of security and admission fees and assisting the management in performance evaluation of the teaching staff and making recommendations for grant of performance based honoraria or bonus.

As enshrined in the ICT-PEIRA Act 2013 and upheld recently by the honourable Islamabad High Court, the Authority shall implement a transparent criteria for determination and fixation of the rate of fees being charged by the institutions, based on cost methodology and objective rationalisation and criteria and financial model as set out in Schedule-V to the rules.