The supreme court of Pakistan on June 12, 2019, gave a verdict regarding private schools fee. In its decision, the Supreme Court allowed schools for a 5% increase and asked private schools to recalculate their fees as of January 2017. The court said that private schools, in violation of the law, had excessively increased fees since 2017 and that the charges should be restored to what they were in January 2017. The court suspended its earlier ruling of 20% reduction in fee, however, parents all over the country welcomed Supreme Court orders and believed it as a long-awaited relief.
Aimed immediate credit and political mileage, the federal minister of education held a press conference immediately after the Supreme Court order and expressed his will of strict implementation, however, he could not do more than that press talk and the court orders could not make any difference to the owners of private schools.
Court orders were simple and parents expected compliance from the Private Schools. Private schools instead of complying with supreme orders started victimizing parents through heavy fees and fines and attacked regulatory authorities by challenging their functions and rules. In Islamabad, the high court suspended PEIRA rules and bared it from sending letters or notifications to the Private schools. Moreover, PEIRA’s acting chairman was changed immediately when he issued a notification to private schools to comply the Supreme Court orders. In Lahore, the authority did not take any action against the schools, as a result, the deputy commissioner Lahore intervened and asked the private schools to provide fee records.
In September, private schools increased fees by 40%. Some schools not only increased fees but also added various brackets in which they are charging additional fees from parents. These brackets include security, ICT, Labs, Robotics, Green School, Chinese,and annual resource charges, etc. As a result of the massive increase in the fee, parents protested in front of Islamabad Press Club. Parents who participated in the protests are now facing backlash from the schools as their children have been dismissed without stating any reasons, moreover, the private school’s owners are using their political influence to silence such parents.
If the government is willing to implement the orders of the Supreme Court, it will have to strengthen private school authorities. Institutions will have to respect each other domains
While the private schools’ regulatory authority (PEIRA) in Islamabad is dysfunctional due to court orders, parents approached high court with the petition against the schools. Dozens of such cases have been registered in Islamabad high Court, however, the court has clubbed these cases with a longstanding issue of PEIRA’s rules, which are already under stay order by the same court. The schools, on the other hand, maintain a position that the Supreme Court orders are not applicable to Islamabad based schools, however, with parents they fully exploited supreme orders and also issued letters and vouchers referring to Supreme Court orders regarding withdrawal of 20% fee reduction.
A vast majority of the parents have already lost their confidence and trust in the system. They believe that the slow and complicated legal process and private schools mafia will never allow the state to strengthen regulatory bodies nor the implementation of the Supreme Court orders.
If the government is willing to implement the orders of the Supreme Court, it will have to strengthen private school authorities. Institutions will have to respect each other domains. The stay orders on PEIRA may be lifted for a better future of our children. Without empowering the regulatory authorities, private education will become a more rewarding business in the hands of mafia and perhaps the state may never be able to regulate it if not this time.
The writer is a public policy commentator and communications professional