Private schools take on govt over bid to regulate fee structure

• Most elite schools observe strike as some private schools stay open to hold children’s exams

The strike call given by the private schools against the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation Amendment) Bill 2015 proved to be a partial success as some of the private school owners refused to close their schools on Tuesday- the first day of the strike. However, the chains of the major elite schools including Lahore Grammar, Beaconhouse, Educators and City School remained closed throughout the province.

A rift emerged among various private schools associations on the issue of closure as some of the schools said that it is unfair to close the educational institutions at a time when the exams of the students are either taking place or are right around the corner.

The proposed bill is meant to regulate the fee structure in all the private schools of the province. The bill stipulates that no school can decide to increase the fee without the prior permission of the government.

Provincial Education Minister Rana Mashood held a meeting with the representatives of private schools two days ago but most of them refused to budge from their decision to close the schools and left the meeting.

All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF) President Kashif Mirza told Pakistan Today that 97,000 private schools are registered with his association and that 90,000 of them observed a strike Tuesday. He said that Tuesday’s strike had proved that Rana Mashood was wrong when he claimed the previous day that 97 per cent schools had boycotted the call for strike. He said that they can extend their strike call indefinitely if the government does not listen to their demands.

All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association President Adeeb Jawdani whose organisation did not observe the strike told Pakistan Today that he is against the bill but cannot give the strike call as the students are taking their exams in most of the schools.

“The proposed bill to regulate private schools is a draconian law as it will destroy private education in the province,” said Jawdani, who has also challenged the bill in the Lahore High Court.

Rana Mashood appointed Jawdani as the president of the committee which has to submit its recommendations to the minister to address the issues of private schools.

“We are knowledge-loving people and cannot give the strike call as it will affect the education of students and can create problems for their parents also,” Jawdani maintained.

Kamran Malik from Pakistan Education Council (PEC), which represents the chain of elite schools in the province, told this scribe that the response to Tuesday’s strike call was overwhelming as he did not expect such a positive reaction from the school owners. He said that all the associations of private schools are against the bill but they have disagreement over the timing of the strike call.

“We approached the court first but did not get any relief which prompted us to go for the strike,” Kamran Malik said.

The Punjab Assembly has passed the bill to tame the private schools as the government has said that it will not let the private schools increase their fee whenever they want. The bill says that every school has to get permission from the government before increasing their fee every year. According to some reports, Punjab Governor Rafique Rajwana has already signed the bill. He also said that the owners of private schools must sit with the government to figure out a solution as the strike is not the way to reach a solution.