KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Thursday extended its earlier order that restricted private schools from charging an enhanced fee and taking any adverse action against students in this regard till April 24, media reports have stated.
A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, was hearing a set of petitions of parents of students against the managements of four private schools for charging enhanced fees.
During Thursday’s proceedings, Justice Abbasi remarked that everyone knew the poor situation at the government schools and asked how the court could allow private schools to increase fee in such circumstances.
The court also directed the parents to continue paying tuition fee with a five percent increase, with other dues, till the disposal of the matter.
Certain school administrations have increased tuition fee by 12pc to 60pc in violation of the ordinance
According to the petitioners’ lawyer, another bench in its judgment had recently knocked down Rule 7(C) of the Rules of 2001 and the provincial government was told to formulate rules, if it wished so, within 90 days.
He contended that till such rules were formulated, the tuition fee could not be increased.
The counsel informed the judges that the management of private schools had been issuing vouchers to demand a fee with an increase of more than 5pc in alleged violation of the previous stay order granted by the court.
The counsel appearing for parents and school managements requested the court to form a larger bench to hear the matter.
The bench pushed the hearing to April 24 and extended its earlier interim order that restrained the private schools’ managements from charging an enhanced fee and taking any adverse action against the students.
Petitioners Bushra Jabeen, Arshad Fawad, Mohammad Shariq Feroz and 600 other parents had challenged the increase in tuition fees at four private schools in alleged violation of the Sindh Private Educational Institutions (Regulation and Control) Ordinance, 2001.
They said their children were studying at private schools situated in KDA, Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Qasimabad, and the schools’ administrations had increased the tuition fee by 12pc to 60pc in violation of the ordinance.
