Sindh govt suspends registrations of City and Beaconhouse schools over fee hike

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The registration of all campuses of The City School (TCS) and Beaconhouse School System were suspended on Thursday after their alleged failure to abide by the Supreme Court and the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) orders in which they were barred from increasing the tuition fees by more than five per cent.

The notifications in this regard were issued by Sindh Directorate of Inspection/Registration of Private Institutions.

On September 3, the SHC had ruled that it would be illegal to increase the fees of the students by more than five per cent every year and had also directed the school owners to refund the excess amount taken from the students within three months.

The court said that all students and private institutions and schools which are governed under the Sindh Private Educational Institutions Ordinance, 2001 and Sindh Private Educational Institutions Rules, 2005 would have to adhere to the orders of the SHC.

The Directorate of Inspection Director General (DG) Dr Mansoob Hussain Siddiqui said that both the schools were reminded multiple times to comply with the court orders.

However, he claimed that the schools were neither complying nor responding to the committee’s notices after which the decision to cancel the schools’ registration was “suspended till further orders”.

The DG said that the decision to suspend the two schools’ registration can be reviewed, provided that they comply with the courts’ orders. The authorities have given a week-long time to the schools implement the courts’ orders and let their registrations be restored.

He also said that The Smart Schools, a subsidiary of The City School, has also been issued notices in this regard.