Private schools to close for two days against new law

LAHORE

Leading private schools of the province Sunday announced closing their campuses for two days, on Tuesday (tomorrow) and Wednesday, as a protest against the Punjab government for introducing ‘tough’ law vis-à-vis private education institutions.

Terming the recently introduced law for private education institutions ‘draconian’, All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF) and Pakistan Education Council (PEC) observed that the new law seeks to ‘strangulate’ not regulate the private schools.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Punjab government had introduced amendments in the law following public outcry especially over ‘unchecked’ working of the private schools across Punjab. According to them this ‘soft’ treatment by the government had resulted in mushroom growth of private schools over the years. 

“Had the government taken timely measures in past, today the private schools would not been able to blackmail the government”, says a citizen, Tanveer, whose children go to a private school. According to him, private school owners were trying to influence the government in its public welfare decision making by closing their schools.  

There is a general perception that the government had never come hard on private sector involved in education which has strengthen the same to dictate the government and the general public. It is also important to mention here that many leading private schools make it mandatory for students and their parents to buy uniform, stationery and other related items from prescribed bookshops only. Besides, there has always been concerns vis-à-vis abrupt and ‘hefty’ increase in fee. It was in this background the Punjab government amended the law related to private education institutions.   

In a press release issued on Sunday, the APPSF and PEC stated: “In the present scenario, continued provision of quality education in the Punjab is no longer possible. Private schools have thus come together to fight for the survival of a sector that has made a massive contribution to this country.  We have been left with no option but to start reducing overheads, which will inevitably impact our services and facilities. The responsibility for this lies primarily with the Punjab government. We urge all Pakistani citizens who want their children to have access to the best education to reject this new legislation so that the private sector may continue to provide quality education for future generations.”

It is pertinent to mention here that in September 2015, the Punjab government had promulgated the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation) Ordinance 2015 according to which private school fees could not be raised at all in the 2015-16 school year while subsequent years’ fee increases were capped at a maximum of 5 percent. Last month the Punjab government introduced a bill vis-à-vis this law which created panic among the private schools.  

The representatives of private schools in a meeting with Punjab Education Minister Rana Mashhood last week demanded abolishing the particular condition and allow private schools to make at least 15 percent increase. The meeting, however, did not reach any conclusion as the minister said that fee could be only increased by 7 percent.

About the two days upcoming closure of private schools the APPSF and PEC also stated: “This initial closure may soon lead to an indefinite shutdown of all private schools in the Punjab. We deeply regret the impact that this will have on the children that we serve but have arrived at this difficult decision not out of choice but because our schools can no longer afford to sustain their operations.”

The private schools feel that in the wake of taking ‘extraordinary’ security measures, paying ‘handsome’ salaries to teachers and paying rents and bearing other costs it is becoming difficult for them to function properly.  

The two bodies also came hard on the government for failing to discharge its responsibility to provide free and compulsory education under Article 25-A of the Constitution.