‘Over 200 schools operating with fake international names without affiliation’

Over 200 private schools having no official recognition and affiliation with notable international educational institutions are operating in various parts of Sindh. Of them, around 50 are functioning in Karachi and the rest in the other five regions of the province, says the Directorate of Inspection and Registration of Private Institutions Sindh (Dirpis) in its initial report.

The owners of these private schools display names of international educational organisations on signboards to misguide parents and children. Since the start of 2020, it’s for the third time that the directorate has told the owners to furnish the affiliation documents, but none of them seems to be taking the directives seriously.

Dirpis officials have decided that if the schools operating with fake names failed to produce the required documents, their registration certificates would be rescinded. “The directorate on the SHC’s directives has launched a campaign to identify schools which are illegally using names of international educational organisations,” said Dirpis Registrar Rafia Javed.

He added that all regional directors had been tasked with submitting detailed reports by next week regarding fake international schools functioning in their relevant areas.

On January 20, the principals of such schools located in Karachi were informed by the directorate, and a meeting was also convened to discuss the issue in detail. The owners, however, neglected the letter issued by Dirpis officials and no one bothered to attend the meeting. “They deliberately didn’t respond to the letter and want confrontation with officials, but we are committed to implementing laws at any cost,” said Rafia.

Another official letter of Dirpis issued on February 28 states that if the owners of private schools which are unlawfully using names of international educational organisations don’t have the required documents, they will have to submit a written statement at the directorate office, so that the students enrolled in such schools could attempt their exams in the current academic. Later, they would change the names of their schools.

However, the owners have responded to the Dirpis letter and continued academic activities with the same names.

Earlier, on February 25, the registrar for a third rime directed the owners through an official letter informing to change the names of their schools and apply for new registration certificates before the next academic year started. “In compliance with the SHC’s directives, it has been decided that if the owner didn’t take the notice seriously, the registration certificate of each school would be considered cancelled,” said Rafia.

She said: “I asked the administrator of a privately managed school to know the reason behind why he had named his school after an international school. I was told that the owner had been in Canada and he wanted to open a school here in Pakistan; this is why, he named his schools Canada Grammar School.”

Rafia said that the owners think that it’s their legal right to name schools after those countries of which they have citizenship, but such owners don’t differentiate between citizenship and use of names for their schools. They have no right to run schools with fake names, she said.

Rafia said these schools charge hefty amounts as tuition fees from parents because of their names, that too without any affiliation, and this is why the directorate has asked the owners to furnish the required documents. After the collection of data regarding such schools, a detailed report would be submitted in the Sindh High Court this month.

Dirpis has however prepared an initial report which says that more than 200 schools are operating in the province with names of international educational organizations, and they are not recognised by foreign institutes.