Developing consensus: Committee wants free education bill discussed at length

Chairman says deliberations will be finalised on time.

LAHORE:

While the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Ordinance 2014 has been promulgated, the Punjab Assembly Standing Committee on Education is keen on detailed deliberations on each of its clause with the stakeholders.

The bill that was introduced in the Punjab Assembly on May 16 was later referred to the committee. The ordinance was promulgated by the governor on May 13.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, committee chairman Qamarul Islam Raja said it wanted to take all the stakeholders on board while deliberating the ordinance before it was recommended to be made a bill.

While the committee has yet to hold a meeting to discuss the proposed bill, Raja said it might hold a public hearing as well.

Raja said the government had made the bill’s content public with the promulgation of the ordinance.

“Once part of the Punjab Gazette, it is a public document which can be accessed by anyone including the public at large,” he said.

About the lack of public deliberations, he said the committee was looking to engage stakeholders, including educationists, teachers and the private education sector.

After the 18th Amendment, Article 25-A of the Constitution gave children between the age of 5 and 16 years the right to free and compulsory education.

Since 2010, the provincial government had been working on a legislative framework for the law.

The ordinance makes it compulsory for private schools to ensure that 10 per cent of the students in each class are provided free education.

Raja said the committee wanted to take the private sector on board before implementing the clause.

“The private sector plays an important role in the education sector and such a law cannot be implemented fully without taking it into confidence.”

Earlier this week, All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association president Adeeb Jawadani had expressed reservations about the clause.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Jawadani had said it would be “unfair to impose any such obligation on the private sector without considering the taxes they have to pay”.

The ordinance needs to be passed by the assembly within 90 days of its promulgation or it would lapse.

“We are confident of holding deliberations and finalising it on time. There is no question of delaying the law which will have an impact on millions of children,” Raja said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2014.