Fee hike: ‘Private schools won’t be allowed to raise fees’

DCO says parents can lodge complaints with the city government

LAHORE:

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Thursday that private schools would not be allowed to arbitrarily increase fees.

The announcement comes days after parents staged a series of protests against private school administrations over tuition.

The DCO had met representatives of private schools earlier this week and had asked them to revert the 2014 fee structure.



“Private educational institutions will have to withdraw the raise in fees,” the chief minister told a meeting at the Civil Secretariat via video link. He said an unnecessary increase in fees was unacceptable. He said action would be taken against schools not withdrawing the hike. He said affordable education was a right of all citizens.

Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmed, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, Chief Secretary Khizar Hayat Gondal, the law secretary, the schools secretary and the DCO were also present on the occasion.

Complaints

DCO Muhammad Usman has announced that parents can report a raise in private school fees to district authorities.

In a letter available with The Express Tribune, the DCO said parents could lodge complaints about the raise in dues, other than tuition fees, with heads of committees notified by him.

They can also register their complaints at [e-mail] or share fee vouchers with district administration by sending a WhatsApp message on a 0340-1112345.

The letter said, “Complaints at district level may be lodged with the DCO or the education EDO.” The DCO, through the communiqué, has assured the complainants that their names would be kept confidential.

Separately, Usman has constituted a five-member committee to investigate complaints and hold talks with the government.

The committee is composed of the city assistant commissioner, the Raiwand tehsil assistant commissioner, the Model Town assistant commissioner, the Shalimar assistant commissioner and the Cantt assistant commissioner.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, a spokesman for the DCO said that the district government had received hundreds of complaints regarding increase in fees by various schools. “We are compiling data to investigate the complaints,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th,  2015.