Punjab bars schools from raising fees

Educational institutions found in violation of the ordinance will be fined a minimum of Rs100,000


Ammar Sheikh/ali Usman September 19, 2015
PHOTO: FILE

LAHORE:


The Punjab government has issued an ordinance that bars private schools from raising their fees during an academic year unless they justify the hike to a ‘registering authority’ three months in advance.


The provincial law & parliamentary affairs department forwarded the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotions & Regulations) (Amendment) Ordinance 2015 to Governor Rafique Rajwana for approval. Sources in the Governor House said Rajwana has approved the ordinance, which is likely to be enforced from Monday.

The ordinance reads: “An institution shall not charge, during the academic year 2015-2016, the fee from a student at a rate higher than the fee charged for the class during the academic year 2014-15.”

Educational institutions found in violation of the ordinance will be fined a minimum of Rs100,000. The ordinance also orders refunding the fees, if charged, within seven days of the enforcement of the ordinance. “The admission fee or the security shall not exceed the amount equal to the tuition fee payable by the student for a month,” states the ordinance.

Educational institutions have also been directed against making it mandatory upon parents to purchase textbooks, uniforms or other materials from a particular shop or provider or from the institution.

Any private educational institution that seeks to raise its fees will have to provide a ‘reasonable justification’ to the ‘registering authority’. They cannot increase fees during an academic year and will be allowed to file a request three months before the academic year starts. The authority may allow or reject the request after hearing the applicant, but the increase cannot exceed five per cent.

The authority will also have the power to fix fees for private educational institutions, depending on the category of the institution, the number of students it has and the facilities it provides to its students.

Private schools have been directed to register themselves with the registering authority within 40 days of the implementation of the ordinance. The authority will have 60 days to decide on the applications. The institutions shall continue to function until their applications are decided.

The authority shall fix the maximum amount of fees to be charged by an institution or a category of institutions. The institution shall not charge any other amount from the students other than the fees, which includes admission fee, tuition fee, security, laboratory fee, library fee or any other fee or amount charged by an institution from a student.

To challenge the registering authority’s order, an appeal may be filed within 30 days to the commissioner of the division, who shall decide the appeal within 30 days. The commissioner’s decision shall be final.

If a school defies any provisions of the ordinance, the registering authority – after providing a reasonable opportunity of defence – may impose administrative penalty of up to Rs20,000 a day from the date the notice is served on the institution.

If the violation continues for more than 30 days, the authority – in addition to any other action or penalty under the ordinance – may file a complaint against the head of the institution in the court of a first class magistrate. The court may punish the person in charge of the school with a fine up to Rs2 million.

If a school operates without being registered under the ordinance, its head may be fined up to Rs4 million, but not less than Rs300,000.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2015.

COMMENTS (8)

Kamran maqbool | 8 years ago | Reply Money makers schools, there are the questions to be answered; In a class,on average there used to be 20students without AC WITHOUT ROOM COOLER, 2teachers with Monthly salary 25000 each, EACH STUDENT IN BEACON USED TO PAY 15000 PER MONTH HOW MUCH PROFIT FROM ONE CLASS SCHOOL EARN? either school need any grant or schools should give grant to govt? In average school there used to be 50 classes means 5section of each grade so please tell me the profit from one branch because my calculator digits are over?
Sohail | 8 years ago | Reply The way private sector maintains its competitiveness is the services it offers to its customers. Its a proven fact that one cannot provide quality resources without continuous increase in finances. The only source to private schools to maintain quality standards is to finance improvement plans through the rise in school fees. Its not the government which could tax the people to generate finances. Its pathetic that despite of collecting a tax above 3200 billions rupees an year government could not provide a competitive education system. Government' use of power against the private schools will just deteriorate the standards being provided by some of the private schools. If government really wants to facilitate the parents it should subsidies the good private schools from the taxes rather than twisting their hands and paralyzing them.
VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ