RAWALPINDI: A division bench headed by the Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court gave a decision on the petition filed by a number of private schools, which were operating in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa against the instruction of the province’s education department. The department had asked private schools to charge half the school fee if two siblings were studying in the same school. This is a landmark decision of the Court because private schools are being run solely on a commercial basis by their owners without regard to the difficulties their decisions may be causing to parents.
Just like the standard of other services supposed to be provided by the government, the standard of government sector schools has also deteriorated significantly, leaving parents with no choice except to send their children to private institutions, which are charging exorbitant fees. It is an irony that the Punjab education department is yet to follow the example set by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa because according to available information, no instruction to private schools/colleges operating in the province has been issued similar to the one issued by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa education department. The chief minister of Punjab is requested to order the education department to issue the requisite instruction to private schools to provide much- needed relief to parents.
Tabassam Sharif
Published in The Express Tribune, November 20th, 2012.
