Overlooked issue: No law limiting annual fees charged by private schools

Over sixty schools and colleges in the capital charge from Rs0.55 million to Rs 4,000

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) lacks a legislation to set a maximum amount that a private school can charge parents as annual fee, apart from the tuition fee, which is more than often exploited by the school authorities and has become a rising concern for the parents.

Over sixty schools and colleges in the capital are collecting $5500 (Rs0.55 million) to Rs 4,000 minimum as annual charges from parents and guardians of children enrolled in primary and secondary schools. These undue charges have been criticised by parents
who claim that they were never informed about the increase in tuition fee and other charges.

There are 1,069 institutes registered with Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) in ICT. According to the PEIRA’s website these schools have 221,125 students [Boys - 126,286; Girls - 94,839] and 15,477 teachers. The body has also previously been condemned in parliamentary meetings about this rising concern along with ensuring quality and other standards.

The Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD), Tariq Fazal Chaudhary, recently shared details about the fee structures in the Parliament.

The issue has been talk of the town since August this year when parents took to streets across the country against fee hike and non-regulation of such institutions.

Among the list of 89 institutions, only seven of them are charging this fee in rural areas and the remaining in urban areas. Similarly, around 60 schools are charging at least Rs 6,000.

International School of Islamabad in Sector H-9/1 charges $5,500, Rs 0.55 million which is one of the highest in the area. Headstart School in Sector F-11/3 collects Rs 31,000 with a few other such institutions in different sectors of the capital. Around 29 institutions in the urban areas charge Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 5,000.

The minister told Senate that PEIRA meant to register and regulate these private schools but did not have any power to interfere in determining and fixing of the rate.  “However in March 2013, a new act was introduced by PEIRA which empowers the authority to determine and fix the rates being charged by private schools,” he said.

“Draft rules have been framed and presented to a parliamentary body. A mechanism will be devised to stop the collection of excessive charges by private schools,” he further added.

Surprisingly, the draft the minister was referring to has been with the committee since the past eight months. A body comprising of four national assembly members has yet to comprehensively discuss the draft as the discussion keeps getting postponed.

When contacted, the newly appointed PEIRA chairperson Musaddiq Ahmad Khan said that he was not authorised to comment on the issue.

Former additional chief of PIERA, Junaid Akhlaq, told The Express Tribune that they were finalising the draft which will soon be sent to all private schools for their approval. CADD secretary also stated that the issue will soon be resolved.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2015.