PA Question Hour: Regulatory authority planned for private schools

Punjab government considering setting up regulatory authority to keep a check on private schools fees.

LAHORE: The provincial government is considering setting up a regulatory authority to keep a check on private schools fees in view of the growing number of private schools, Education Minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman told the Punjab Assembly on Monday.

Answering members’ questions concerning the Schools Department, the minister said that the department did not have the power to regulate school fees, only to register them under the Punjab Education Institutions Ordinance 1984. Rehman said the government did feel the need for regulation in view of the growing private sector share in education. He said the law needed to be updated, as there had been a huge increase in the number of private schools since 1984. He said there were 1,350 public schools in Lahore, and over 6,000 private schools. He said a committee of MPAs had already been set up to discuss the regulatory authority.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2011.