Fate of public schools: Top Punjab officials put on notice

RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday put on notice top officials from Punjab on a petition filed by the Punjab Teachers Union against the proposed privatisation of public sector schools. Justice Abdi Masood Naqvi of the LHC issued notices to these officials on the petition of teacher union’s district president Hamid Ali Shah, and has sought replies from Punjab chief secretary, secretary schools, DCO and EDO, by March 30. The petitioner argues that the government is conspiring to handover government schools to the Education Foundation, a private entity that will make education costly and inaccessible for the common man and render a teacher surplus. The petitioner has requested the court to suspend the privatisation plan.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2016.