Two more private schools in Karachi taken to task for charging increased fee

Beaconhouse School System and The City School restrained from charging raised fee

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) restrained on Friday the management of another two private schools from charging tuition fee hiked beyond 5%, as decided by the provincial government.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, also issued notices to the provincial education department’s secretary, the director of education and administrators of Beaconhouse School System and The City School to file their comments in this regard by September 27.

The petitioners, who are parents of students attending the schools, had taken the administration of the private schools – Beaconhouse School System and The City School – to court for increasing their monthly tuition fee beyond the 5% prescribed in the law. They also named the provincial education department’s secretary and director of education as respondents in the plea.

Two days ago, the court had restrained the management of Foundation Public School and Head Start School from charging fees with an increase of more than 5%.



The petitioners said their children were currently studying in different classes at the Beaconhouse School System and The City School, where the management had recently increased the tuition fee for different grades. The petitioners said they were informed through letters about the fee that has been increased exorbitantly.

The judges were told that due to the unprecedented hike in the fee their children will be deprived of their basic right to get high-quality education, thus putting their futures at stake.

It was argued that the raise in fee was in violation of the Sindh Private Educational Institutions (Regulation and Control) Ordinances of 2003 and 2015, which allowed an increase not more than 5% of the previous fee annually. But, the two schools’ management have hiked the fee by 10 to 12%, which is a violation of the law, as well as the notification issued by the education department wherein only 5% increase had been prescribed by the government, the parents alleged.

The court was pleaded to declare the exorbitant hike in fees beyond 5% illegal and restrain the school managements from taking any action against their children for the purpose of collecting the increased fees.

After hearing initial arguments, the bench issued notices to the secretary and director of education and administrators of Beaconhouse School System and The City School to file their comments by the next date of the hearing. Meanwhile, the judges restrained the two schools’ management from charging a fee enhanced more than 5%.



Case history

The issue of exorbitant increases in tuition fees by private schools had surfaced last year when parents had highlighted the issue by staging protests in different cities, including Karachi. Some 400 parents and students of Generations School had challenged the up to 14% increase in fee by the school.

The SHC had decided the matter in October last year, ruling that the private schools, which were duly registered with the government education department, could not enhance the fee by more than 5% per annum. It had also ruled that those schools not registered will not be able to increase their fee by even 5%.