SHC extends stay on tuition fee hike

Private schools have been restrained from charging an increase of more than 5%

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) extended on Wednesday its earlier stay order against private schools from charging more than the government-approved 5% hike in tuition fee till October 10.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, granted time to the lawyers engaged by the private schools' management to argue on the matter on the next date.

Earlier, the lawyers filed their power of attorney on behalf of the schools and requested time to file comments on behalf of their clients, which was allowed by the court.

Barrister Kamal Azfar, who represented Beaconhouse School System, requested the court to club the plea with other petitions involving the same issue that had been filed earlier. The parents of more than 200 students currently studying at different private schools had moved the court against the fresh hike in the tuition fee. They had named the provincial education department's secretary, the director of education and administrators of Foundation Public School, Head Start School, Beaconhouse School System and The City School as respondents.

Last week, the judges had issued notices to the administrators of the private schools to file their comments. Meanwhile, the court restrained the managements from charging a fee enhanced more than 5% till the next date.

In their pleas, the petitioners said their children were currently studying in different classes at these private educational institutes, where the management had recently increased the tuition fee for different grades all of sudden. The parents 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 future 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 permitted an increase not more than 5% of the previous one annually. But, the school managements 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% is illegal and restrain the school managements from taking any action against their children for the purpose of collecting the increased fee.

They also sought establishing a monitoring body to scrutinise the increase in fee.

Case history

The issue of exorbitant increases in tuition fee by private schools 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 further ruled that those schools not registered will not be able to increase their fee by even 5%.