Beaconhouse on Commercialisation

The management of the Beaconhouse School System has responded to ‘Beaconhouse not paying municipal fees’, appearing in Friday’s issue of the paper with the following clarification:

“This is with reference to the news item published today under the heading “Beaconhouse not paying Municipal fees.” in your esteemed newspaper, under a six-column banner headline.

“We feel it appropriate to set the record straight. Firstly, according to the report, Beaconhouse has not paid Commercialisation Fees for some of its schools and that no action has been taken because “some senior officials of the LDA are being offered high rebates in their children’s education”. As for the supposed partiality of the LDA officials towards Beaconhouse, it would suffice to point out that the LDA has taken action against some of Beaconhouse schools. Some of our schools were sealed by the LDA and we had to resort to legal action for redressal and our schools were reopened on Court Orders.

“Secondly, we do not know if any children of the LDA officials are getting any fee concession or some form of scholarship since thousands of scholarships are offered by Beaconhouse every year on a means and merit basis. We do not know if one or more, as alleged, of these thousands happen to be the children of LDA officials and have qualified under the rules.

“Thirdly, it would make absolutely no difference to Beaconhouse if such commercialisation charges are levied against all schools without exception – although there will be negative ramifications of this act on the parents.

“If the commercialisation charges are levied, Beaconhouse could easily show this as a legitimate expense since we are one of the highest income tax payers in the country and this amount would be deducted from our total tax.

“Fourthly, the issue of commercialisation is an old issue and has been taken up by thousands of private schools through the private schools’ Associations as a matter of principle with the government.

“Fifthly, if the Provincial Governments concerned or the appropriate Development Authorities were to take a decision to remove all private schools without exception from urban areas, they would have to do something which has been done in Dubai and other metropolitan areas and that would be to remove all private schools away from the cities to special locations, e.g. through creation of special education cities or zones.

“That would have implications in terms of cost for the government, parents and the teachers as well as. That however is a matter for the government to consider.

“Lastly, we would like to conclude by stating categorically that no favour has been shown to Beaconhouse by the LDA officials and that we would gain nothing since this amount, if charged or levied, would be a tax deductible expense anyway.

Noor ud Din Ahmad

Director Development”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 23^rd, 2011.