After two days: Private schools reopen in K-P

School owners announce plans to challenge PHC decision before SC

PESHAWAR: After keeping their doors shut for two days, private schools across the province reopened on Wednesday.

It is unclear whether the strike did anything to convince the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government to withdraw the Private Schools Regulatory Authority (PSRA) since the government had expressed its resolution to keep the body while the closure had also drawn the ire of the high court.

However, Private Schools Owners and Association (PSOA) said they now plan to move the Supreme Court against the Authority and its interference in the matters of private schools.



On April 17, the PSRA had asked private schools to only charge fee for one month of the two-month-long summer vacations and to provide 50 per cent relief to parents who had two or more children enrolled in schools. However, the private school owners and associations rejected the government’s directions and took to the streets against them.

They also held a province-wide protest, closing down around 22,000 registered private schools across the province on April 23 and 24.

On the other hand, Peshawar High Court (PHC) on April 24 directed the provincial government to confiscate the administration and bank accounts of those private schools who had participated in the strike and were violating court orders. Following the court orders, PSOA called off their strike and reopened schools after a two-day break.



Talking to The Express Tribune, PSOA President Yawar Naseem said that they have decided to call a meeting next week to deliberate over the matter. He added that they intend to challenge the PHC decision in the Supreme Court.

“We do not want to close our schools and waste the precious time of our future generation, but we were compelled to shut the doors of schools and take to the roads,” he shared.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2018.