Sindh govt suspends registration of Beaconhouse, The City School

An official notification says the schools failed to comply with the orders of the courts

KARACHI: The Sindh education department has suspended the registration of two of the largest networks of private schools in the country - The City School and the Beaconhouse School System.

The decision was taken in view of the schools' failure to comply with the court orders to submit the additional amount in fees collected from students to the Supreme Court registry.

A notification issued by the Directorate of Inspection at the Registration of Private Institutions, Sindh department, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, states that the schools have a week to comply with the court's directives, failing which their campuses will be sealed.

The decision is likely to impact the over 65 campuses being operated by the Beaconhouse School System as well as the over 40 branches of the City School.

A copy of the notification available with The Express Tribune:

Five warnings

According to the notification, the directorate had written five letters to the schools, but the latter paid no heed.

Dr Mansoob Hussain Siddiqui, the director-general of the inspection directorate, said that all private schools that have collected additional fees illegally, must submit the amount to the registrar of the Supreme Court, in accordance with the apex court's orders.

He recalled that his department had sent a letter to all the schools on September 4, in light of the Sindh High Court's decision from a day earlier, ordering them not to increase their annual fees by more than 5%.

Those who had collected the additional amount were to either return the fees to the students or adjust the amount in the next month's fees, otherwise their registration would be revoked. In another letter dispatched to the schools on September 17, the schools had been asked to submit records regarding the adjustment of the additional fees or return of the amount.

He added that the apex court had later upheld the September 13 verdict of the SHC and ordered all the school owners to submit the additional fees to the SC register within three months. Siddiqui added that the parents, who had asked for the fee structure outlined for private institutions from the directorate, had been provided the details so that they may submit the fees accordingly.

Other schools

The director-general had also constituted a three-member committee to check if the institutions had taken steps to comply with the courts' orders.

In this regard, the committee visited the two schools' campuses on November 14 and recommended to suspend their registration, besides directing the Smart School to implement the decision.

According to a press release issued by the directorate, the committee will visit the Generation's School on November 15, the Links School Clifton and Happy Home School on the November 16, Foundation Public School on November 19, the Froebels International School on November 22 and the Saint Gregory's High School, Gulshan-e-Iqbal on November 23, besides others.

If these schools are found to have flouted the court orders, their registration too will be revoked.

Sighs of relief

Parents, who spoke to The Express Tribune, expressed happiness over the turn of events, besides expressing the hope that the action would be unilaterally conducted against all such school owners. Some of the parents were, however, of the opinion that instead of closing down the schools, their proprietors should be brought to court.







Schools' response

In response to suspension of registration of the Beaconhouse School System and the City School, the two schools issued a joint press release, claiming the notification "holds no legal value and is in violation of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and Sindh High Court's orders."

According to the schools' managements, the Supreme Court had directed the excess amount collected in fees to be deposited with the SC's registrar within three months. "This time period is to expire on December 31, 2018, which gives all private schools of Sindh over a month and a half for implementation," the statement reads.



"The management of Beaconhouse and City School can only therefore conclude that the said order was intended to malign their names and promote a negative sentiment amongst their parent bodies," it added, besides claiming that the action would jeopardise the education of tens of thousands of children studying at dozens of schools being run collectively by Beaconhouse and City School in Sindh alone.