Private schools may be legally bound to teach orphans for free

Bill expected to be presented in ongoing session of the upper house of parliament

ISLAMABAD: Legislators from the treasury benches on Monday decided to present during the ongoing Senate session a bill which would bind private schools in the federal capital to educate at least one orphan child free-of-charge.

This was decided in a parliamentary panel chaired by the Leader of the House in the Senate Shibli Faraz. The parliamentary panel approved the draft bill written by Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Senator Mian Ateeq Shaikh.

The basic objective of the bill is to increase the literacy rate in the country and to also accommodate those segments of society who cannot afford education even at a primary level.

According to the proposed law, students entitled under the bill will be provided education from nursery to the secondary school certificate (SSC – Matriculation) level.

Later, while talking to APP, Senator Ateeq was optimistic that the government would be able to get this bill passed from the Upper House of Parliament during the current session as it has already been unanimously approved by the committee concerned.

Additionally, the meeting also agreed to raise the issue of Senator Kamran Michael in the Senate who had been recently arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on corruption charges and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani had to issue his production orders so that he could attend the ongoing Senate session.

Senator Faraz, who hails from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) opposed any intervention into NAB’s affairs, arguing that the anti-corruption watchdog was discharging its responsibilities as per the law.

He also criticised the previous government’s efforts to influence state institutions for vested interests. He declared that the incumbent government was playing no such role that and it sought accountability across the board.

Meanwhile, the senators also called for taking measures to ensure the minimum quorum in the house for the smooth flow of legislative business. Senators were of the view that office of the leader of the house in Senate should disseminate the Parliamentary calendar so that they could plan their activities according to the schedule of the house.

The meeting was also attended by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan and senators including Faisal Javed Khan, Samina Saeed, Numan Wazir Khattak, Khush Bakht Shujjat, Sarfraz Bugti of Balochistan Awami Party and others.  

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2019.