PIERA fails to regulate private instituitions due to lack of clear policy

PSAI demands permanent chairman for authority

ISLAMABAD: The Private Schools Association Islamabad (PSAI) has demanded that a permanent chairman for the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PIERA) be appointed.

During a discussion at a forum organised by Daily Express  PSAI Chairman, Zafran Elahi, Secretary Information Abdul Waheed Khan and Executive Member  Kaisar Chaudhary identified that PIERA rules 2016 have been suspended after the court’s verdict against it. The acting chairman was presenting his version of truth while they have submitted registration applications as per 2006 rules of PIERA.

Further, they expressed no private school could be opened in a residential area without the NOC from Capital Development Authority (CDA) however the case regarding NOC is still under process.

Moreover, the representatives said that PIERA had failed to regulate private institutions as it had unclear and undefined policy for it. They added that the authority was registering schools according to the arcane and devious  rules of 2006 instead of 2016.

The twelve-member committee formed has turned non-functional for which the PEIRA officials were responsible, they added.

They reffered to the reduction of private school fees case in which the apex court had ordered 20 percent decrease in the fee being charged by all the private schools all over the country and ordered them to return the 50 percent fee being charged in the summer vacation as well as the court orders would be applicable to all those private schools charging more than Rs5,000 a month.

They told that the decision was confined to only 2018’s session while the acting chairman was presenting his version of truth. However, during this period, our association sent registration files of around 35 schools which the PIERA did not pay any heed to.

They added that some 342 schools were running in CDA operated areas and claimed that their NOC was impossible since the case was in the court.

They expressed that authority’s chairman, member academic and others were illegitimately occupying seats for years. The term was only for three years, they told.

They added that these people were not serving the educational institutions and promoting anti-education policies.

They said that labeling private schools a mafia and disrespect of teachers was a prevailing norm in the country.

They questioned that how could a society prosper without giving teachers their due respect?

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2019.