K-P PSRA turning into a white elephant

Several posts lie vacant in the body amid little progress

PESHAWAR: Nearly two years after it was formed and several court decisions later, the provincial private school regulator has yet to provide relief to parents from high school fees.

Following a growing clamour from parents about exorbitant fees, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had in June 2017, passed a bill to set up the regulatory authority.

But over two years after the authority was set up, around 78 positions in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Private School Regulatory Authority (K-P PSRA) from basic pay scale (BPS) grade-3 to grade-17, are lying vacant.

These vacant posts include three for grade 19, four for grade-18, eight grade-17 positions, 20 grade 16- positions, 21 grade-11 positions, and nine grade 3 positions.

Some of these positions include managing directors. While the government has sanctioned a move to fill these positions, it has yet to materialise.

Parents’ councils to review fee structure of private schools

Sources in the body say that if structures of the authority are not properly set up, how can they deliver any relief to people whose children are studying in private educational institutions.

Due to the condition of the authority, it has been unable to regulate fee structure of private schools in the province, a source said, adding that at best the authority has set up an office with a rent of Rs370,000 a month.

The provincial government has thus far cherry-picked some blue-eyed officers from the Provincial Civil Service (PCS) and the Provincial Management Service (PMS) cadre into the different departments of the authority on deputation and none of the officers or employees have been hired on a regular basis, the source said.

The deputees, the source complained were drawing a substantial salary apart from availing allowances from their deputed department but have delivered little.

Private schools barred from charging fee in advance

The Express Tribune attempted to contact a media representative of the authority but discovered that that post too remains vacant.

One of the acting directors of K-P PSRA, who spoke to The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said that they have submitted a set of proposals for improving the performance of the authority to the provincial government.

He expressed the hope that soon the government will start hiring to fill vacant posts in the authority.

“By hiring professionals from the field will benefit the parents and schools,” the senior K-P PSRA official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2019.