Private school staff can perform administrative work

PEIRA permission only extends to non-teaching staff, bars schools from collecting lump-sum fees

ISLAMABAD: With all educational institutions, both private and public, directed to remain closed for classes until May 31 amidst the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the regulator of private schools in the federal capital has granted an exception to schools to open their branches.

The exemption, though, only extends to the staff of these schools to manage administrative affairs but they have been barred from receiving lump-sum fees for two months.

A notification issued by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) on Tuesday granted permission to private educators to open their establishments with a skeleton staff during the lockdown.

In the new standard operating procedures (SOPs) for private schools and colleges in the city during the pandemic, it specified that schools will be allowed to call in a maximum of four administrative staff daily. These four staffers, however, will be required to adopt all precautionary health measures while coming to the institutions, it added.

These staffers have been permitted to manage administrative affairs of their instructions such as payment of salaries, utility bills, and related processes. Any kind of gatherings in the institutions has also been barred.

PIERA, however, has barred all educational institutions from receiving fees for April and May from students in a single payment. Instead, they have been instructed to receive them monthly.

Further, PEIRA has instructed the educational institutions to pay full salaries to their respective teaching and non-teaching staff.

Meanwhile, the National Associations of Private Schools (NAPS) has welcomed PEIRA’s decision.

NAPS President Chaudhry Abdullah declared it a ‘wise move’, adding that it will enable private institutions to pay salaries to their staff this way, while the teaching staff can continue to devise the syllabus and assign homework to students through remote learning methods.

The official assured that teachers and administrative staff will abide by all precautionary guidelines suggested by the government and health experts to prevent the spread of the virus.

Special allocation demanded

The All Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges Association (APPSCA) on Tuesday demanded that the federal and provincial governments provide a special financial package to private educational institutions within their respective jurisdictions, during their ongoing closure due to the pandemic.

APPSCA President Malik Ibrar on Tuesday said that around 2 million teachers and some 200,000 school owners require financial assistance from the government to survive this tough period.

He added that each school was responsible to bear expenditures such as salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff, building rent, affiliation and registration fees, and utility bills.

Except for few, most of the school owners can hardly fulfil their expenditures as they take low fees from students, he said.

Malik Ibrar added that private schools, being a major stakeholder in the overall education gamut of the country by catering to more than 60% of students, require support from the government. If they do not receive support, he warned that around 90% of such establishments could shut down.

The closure of these schools could lead to the mass unemployment of teachers and create difficulties for owners as well.

The government, while continuing its positive educational policies, should focus on education, especially to facilitate the teachers, he urged.

WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AGENCIES 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2020.