Relief package sought for private schools

Participants of a webinar on private education system in the Covid-19 era urged the government to allocate funds for the relief of small and medium sized schools and their students.

Representatives of private schools mentioned no relief is being provided to private schools of any tier, except bank loans at discounted rates after pledging the school assets.

Only some of the top tier schools could benefit from this scheme, speakers said at a webinar the Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) and DTNTV had jointly organised on ‘Private Schools: Challenges and Responsibilities’ on Saturday.

About 100 participants including parents, teachers, school management and reps of the private schools’ association and civil society to make the webinar a big success.

Senator Sitara Ayaz and Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad Deputy Mayor Zeeshan Naqvi and Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) Deputy Director Zafar Iqbal were among the guest speakers. Devcom-Pakistan and DTNTV Director Munir Ahmed conducted the webinar.

Speaking on the occasion, Senator Ayaz urged the regulatory authority to take stakeholders on board for giving recommendations to the government to provide relief to students and parents, and also to schools where necessary in the wake of Covid-19 emergency.

IMC Deputy Mayor Naqvi urged PEIRA to form a permanent forum including parents, civil society and other stakeholders for regular interaction to improve private education in at least the federal capital.

Devcom-Pakistan Director Munir Ahmed said PEIRA needs to improve its communication of policies and implementation mechanisms that are quite poor.

Zafar Iqbal said a national conference is expected on July 8 to review the post-Covid-19 scenario for the private and public educational institutions.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2020.