‘Big schools don’t listen to PEIRA’

Big chains of private educational institutions rarely abide by the orders of the regulator, rather these business giants tend to do things arbitrarily, noted the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training during a meeting on Wednesday.

However, the small and medium sized enterprises of the educational sector in Islamabad abide by Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) directives members of the committee noted.

The authority received recognition for its performance under the new chairman from the NA panel on education.

Standing Committee’s Chairman MNA Najeebuddin Owaisi praised the authority’s performance, expressing that it was the first time that he has seen PEIRA actively working. The panel meeting was held at the Federal Urdu University (FUU) Islamabad Campus on Wednesday.

Further, MNA Nafessa Khataak drew the attention of the committee members towards the difficulties faced by the students in getting admissions in the federal government (FG) schools. At this, the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) Director General (DG) Zia Batool , who is also the chairman of PEIRA, said that the students would be given an additional week for enrolling themselves as a setoff against delay due to the coronavirus situation.

She assured the panel that the orders of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and the Supreme Court (SC) regarding fees would be implemented.

MNA Farooq Malik expressed that private institutions do not implement any orders. He pointed out that some schools in Bahawalpur have even started receiving fines along with school fees. At this, PEIRA Chairman responded that their jurisdiction was only Islamabad while the matter pertaining to Bahawalpur resided with the provincial authorities.

MNA Asma Qadeer said that while devising fee policy, big and small schools should not be mixed. Small schools charge very nominal fees, she added.

MNA Mehnaz Aziz reiterated that big schools do not accept PEIRA’s orders while the authority has all influence only over small schools. Batool said that 80% of schools registered with the authority were small-level institutions and they were devising the fee policy keeping in view education and other standards.

MNA Dr Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro demanded a report on PEIRA’s progress on the matter until now.

FUU issues

The committee reviewed matters pertaining to FUU and expressed dissent on the non-resolution of the land issue. FUU Acting Registrar said that the absence of a permanent vice-chancellor (VC) and excessive powers and autonomy of the varsity’s senate was creating problems.

He added that the new campus of the varsity was almost complete.

The registrar said that as many as 3,500 students graduate from the FUU Islamabad Campus every year. However, the institution has been suffering financially since the past decade. He notified that the university was in a deficit of Rs 350 million which is expected to escalate next semester.

MNA Hamid Hameed commented that there was a huge influence of student wings of political parties in FUU. He said that the institutions under political influence could never progress.

Hameed questioned the elements hindering the shifting of the FUU President Office to Islamabad. He further asked about the elements that were against the promotion of Urdu. At this, MNA Asmatullah said that the educated people in the country were the ones who were against it.

MNA Farooq Azam said that the documents must be printed in Urdu onwards.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2020.