‘No admissions for fee defaulters’
Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood interacts with teachers and students at a school in Islamabad on the first day of the reopening of educational institutions. PHOTO: NNI
A key body of private schools has demanded of the Rawalpindi administration to take action against private and public schools granting admissions to new students without leaving the certificate of their previous schools.
All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association (APPSMA) said that many public and private educational institutions were enrolling new students without their leaving certificates of previous educational institutions. It demanded strict implementation on school leaving certificates for new admissions.
A number of parents haven’t paid fees due to the coronavirus lockdown and opting for changing schools with outstanding dues.
The APPSMA Divisional President Abrar Ahmed held an important meeting in this regard on Tuesday.
Ahmed urged the Rawalpindi administration to take action against schools accepting new admissions without school leaving certificates (SLC).
The official suggested the administration to cancel the registration of all such schools along with the imposition of heavy fines.
The APPSMA president said that the district administration must implement this rule with strictness to save schools from facing heavy losses in terms of pending fees.
Private schools face delay in registration
The district administration has taken notice of the delay in the registration of 300 private schools.
Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner (DC) Anwarul Haq has directed the district education officer to expedite the process of registration of new schools and ensure that the related committees complete the process promptly.
DC has also summoned a meeting of the District Education Authority (DEA) this month. A DEA member Irfan Muzaffar Kayani said that on the direction of the DC, the DEA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Iftikhar Hassan Butt, District Education Officer (DEO) Elementary and Private Schools Focal Person Mushtaq Ahmed Siyal have already issued orders to the registration committees across the district to expedite the registration process of private educational institutions.
Kayani added that the DEA officials have also started inspection on an emergency basis and the reports on the progress would be submitted to the related authority soon after which all pending registration cases would be winded up.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 7th, 2020.