Private schools protest against eviction notices

Authorities earlier ordered to relocate 1,200 private educational institutions

RAWALPINDI:

The All Pakistan Private School Management Association (APPMA) organised a massive protest against the notices issued by the authorities to relocate 1,200 private educational institutions within the limits of Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonment boards.

Several protesters, including students and teachers, took part in the demonstration against the closure of schools by December 31. They held placards and banners inscribed with slogans against the notices. The demonstrators said moving educational institutions from cantonment areas is unacceptable.

The parents of the children appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan, army chief, and prime minister not to deprive their children of education.

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APPMA President, Abrar Ahmad Khan, said the cantonment board authorities have issued orders to transfer 7,000 schools from 42 cantonment boards across the country. The transfer of educational institutions from cantonment boards will deprive 2.2 million students of education and render 300,000 teachers unemployed, he warned. He added that the cantonment boards did not allocate any space for transferring educational institutions.

Abrar said that the court had only heard the version of the cantonment administration and not that of the private schools management. He vowed APPMA would continue to fight a legal battle against this action at every level.

He also said that the schools’ management and parents will not refrain from staging a sit-in against the measure.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2021.