The All-Pakistan Private Schools Association (APPSA) has once again demanded cantonment boards across the country to halt the forced closure of 8,850 private schools situated within the cantonment limits across the country including in the Rawalpindi district.
At a press conference held at the Rawalpindi Press Club, the APPSA action committee said that the final date for a protest march on D-Chowk would be announced after a convention on December 28.
Members of the APPSA action committee including Chaudhry Nasir, Malik Azhar, Abrar Ahmad Khan, Chaudhry Tayyab, Muhammad Usman and Shahbaz Qamar said that they will not remain silent if their houses were burned.
They said that the cantonment boards’ action of forced closure of privates educational institutions prior to the adjudication of appeals by the Supreme Court has spread fear among the teachers, students and their parents.
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“With the closure of 8,850 schools situated in 42 Cantonment boards across the country, over 40,000 students will be affected and nearly 350,000 teachers and 150,000 non-teaching staff will be unemployed,” they said adding that they hoped for a similar decision from the Supreme Court which issued orders for reinstatement of 16,000 sacked government employees.
Members of the APPSA action committee said that either the Cantonment boards reverse their decision or provide alternate land for private educational institutions. The action committee members demanded that the evacuation of private schools from Cantonment boards should be stopped immediately until a final decision was made by the Supreme Court on their appeals.
They said that over 12 million children were already out of school in Punjab alone. With this decision, the number will reach 15 million. They said that if the Parliament can pass 33 laws in one day, why can't there be legislation on this important issue.
The action committee lamented that the Cantonment boards have already started harassing the private schools by sealing them. “We will announce an important final decision at the convention on Tuesday,” they said. They further said that they were ready to approach every platform for negotiations and knock on every door for justice. They said that private schools within the limits of Cantonment boards were legal and established after obtaining no-objection certificates. A permanent solution to this most serious problem must be found otherwise we will be forced to march on D-Chowk Islamabad,” they said.
Meanwhile, Rawalpindi and C haklala Cantonment Boards have decided to seal all private schools in their respective jurisdictions on January 1.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2021.
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