Registration of private schools hangs in the balance

RAWALPINDI:

The number of unregistered private schools in the Rawalpindi district has exceeded 5,000 owing to the non-implementation of the new online registration system.

The District Education Registration Authority has failed to convene a meeting for the last one-and-a-half-year for the registration of new private schools in the Rawalpindi district. Due to the non-registration of private schools, the online school registration system has come to a standstill.

As the authorities concerned have failed to convene the meeting, the renewal of the registration of 4,025 schools has also been hanging in the balance.

Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner Tahir Farooq taking notice of the mushroom growth of private schools in streets and neighbourhoods across the Rawalpindi district had issued orders to prepare separate lists of all registered and unregistered schools.

The total number of registered and unregistered private schools has reached 10,000 in the district.

The total number of private academies and colleges is around 1,000. The district government had earlier decided to bring all private schools, academies and colleges across the district under the ambit of the law.

All private schools will have to be divided into three categories and the fee structure was to be formulated according to category. It was also decided to close down private schools consisting of two rooms.

Last year, the Punjab government made the registration system of all private schools completely online and it was decided to register all private schools for only one year. After a thorough inspection of the said schools during the one year, they were to be issued permanent registration licences. Owing to the frequent shuffling of the Punjab governments, this system has been paralysed. Under the new system, all registered private schools across the province were instructed to obtain registration for extended two years instead of one year.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2022.