The District Registration Authority (DRA) has failed to convene a meeting for the third time in a year to take up for discussion the registration and renewal of certificates of private schools in the Rawalpindi district.
In October 2019, the Punjab government notified the DRA to regulate private schools in the Rawalpindi district.
The registration of 186 new private schools and the renewal of registration of 2,840 private schools in the whole district has been hanging in the balance for the last one year.
Sources said that all these schools have been denied affiliation by the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education and Education and the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Rawalpindi after the DRA failed to register them and renew their registration.
According to sources, this has put the career of thousands of students enrolled in these schools at stake and they may be denied to appear in the next matriculation examination.
The sources said that the newly appointed assistant commissioner (headquarters) has also failed to convene a meeting of the DRA on one or the other pretext. The DRA meeting was scheduled to take place in the last week of October but it was postponed owing to the ongoing edgy political situation in the district.
Heads and owners of these private schools continue to visit the office of the deputy commissioner and the assistant commissioner seeking an early meeting so that the registration and board affiliation issue could be taken up.
Earlier, the Punjab government had made one-time legislation for the registration of private schools. Under the legislation, 25,000 private schools in Punjab and 2,840 private schools in the Rawalpindi district were granted free registration for a year.
All these registered schools were required to renew registration after one year in December 2020. Since then, all private schools are operating without registration.
The sources said that the registration of 186 new schools has also been pending for more than a year.
School principals of these new schools including Hafiz Idris Ali and Raja Zulqarnain said that they have completed all legal papers and the registration should be started immediately.
All-Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges’ Association leader Raja Ilyas Kayani demanded that all private schools should be granted registration immediately for a year. He asked the DRA to convene a meeting at the earliest so that they could process their applications for affiliation with educational boards.
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.
Owing to the frequent shuffling of the Punjab governments, the registration system has remained paralysed. Under the new system, all registered private schools across the province were supposed to obtain registration certificates for two years instead of one year.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 11th, 2022.
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