Private schools condemn fee hike by K-P boards

Private educational institutions have condemned the fee hike under various heads by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa including by the Abbottabad board, terming it a conspiracy to deprive students belonging to low-income groups.

Private Education Network (PEN) Provincial Joint Secretary Shaukat Mehmood said that the sudden increase in the fee will also add to the woes of parents, hit by hyper-inlfation.

Mehmood said that the education boards of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have issued a notification of an increase in the fee under various heads including the registration and affiliation fee.

“A meeting of the Board of Governors (BOG) of all education boards of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has approved the increase in the fee despite the fact the board of governors is not complete with four seats of heads of government and private educational institutions being vacant,” he claimed.

“The BOG of the education board is not complete as per the board calendar and the decision of the Peshawar High Court,” he added.

The provincial joint secretary further said that unilateral decisions have been taken due to vacant seats of stakeholders which is not acceptable at all. “Increasing fees without taking stakeholders into confidence is an attempt to deprive the children of the middle-class households of education,” Mehmood said.

“Under Section 25A of the Constitution of Pakistan, it is the responsibility of the state to provide free education to every child between the ages of five and 16 years. Increasing fees without taking stakeholders into confidence is an attempt to deprive the middle-class children of education,” he said.

The PEN official said that various institutions of the provincial government were charging unnecessary fees from the children let alone providing free education and the recent increase in fees by the K-P education boards is beyond comprehension, he lamented.

“We will not accept this decision under any circumstances. We request the provincial government to adhere to Section 25A of the Constitution of Pakistan by paying the board fees of the poor and middle-class children instead of increasing the fees,” Mehmood demanded.

On the other hand, according to PEN Haripur District President Basharat Nawaz Abbasi, “we had already demanded from the chief minister, minister of education and secretary education that to make the ‘Study of the Holy Quran’ a part of the syllabus is a very good thing and it is also a need of the hour.

But by the time the government issued a notification to include this subject in the board exams, half a year of schooling had already passed.”

He said: “This notification was also in violation of the clear order of the high court in which the honourable judges have restrained the government from adding any new subject in the syllabus right away so that children can get full study time.”

Abbasi claimed that since the publication of the notification the books on the newly added subject could not reach the market to date. “Suppose, if the book of the ‘Study of the Holy Quran’ is available in the market today, can this subject of 150 complete marks be taught in just 60 working days,” he questioned.

He said that Abbottabad and Malakand, the two major divisions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, are winter stations where two-and-a-half-month vacations are given in winter instead of summer, the duration of which can be extended. “These holidays will be from December 15 to March 1,” he said.

“Can it be possible to teach thousands of children of the winter regions the ‘Study of the Holy Quran’ in just 20 or 25 working days?” he questioned.

He further said that the teachers, children and parents of the public and private sectors were put in a state of confusion. “The notification of suddenly adding a new subject to the board exams in the middle of the year is beyond comprehension,” he said. He demanded the authorities clear the confusion immediately and include important subjects like the Study of the Holy Quran in the curriculum for the year 2023-2024. “Timely delivery of books and teacher training is the responsibility of the government, so timely rather advanced steps should be taken in this regard,” he demanded.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2022