Institutes caught with forged papers

Education CEO calls for investigation against accused

BAHAWALNAGAR:

Ten private schools in the district that had been part of those schools which get sponsored by the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) have been found to have allegedly been involved in a fraud of official documents.

As per the policy in the province, any individual aspiring to set up a school privately must get initial approval from the district administration before they could apply to the PEF to become one of the latter’s beneficiary.

The owners of the schools in question are accused of having drawn forged documents vis-à-vis approval from the district administration and then they joined the PEF and started getting sponsorship in the form of money from the foundation.

More than 7,400 private schools in Punjab get monthly stipends from the PEF on account of student fees under the mode of public-private partnership.

The chief executive officer of education of the district had asked the government to initiate an investigation against the accused. The trail of the scam goes back to another scandal of fraud.

It so happened that 40 schools were found to have been possessing forged building fitness certificates.

The forged documents of these 40 schools were detected when they applied for renewal of e-licences.

Since the automation of document processing system in the province, each private school is required to have its licence renewed electronically every two years.

After the municipal committee learned that more than 150 schools had been in possession of forged building fitness certificates, the Chief Municipal Officer, Shafiq Baloch, told The Express Tribune, "I have written a letter to the CEO of Education for the verification of the building fitness certificates of the schools involved in forgery."

The CEO of Education, Shahida Hafeez, told The Express Tribune that after learning about this fabrication by the private schools, the education authority of Bahawalnagar started verifying registrations before renewal of e-licences, and so more than 10 schools were found to have forged their registration documents.

A citizen had reportedly filed a complaint with a former deputy commissioner of Bahawalnagar, pointing out those private schools that had forged registration documents.

When the CEO of education of Bahawalnagar was contacted to learn more about the scenario, she said that as soon as she learned about the fraud, she immediately initiated an inquiry and asked the inquiry officer to provide a report .

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2023.