SHC bars school from taking action against complainants

Parents of students challenge collection of annual fee by Foundation Public School Hyderabad

HYDERABAD:

The Sindh High Court has barred Foundation Public School Hyderabad from taking 'coercive action' against students whose parents have challenged in the court levying of an annual fee by the school.

The Hyderabad circuit bench comprising justice Kausar Sultana Hussain and justice Khadim Hussain Soomro also put the Sindh government, Sindh education department, Directorate of Inspection and Registration and the school on notice for March, 6.

The petitioner's counsel, advocate Riaz Ali Panhwar, apprised the court that the school was not accepting the tuition fee for the last three months from the parents who have opposed charging of the annual fee. He expressed fear that the children of such parents may be expelled from that school on the pretext of non-payment of the tuition fee even though it was the school which is not accepting the fee.

More than two dozen parents have filed a petition in the SHC, challenging Rs15,000 annual fee which they argued has been unjustifiably imposed by the FPS. They cited a government letter dated September 6, 2023, through which the school's campus in the Defence area was allowed to collect that annual fee under rule 7 (1) of Sindh Private Education Institutions (Regulation and Control Rules), 2005.

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They shared another circular of the Regional Directorate of Inspection and Registration dated October 10, 2023, in which the government underlined that charging of any fee other than admission and tuition fee is unlawful. "It has been observed with great concern that the administrations of the private schools force the students to purchase uniforms, books, copies, registers, practical journals and other stationary items from them," the circular, issued by Director Muhammad Anwar Qureshi of Hyderabad region, observed.

"They [private schools] charge manifold price as compared to the market price. It's a violation of the rules and regulations as prescribed in the ordinance."

The petitioners said FPS has not formed the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) to promote communication between the teachers and the parents. They said the PTA's role is also crucial in academic affairs.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2024.