DRA approves 436 private schools for Pindi

Denies applications from institutions seeking fee increases beyond stipulated limits

RAWALPINDI:

The District Education Registration Authority (DRA) has approved 436 new private schools in Rawalpindi district while rejecting the requests of only five private schools.

All unregistered private schools across the district were allowed to apply for school registration within one month without penalty. Strict legal action was ordered against schools which did not get registered.

This decision was taken in a special meeting of the DRA. The meeting was chaired by Additional Deputy Commissioner Headquarters, Dr Zanira Aftab. The District Education Authority CEO, Yasin Baloch, Member of the Private Schools and Parents Committee, Abrar Ahmad Khan, Raja Abdul Habib, Representative District Monitoring Officer, Shahzad Mahmood, Deputy District Education Officer Dawood Kayani, Malik Akhtar Mahmood and Waqas Javed attended the meeting.

The matter of registration of 437 new schools was placed before the committee and the committee approved the registration of 436 schools. Five schools were not approved because they applied for an increase of 8% in monthly fees, which was unanimously rejected by the committee which only allowed an increase of up to 5%. It was also noted in the meeting that the unregistered educational institutions were given a one-month grace period to get registered without any penalty, which has now expired. Heavy fines will be imposed on all such schools operating illegally.

In the meeting, it was also decided that SOPs should be issued to the District Registration Committees under the Punjab Private Educational Institutions Promotion and Regulation Act, and the laws should be made enforceable. It was decided that a panel of licensed engineers from the Pakistan Engineering Council should be formed for the Rawalpindi district. Firms authorised by the Authority will issue Building Fitness Certificates to each school. Building fitness certificates from any firm other than those approved will not be acceptable.

Member DRA, Abrar Ahmad Khan said that he was very grateful to the Rawalpindi Additional Deputy Commissioner Dr Zanira Aftab and Education CEO, Muhammad Yasin Khan Baloch for the approval of 437 pending registration cases from February 21, 2023. Abrar Ahmad Khan said that currently there is no new registration case with the DRA.