Private schools add ‘service charges’ to overcome monthly deficit

Many schools have also obtained stay orders from the PHC itself.

PESHAWAR: A majority of schools in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) have yet to adhere to the ‘sibling policy’, which extends tuition fee concessions to brothers and sisters studying in the same school. This flagrant non-compliance is in spite of orders issued by the Peshawar High Court (PHC),

Some schools adopted the policy fearing a cancellation of their registration. However, these schools also added ‘service charges’ to their monthly fees in order to balance out the concessions offered. The PHC orders were only for private schools; not colleges and universities.

Other schools faced the music when their registration with intermediate boards was cancelled. The more ‘elite’ institutions, on the other hand, managed to obtain stay orders from the PHC itself.



Parents have been filing complaints; some going as far as filing contempt petitions against school administrations. These cases are currently under way as people claim court orders are being flouted despite knowing the consequences of doing so.

“I pay Rs5,800 each month for my daughter, Noorulain, who has just completed playgroup. Although her monthly fee was reduced [sibling policy], Rs1,600 in service charges were also added,” complained Faiza Rafeeq, a housewife. Private school administrations are wiser than the court, she added.

Rafeeq admitted the teaching standard of her daughter’s school was high, but argued this did not mean school management should start “looting” people. She requested the court fix a reasonable fee for all private schools, including the more high-end ones.

School administrations, on the other hand, had their reasons for hiking the monthly tuition fees.

“Rs3,000 a month is spent per student studying at government schools, and this amount is collected as tax. Despite the money spent, public school students cannot compete with those studying at private schools,” asserted Private School Association (PSA) President Aqeel Razzaq. “This is why bureaucrats and the upper class enroll their sons and daughters at private schools.”

Razzaq said court orders were being complied with for only Pakistani citizens – not foreigners (Afghan nationals). He observed a few schools had even obtained stay orders against the ‘sibling policy’ from the PHC, which had issued the concession orders in the first place.

While complaining about the court’s orders being directed at only private schools, Razzaq questioned why sibling concessions were not a provision for Pakistan Railways, Pakistan International Airlines, and private colleges and universities.

“I pay 12 kinds of tax, does a government school pay tax?” he questioned rhetorically. “This is a violation of human rights.”

When asked about service charges being added to monthly fees, Razzaq said these accounted for amenities such as electricity, telephones, furniture and classroom maintenance. All these are fused into the charge, maintained the PSA president.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2013.