Secondary education: Bill on private school regulation next month

‘The bill is undergoing review with the Law Department’.

LAHORE:

It has been over a month since the government was due to present a bill providing for the regulation of private schools in the province. It now says that it will table it in the coming month.

Talks on a legislative framework to regulate and monitor private schools in the province have been underway for over a year, but progress in the form of consultations and drafts in this regard began in August last year.

Private schools across the province have, not surprisingly, protested strongly against the move. The All Pakistan Private School Management Association has expressed concerns regarding the proposed draft claiming that it is not for the government to ‘meddle’ in the private education sector’s affairs. The association, which claims to represent 80,000 schools in the country, has also announced that they will challenge such a legislation for being unconstitutional.

In February, the School Education Department said the draft had been sent to the Law Department for vetting after which it had to be sent to the cabinet ‘in a few days’. The draft has been with the Law Department for over a month now. The SED says it is undergoing review.



An SED official said a team of foreign consultants were now reviewing the draft. The same consultancy is helping the Punjab government bring about educational reforms in the province, he said.

SED Additional Secretary General Ahmed Ali Kamboh told The Express Tribune that the draft has been vetted but was now being reviewed again. He said the review was being conducted by “partners on board the Chief Minister’s School Reform roadmap”. Though a timeframe has not been given, the additional secretary said the draft would be tabled in the assembly “soon right after the review was complete”. Earlier in February, he had said that it would be tabled in a few days.

Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan has said that the legislative draft is in its final stages and all stakeholders were being taken on board. Khan said it had so far been delayed due to some legislative details that had required an in-depth review.



He dismissed the notion that the government was delaying the bill under pressure from private schools. “The regulatory bill for private schools in the province is very much on our agenda,” he said.

“The process is in the pipeline. There are certain limitations and challenges that need to be addressed…they often cause delays but this legislation is well on its way to the assembly.”

Last year on August 14, the Education Department had announced that it would work on establishing a regulatory authority for private schools and draft legislation for its regulation. The Education minister had said that the bill in this regard would be tabled in March. The reforms sought by the department include the establishment of a regulatory authority and on the still pending legislation on Article 25-A, for free and compulsory education for 5 to 16 year olds.

The Education Department said the bill would propose categories for fees structure based on the standards of education, facilities provided, enrolment and the area on which the school has been constructed and other factors.  The draft also proposes that private schools will educate 10 per cent of their student for free, particularly students from economically unsound households.

This will be enforced as part of the private schools’ corporate social responsibility. A regulatory commission is also being proposed which would comprise members from stakeholders including government departments and private schools.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2014.