Education for all: PA likely to pass free education bill

A nine-member committee has deliberated the bill from June to August

LAHORE:

The Provincial Assembly is likely to pass the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Bill on Monday (today) granting the children between five 5 and 16 years of age the legal right to free and compulsory education.

The Standing Committee on Education says the bill will be passed this week.

It offers a legislative framework for the implementation of provisions of Article 25-A of the Constitution stating that every child in the 5 to 16 age bracket will be given free and compulsory education by the state.



Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar had promulgated the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Ordinance on May 13.

The then law minister Rana Sanaullah had moved the bill in the assembly on May 16.

It was sent to the Standing Committee on Education for further deliberations the same day.

A nine-member committee discussed the bill in five meetings between June and August.

The committee chairman, Qamarul Islam Raja, presented a report on the bill that was presented in the House on October 20.

He says the bill is set for a vote today.

“The law has been under deliberation for quite some time now. We have done our best to take all stakeholders on board.”

The committee recommended 15 amendments. Most of them included amended definitions of terms used in the bill that had been initially tabled.

The committee revisited definitions of terms, including child, local authority, school and vocational education. The term ‘screening procedure’ has also been revised.

Earlier, the provision had stated that no screening procedure would be done for children and their parents for admission to schools. The amended definition puts a bar on the screening procedure to state that no such procedure will be done… at ‘nursery or any other initial level’.

MPA Islam says the amendment was introduced to ensure quality checks in schools at higher levels which would not only prevent admission of children at the initial level but would also ensure standards at a higher educational level.

The committee has also put forth an amendment to repeal the Punjab Compulsory Primary Education Act 1994 and the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Ordinance 2014. The composition of the school management bodies has also been laid down.

A school management body at a public school will now consist of school representatives, teachers and parents of students.

The private schools’ contribution in terms of free and compulsory education law has also been revised.

Private schools had expressed reservations after the promulgation of the ordinance in May calling for private schools to provide free education to disadvantaged children in schools up to 10 per cent of the strength of each class.

The amended clause now offers private schools an alternative by allowing a voucher scheme for disadvantaged children in any other school.

MPA Islam says members of the committee, including Murad Raas of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, have unanimously proposed the amendments.

According to the office of the speaker’s secretary, today’s agenda in the assembly includes presentation of the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Bill 2014.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2014.