Proposing regulation: ‘Bring private schools under ambit of law’

NA sub-committee members call for strict monitoring, implementation of law.

ISLAMABAD:

The deteriorating standard of public education has forced parents — those who can afford it — to send their children to private schools which, in return, charge fees of their choices as the law governing their function is yet to take root.

A sub-committee of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat observed that the exiting law must be improved to oversee the overall functioning of private schools including their registration, regulation and fee structure procedures.

The committee members observed that though the private schools charge high fee from students, they pay low salaries to teachers and their only focus remains on opening subsidiary branches.

The six-member body, which was formed on the directives of the Supreme Court to examine and improve the draft rules of the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA), convened a meeting at the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) on Wednesday to discuss the proposed rules to better regulate private schools which almost operate unbridled.

Over a 100 institutes are awaiting registration and an equal number of applications are pending with the Capital Development Authority (CDA) for allotment of plots.

PEIRA, which was established through an act of parliament in 2013 with an aim to register, regulate and implement uniform policy for private educational institutions in the capital, oversees over 1,100 schools and colleges in total.

When MNA Nafeesa Khattak asked if there was any process for checking the certification of teachers, fee structure and salaries at private schools, PEIRA acting chairperson Imtiaz Qureshi said “I have reports of 30 to 70 per cent increase in fee of students without any reason and the practice goes on.”

When he said that two institutions were charging fee in foreign currency, the members asked him to issue notices to them to stop the practice.

The sub-committee’s chairperson Seema Jameeli observed that except for principals and a few teachers, the rest of the staff at private institutes get low salaries no more than Rs10,000 a month.

“We are binding schools to release salaries through banks or post offices so that a record could be maintained,” Qureshi said, adding that they were also mulling over binding schools to pay a minimum Rs20,000 a month to teachers.

He said that the draft rules also call for scrutiny of qualification of teachers and verification of their degrees. Similarly, under the proposed draft, according to him, schools running matriculation, O and A-levels programmes will have a minimum of 5,000 books in their libraries with qualified librarians.

While talking about ill-equipped labs, he said that PEIRA also unearthed a ‘mafia’ which helped private schools establish makeshift labs on their premises prior to the visit of PEIRA teams.

Khattak also drew his attention towards the non-conforming use of residential areas by private schools.

CADD Minister of State Barrister Usman Ibrahim said they were recommending a school on at least 10 marla plots.

Qureshi also pointed out that CDA auctioned plots for academic institutions in Sector G-11 but they were purchased by people who had nothing to do with education.

He said that the Islamabad Traffic Police have also identified 40 schools in the capital which were hindering traffic flow during opening and closing time and notices have been issued to them.

The members sought further discussion on the draft rules by also taking the stakeholders including private institutions and teaching bodies, in the loop.

The sub-committee chairperson announced that the next meeting will be convened soon to solve this ‘pressing’ issue as soon as possible.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2015.