Week-long protest: Parents pin hopes on authorities to provide relief from high fees

KARACHI:

After week-long protests and complaints against the raise in fees by private schools, the authorities have taken a noticed of the situation but no relief has been provided to the parents yet.

Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui wrote a letter on Saturday to the Sindh education secretary, Fazlullah Pechuho, asking him to take action against exorbitant fees the schools are charging. Many parents had approached the commissioner with complaints against different private schools charging excessive amounts, Siddiqui mentioned in the letter.

Siddiqui requested Pechuho to take immediate action and resolve the issue. The secretary also appears to be on the same page. Such high fees will not be tolerated, Pechuho told The Express Tribune. A meeting will be called on Monday to settle the dispute, he claimed. Some schools have said that they have revised the fee structure to accommodate the increase in taxes by the Federal Board of Revenue, said Pechuho. "We will sit, talk and try to resolve this issue urgently."

A tax of five per cent been imposed on parents who pay Rs0.2 million or more per year as their children's school fee, explained Siddiqui. The schools were asked to charge five per cent tax on all such parents, he pointed out. The parents should understand that this raise is tax implementation and not the actual school fee, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2015.