Private education: Parents protest fee hike at Liberty Chowk

Say they want govt intervention to stop private schools from raising fees


Photo Ayesha Mir/our Correspondent September 14, 2015
The protesters held up placards and shouted slogans. PHOTO: AYESHA MIR/EXPRESS

LAHORE: Dozens of people gathered at Liberty Chowk on Monday to voice their concern at rising fees at private schools. Thousands of people had earlier registered to attend the protest.

The protesters said they would continue their weekly demonstrations until the government agreed to regulate fees.

Some of the protesters chanted slogans against school managements. They urged the government to stop the “private school mafia” from frequently raising the fees. Saqib Sattar, a protester, said the schools were raising fees by 10 per cent every quarter. “I am now paying around Rs66,000 every quarter for my child. The fee rises by 30 per cent every year. This is unjustified,” he said. Another parent, Tahir Saleem, said that the protest was not just about the fee hike. “It is also about the quality of education our children are receiving,” he said. He said that the school did not have a football ground for children.Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had issued a statement that private institutions would not be allowed to ‘unnecessarily’ raise fees.

Education Minister Rana Mashhood had met a group of parents and some representatives of schools administrations on September 12.

On Monday, DCO Muhammad Usman held a meeting with representatives of private school owners at the Town Hall. “The district administration will not allow private schools to loot citizens. The schools will not be permitted to raise fees during an academic session. The schools must return the excess charged,” he said. He said that the process of increasing fees would be made transparent. He said the district administration planned to hire chartered accountants to carry out audits of private schools. “The audits would be conducted for the past three years. The schools will also be asked to provide the formula for calculating fees. The DCO directed the managements to end disparity in fees of schools in the same category.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15th, 2015.

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