Moalims

PESHAWAR: The Elementary and Secondary Education Department has decided to establish the much-awaited private schools regulatory authority.

Provincial Minister for E&SE Mohammad Atif said this on Tuesday while talking to a delegation of parents of the children enrolled in private schools. He said that the proposed bill had already been drafted by the education department.

Successive provincial governments have failed to regulate the affairs of the private schools, particularly developing a mechanism for fixing fee, about which the parents had a lot of concerns. The previous government had also made an attempt to pass a law for establishment of the authority, but it failed due to pressure from the influential lobby of private schools.

In 2013, when the PTI government was established it also initiated the process to set up the regulatory authority. The education department proposed a draft bill and got it vetted from the law department, but the provincial government failed to table the bill in the provincial assembly. The bill is still lying in the education department for over two and a half years.

Speaking to the parents, Mr Atif said that the proposed regulatory authority would have representation of all the stakeholders, including the representatives of the private schools, parents and education department.

Deputy commissioner, Peshawar, Riaz Mehsud, officials of the education department, representatives of the Consumers Protection Council, All Pakistan Parents Association, Peshawar, and a number of the parents of students of private schools were also present on the occasion.

The minister said that the proposed authority would have the powers to make the policy guideline for private schools and implement them. About increase in fee, he said that in the open market economy the government couldn’t force the private schools to cut fee. However, he said that the regulation of schools was the responsibility of the provincial government.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2015