Moalims

LAHORE: Private schools in Punjab remained closed on Tuesday as their owners demanded that the government should not regulate their annual increase in school fee.

The Education Authority Bill, a law passed in the Punjab Assembly on February 27, allows only a 5 percent increase in school fee annually. The law also limits admission fee deposited to schools to a maximum of the monthly tuition fee. Violation of the law can result in fine up to Rs 2 million.

Two school associations; Private School Federation ad Pakistan Education Council, are protesting the law.

Over 60 percent schools in Lahore and Multan remained closed today.

Talks with Punjab education minister Rana Mashood failed on Tuesday, as only one of the two associations agreed to re-open schools.

Speaking to the media, the minister said, “We will not let schools mint money in the name of education.”

Punjab has over 90,000 private schools. Most of these schools—including branches of Beaconhouse, Kids Kampus, SICAS and the Salamat Schools System, Lahore College of Arts and Sciences (LACAS), Lahore Grammar School (LGS), Bloomfield, City School, and Learning Alliance—will stay closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In September, last year, parents in all major cities of Pakistan staged protests against exorbitant school fees, which prompted the government into action.

News Reference