KARACHI: Private sector in education gets free hand
By Mukhtar Alam
KARACHI, Jan 15: Under the newly-promulgated private educational institutions ordinance, the Sindh education department aims to reduce the say of parents, students or government agencies in the affairs of privately-run educational institutions, sources said.
The sources in the education department said the higher authorities had finalized a set of terms and conditions that were needed to be fulfilled by private educational institutions’ management to avoid withdrawal or suspension of registration of school/college/university.
As against the 17 conditions required to be observed by private educational institutions in the past, now there would be 10 conditions needed to be met by school managements, the sources said, adding that the government wanted to facilitate the private sector to the maximum.
However, independent sources expressed the opinion that the new set of conditions would result in disorders and make a mockery of the Sindh Private Educational Institutions (Regulation and Control) Ordinance-2001. In view of the government’s new policies and actions in the field of education it could be said that now there was very little left for the government to regulate or control education affairs undertaken in the private sector, the sources added.
It was learnt that the new set of terms and conditions absolved the government from the responsibility of fixing tuition fee of private educational institutions. Under the new set of rules, it is now up to the private managements whether they taught Arabic and the Holy Quran as per the syllabus prescribed by the department for various classes, or taught Sindhi as a compulsory subject or not.
The new set of conditions is also silent on the fixation of admission fee, teaching of government-approved textbooks only, minimum working days/hours of private schools. The former condition that teachers in private schools should be paid salaries in accordance with the scales approved by the government of Sindh, is also missing in the new set of conditions.
The set of terms and conditions prepared in line with the new ordinance on private educational institutions and to be followed by private educational institutions are as follows:
1. That the institution, including the relevant records, shall be opened for inspection to the officers of education department or any officer authorized by the government.
2. That there shall be at least 50 per cent trained/qualified teachers out of the total (number of) teachers working in the institution.
3. That the institution shall maintain a conducive atmosphere with regard to admissions and learning/teaching and human development and shall provide all/ any information on demand to the Registering Authority or his nominee and also follow the instructions thereof.
4. The institution will allow 10 per cent freeship to its students on need-cum-merit basis.
5. That the institution shall maintain norms and standards based on merit, without prejudice to colour, creed, language or religion.
6. That the complete records in respect of the students, employees and the institution shall be maintained by the management of the institution and copies of the report of audited accounts shall be submitted to Registering Authority by December 31 every year.
Earlier, under the provisions of Registration of Unrecognized Educational Institutions Ordinance of 1962, schools were required to constitute properly a managing committee approved by the Director of School Education for running a school, and no change in the managing committee was allowed without prior approval of the authority concerned.
The old terms and conditions enabled the education authorities to fix the monthly tuition fee to be charged from students, and an amount equivalent to one month’s tuition fee was permissible to be charged as one-time admission fee. Private schools, under the old terms conditions, were also required to function for six days in a week and not less than 200 days in an academic year.
