April 11, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 4, 1429

KARACHI, April 10: At a time when the Secondary School Certificate (Class IX and X) annual examinations are only four days away, a number of private schools have threatened to withhold admit cards of their Class X students if they fail to deposit July’s tuition fee, an act the Sindh education department’s directorate of private schools has described as ‘unjust’ and ‘unlawful’.

A number of parents rang up Dawn to complain that the schools where their wards were studying in Class X were compelling them to deposit July’s tuition fee or else they would not be issued admit cards.

They said they feared their children would lose their precious academic year if admit cards were not issued.

When the parents’ concern was brought to the notice of the provincial education department’s private schools/institutions director, Mansoob Hussain Siddiqui, he not only described the demand for July’s tuition fee from Class X students as ‘illegal’ and ‘unjust’, but also warned such schools that their registration might be cancelled.

Admitting that he, too, had received complaints that some private schools were forcing Class X students to pay July’s tuition fee, he said he had already issued show-cause notices to a number of private schools, asking them not to charge July’s tuition fee from students appearing in their forthcoming annual matriculation examinations.

He said he had already formed a three-member committee to look into such complaints and take stern action against schools threatening to withhold admit cards of their Class X students merely because they were not paying July’s fee.

Mr Siddiqui asked parents whose wards were not being issued admit cards to lodge complaints about such schools at the private schools directorate on telephone 2776416 or bring the issue to the notice of the members of the committee formed to deal with such issues.

The directorate of private schools on receiving such complaints will not only issue show-cause notices to such schools but will even cancel registrations of schools found guilty of harassing and fleecing parents on one pretext or another, he added.

Asked what action would be taken against those private schools which had already charged July’s tuition fee, he said that in such a case “we will get the fee refunded to the students”.

Answering another question, he said the directorate had recently issued show-cause notices to a number of schools for charging illegal fees.