November 17, 2008	Monday	Ziqa'ad 18, 1429

KARACHI, Nov 16: Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq has asked officials of the directorate of private educational institutions to help solve problems of parents and schoolteachers on priority basis.

The minister had taken a notice of recent media reports that most private schools were openly violating provisions of the Sindh Private Educational Institutions (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2005, sources said.

The minister had directed the officials concerned to ensure that the trend of fleecing parents on pretext of different charges must stop in private educational institutions, sources added.

The minister also asked the directorate to make sure that service conditions of private schools’ staffs must comply with the regulations and control rules.

He also asked the directorate to make arrangements for setting up its regional offices in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana and Mirpurkhas so that affairs of private schools of all five regions could be monitored and supervised in an efficient manner.

The director of the private institutions directorate, Mansoob Hussain Siddiqui, told Dawn that on the instructions of the minister, regional offices of the directorate had been set up in Karachi and Hyderabad.

He said they would look after affairs of around 85 per cent of private institutions of these two regions. Regional offices of the directorate in Mirpurkhas, Larkana and Sukkur would be set up soon, he added.

He said that all private schools had been warned through circulars not to increase fees in the middle of an academic year and only collect fee and charges approved by the directorate at the beginning of an academic year.

He said all private educational institutions had been warned that strict action would be taken against them, which might lead to cancellation of their registrations and heavy fines, if they violated any rule.