LAHORE: After Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took notice of the ‘substantial increase’ in the private schools’ fees, the Punjab government has sprung into action and ‘finally’ decided to introduce a legislation to regulate the affairs of these institutions.

The Punjab Education Commission Bill is likely to be tabled in the forthcoming session of the provincial assembly, primarily to have a check on the affairs of the private schools.

The proposed draft of the bill was presented before the cabinet over a year ago and was subsequently approved.

However, owing to the ‘misplaced’ priorities of the Punjab government the bill could not be tabled in the provincial assembly for legislation. One of the hurdles was lack of a mechanism to regulate the private schools affairs.

When the draft bill was approved by the cabinet early last year, Education Minister Rana Mashhood had declared it would be presented in the House and legislation would be made.

However, the education minister did not respond to a Dawn query as to why the government had been sitting on the draft bill for over a year.

The Punjab government had also given an undertaking before the Lahore High Court on April 1, 2015 that it would present a bill in the Punjab Assembly to regulate the private schools’ affairs in the province but till date the Shahbaz administration did not bother to comply with the superior court’s order.

A senior official of the Punjab education department told Dawn that the proposed bill would be tabled in the Punjab Assembly’s next session.

“The provincial government is taking the matter of private schools seriously after the prime minister’s notice and legislation is required to regulate their affairs,” he said.

Under the proposed draft bill, the official said the private schools would not be allowed to increase the fee at their will. “The private schools will be bound to provide at least 10 per cent students with free education,” he said.

The official further said under the proposed law the private schools had been divided in A, B, and C categories and their affairs would be regulated accordingly.

Some responsibilities have been assigned to provincial and local governments in the proposed bill. It also addresses some issues related to madrassahs (seminaries).

The bill has declared 10 years of education – from grade 1 to 10 – a right of every child between five and 16 years of age and the government would ensure it free of cost.

“The private schools will not be permitted to charge any amount from students other than tuition, admission and security fee. They will also not be allowed to force them to purchase school articles, such as books from a specific vendor,” the official said.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2015

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