KOHAT: The Private Educational Association Kohat (Peak) and Private Educational Institutions Management Association (PEIMA), Karak, have asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to make a unified education policy for the government and private schools.

They also appealed to the government to treat them as counterparts instead of rivals and criticised it for denial of equal opportunities and facilities to their students and staff.

Peak president Rab Nawaz and PEIMA president Abdul Jalil Khattak told mediapersons here on Thursday that successive governments had made mockery of education policy. They said that under the ‘Stori da Pakhtunkhwa’ programme top 10 position holders in the board examinations of only government schools were awarded cash prizes and the students of private schools were ignored.

In case of best result of any school, the principals were paid Rs200,000 and subject teachers Rs50,000, but it too was for the government schools.

In the sports fund, the government schools got Rs100,000 each annually, but private schools were not paid even a penny. Same is the case with the security arrangements.

They pointed out that the examination hall fee for private schools fixed by the board was Rs40,000 whereas the government schools were exempted from it.

They added that examination hall duties were given to teachers of only government schools and papers were also checked by them for which they got huge monetary benefits, but these areas had also been kept away from the private school and college teachers.

They urged the government to devise a unified education policy and withdrawn the decision of introducing board examinations for 5th and 8th classes.

POLIO VACCINATION: Deputy commissioner, Kohat, Zahir Shah Mohmand on Thursday asked the health department to deduct one salary from area heads if they failed to achieve the target during the anti-polio campaign starting from Dec 19.

He also directed for action against those who would submit wrong statistics of the vaccination campaign.

Chairing a meeting at his office, Mr Mohmand asked the officials that cases of delinquent officers and refusals by parents should be submitted to him for action. Dr Shoaib Khattak said that all arrangements for launching the anti-polio campaign had been made.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2016