ISLAMABAD: Parents of children enrolled in private schools protested in front of the National Press Club on Saturday against high school fees.

Private schools increase their fees by 10 to 20pc every year, leading to backlash from parents.

On Saturday, the protesting parents shouted slogans against the sudden hike in fees and said that they had enrolled their children in private schools because government institutions were not providing high quality education, but private schools had begun to operate like a ‘mafia’.

They said nearly half the students in the capital are enrolled in private schools. While the government has established the Private Educational Institute Regulatory Authority (Piera) to monitor and regulate such institutions, they said Piera was complete ineffective.

Ahsan Sadeed, whose son is in the third grade, said his son’s school charges Rs32,000 every two months, which was almost unaffordable.

“Moreover, although schools just have to pay teachers’ salaries over the summer vacations they charge students the full fees,” he added.

“We went to the Islamabad High Court a few years ago and later held dialogues with private schools in the presence of Piera and it was decided that the fee up to 8th standard would be Rs8,000, and Rs12,000 from 9th standard to A Levels. But schools went to court and it could not be implemented,” he said.

The high court had decided in favour of the parents, but the schools went to the Supreme Court and filed an appeal in the high court. Then, he said, the high court decided against the parents “without hearing our point of view”.

He said: “Now, we are hoping the SC will decide in our favour.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2018