ISLAMABAD, Jan 12: On the face of it Education Voucher Scheme (EVS) introduced by Punjab Education Foundation (PEF), April, 2010, through which Rs400 monthly will be handed out to under-privileged students of private schools, appears to be commendable.

But on investigation, many policy flaws come to the fore. First, the policy is not all inconclusive, only 11 schools were selected. Second, vouchers were not distributed evenly amongst schools.

According to an officer of PEF, EVS was started in April, 2010, in Rawalpindi, and  3,800 students of 11 private schools have been getting Rs400 monthly and books, under the programme.

“Students and their parents were called for interviews and after confirming that students were under privileged, vouchers were issued to students,” said PEF officer.

Mohammad Ayub, representative of a private school while talking to Dawn said that the deserving schools and students were ignored during a survey regarding evaluation of deserving students.

“There are schools which got EVS for all their branches, while many deserving schools and their students were ignored,” claimed Mr Ayub.

“My school is in Dhoke Hassu and around 100 students left my school because they got assurance that they will get EVS from a school which was approved for the scheme. It has become impossible for me to run my school anymore,” added Ayub.

Dr Sultan Alam, owner of a school said that his school was ignored just because he did not have official links with PEF.

“I contacted almost every officer from Rawalpindi to Lahore but no one bothered to listen to me. Now I have no choice but to start protest along with owners of other schools, who have been deprived,” he said.

Regional Director PEF, Naveed Abbas while talking to Dawn said that students of 11 schools were selected for EVS, purely on merit and they have been getting Rs400 per month and books.

“Some owners of private schools, who could not be selected for the EVS programme, have been complaining against it.”

Referring to Dr Sultan Alam, he said: “When he  came to know that his school will not be selected for the scheme, he started protesting against it,” said director PEF.

“We have a proper selection process and after that we finalise a student for free and quality education. There were some schools who demanded cash amount rather than vouchers, so they were also dropped from scheme,” added director PEF.