ISLAMABAD, June 8: The federal government is considering a proposal of constituting regulatory bodies, both at national and provincial level, to regulate activities of private educational institutions in the country, sources told Dawn.

They said the proposal had been forwarded in the wake of a significant surge in unlawful educational institutions throughout the country during the last few years.

The proposed regulatory bodies will regulate activities and smooth functioning of privately-managed schools and institutions of higher education through proper rules and regulations that will be formed later, they said.

The federal government, the sources said, wanted to have an agreed regulatory mechanism in place throughout the country whereby educational institutions would be controlled.

With the constitution of a regulatory system, the government will also be able to check the exorbitant fee structures of private educational institutions.

It may be added here that the Higher Education Commission (HEC), which had replaced the University Grants Commission, has the right to give degree-awarding status to a certain university in the private sector, but, has no mandate to check the growth of dubious universities.

The HEC had issued a directive asking provincial governments to take stern action against such educational institutions, sources in the commission told Dawn.

However, to the disappointment of the HEC, provincial governments have not taken any action to stop the phenomenal growth of private universities, which at present, has become a flourishing business among the corporate sector.

These so-called schools, colleges and universities are available at every nook and corner of the country and are virtually fleecing people in the name of education, they said.

There are some privately-run universities operating in the metropolitan cities of the country that claim to have been registered with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) as degree- awarding institutions, but in reality they have no such standing.

It had also been observed that students, graduating from such institutions, had time and again protested against the non- acceptance of their degrees by the public sector organizations, as these institutions did not have degree-awarding status under the HEC rules.