SAHIWAL: Parents of a number of students of the Divisional Public School (DPS) on Wednesday gathered outside the Commissioner’s Office to protest alleged indifference of the government functionaries.

Blaming the divisional administration, school management and its Board of Governors, representatives of the Parent Committee spelt out their demands including reversal of an increase of Rs800 in fees during the last six months, induction of parents in the BoGs and public display of school annual financial statements.

The angry parents said they had postponed their previous protest on Sept 11 on the assurance of DCO Asif Iqbal that the matter would be resolved on Sept 15 in the presence of the commissioner (who is the DPS BoGs chairman). Commissioner Azmat Mahmood did not spare time to redress grievances of the parents, prompting them to take to the street, they said.

Muhammad Asghar, chairman of the committee, said they would daily protest outside the Commissioner’s Office and stage a sit-in in front of the DPS.

On Sept 11, the protesters marched from Five Ways Chowk to DCO Office, where the DCO assured them that their pleas would be considered and the matter decided on Sept 15.

A protester said this was pathetic governance as no one from district or divisional administration was ready to address the issue.

Another protester said: “We (parents) are the major stakeholders and must be included in the school decision-making process.”

There are 6,000 or so students enrolled in the DPS from playgroup to Intermediate and the school is running in two shifts.

Retired Brig Anwarul Hasan Kirmani, the principal, told Dawn that the issue of increase in fees was handled by the BoGs, and the principal or the college Management Committee had nothing to do with it. However, he said, the college’s current expenditure is Rs250 million and “we are earning through fees and other sources just Rs247.5 million -- a deficit of Rs 2.5 million.”

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2015

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