PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday passed the much-awaited law binding the government to provide free and compulsory primary and secondary education to the children up to 16 years of age.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Free Compulsory Primary and Secondary Education Act, 2017 was passed with some amendments introduced by the opposition members.

Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Department Mohammad Atif Khan moved the bill on the floor of the house which was passed by the house unanimously.

The law would not be implemented in the entire province after commencement of this act rather the education department would implement it in specific areas through its notification.

Law to be implemented in specific areas through notification by education dept

Section 1 (2) of the law states: “It shall extend to such district in the province of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as the government may by notification specify in the official gazette.”

The amendment of ANP MPA Syed Jaffar Shah that the law should be extended to the whole province was turned down through voting in the house. Opposing the amendment, Atif Khan said that the education department was unable to implement this law at once.

“There is an issue of accessibility in some areas where schools are not available in the required distance (two kilometres),” he said.

In the light of 25-A of the Constitution, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan have already promulgated such a law in their respective provinces.

Section 3 of the law says “Government shall provide free compulsory primary and secondary education to all the children from the age of five to sixteen years in the province.”

Reasonable excuses for non-attendance of the school by a child are stated to be incapability to attend school by reasons of sickness, infirmity, mental incapacity or where there is no school within a distance of two kilometres radius according to the nearest route from the residence of the child.

Under the law, the government would constitute a school attendance authority for each school having mandatory representation of the parent teacher council to ensure every child shall attend a school under its jurisdiction and take such steps as it may consider necessary or as specified by the government.

The parents failing to enrol their children in school without proper reasons shall be punishable with imprisonment, which may extend to one month or fine which may extend up to Rs100 for every day after the conviction for which the failure continues or with both.

The government may permit a school attendance authority to establish in the prescribed manner a Taleem Fund for the school. The fund would receive grants made by the federal, provincial, district governments and all voluntary contributions from the philanthropist, alumni, students and parents.

The law repealed The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Compulsory Primary Education Act, 1996. Meanwhile, The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dowry, Bridal Gift and Marriage Functions Restriction Bill, 2017 was referred to the select committee for further deliberations.

Law minister Imtiaz Shahid tabled the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (Second Amendment) Bill 2017.

The house passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public-Private Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2017 which was tabled by the law minister. The chair adjourned the session till May 2.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2017