RAWALPINDI: Private schools have increased their monthly fee by more than 5pc in violation of the rules and without permission from the District Education Authority.

Parents of students at these schools have demanded the government should implement the law regarding fee increases.

“Beaconhouse School System in August increased its fee from Rs12,710 per month to Rs14,060 per month for first grade students which is an increase of more than 5pc,” said Mehmood Raja, the parent of one of the school’s students.

He said there is no check on private schools and that the concerned authorities do not take notice of the matter.

Ahmed Kiayani, the father of another student said the government is not taking action against private schools which increase their fees each year without any reason.

He says parents want their children to get the best education but it costs a lot to do so.

Rawalpindi Education Authority’s Chief Executive Officer Qazi Zahoorul Haq told Dawn the private schools which charge more that Rs4,000 per month can increase their fee by 5pc each year and that under the law, schools are bound to get permission from the district education authority before doing so.

He said only Roots School System had obtained permission in Rawalpindi for increasing their fee and that the other schools had raised fee sans permission.

Mr Haq said a committee has been formed to look into the matter and that members of the committee will be visiting various schools over the coming few days to take legal action against the institutions which had violated the law passed by the Punjab government.

He said the district education authority will impose fines of between Rs20,000 and Rs2 million on schools and that parents should contact the district education authority and the deputy commissioner for registering their complaints in this regard.

When asked, the chairman of the Private Education Institutions Regulatory Authority, Hasnat Qureshi told Dawn the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had stopped the authority from taking action against private schools if they increased fee.

“We receive complaints from parents every day and we went to the Supreme Court against the IHC’s decision as well but we cannot take any action till the apex court makes a decision though the court did not bind private schools from not increasing their fee till the decision,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2017