PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday placed a ban on the opening of new private schools in the province until the private education watchdog formulates a policy for regulating the issues related to privately-owned educational institutions, including proper premises, tuition fee, annual fee and management.

Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Ijaz Anwar Khan also asked the regulatory authority to formulate a uniform policy regarding fee, including annual and tuition fee, and ensure private schools don’t charge students fee more than that.

The court declared illegal the charging of transport fee by private schools during the summer vacation.

It also asked private schools to charge the maximum of 50 percent of the tuition fee during the vacation lasting more than 30 days.

“The annual increase as made is totally unjustified because there is no raw material used. The annual increase under no circumstances should be more than three percent per annum,” it ruled.

Also asks regulator to ensure students aren’t overcharged

On Nov 8, the bench had accepted three petitions against the private educational institutions, provincial government and KP Private Schools Regulatory Authority on multiple grounds.

In a detailed judgment on these petitions,the bench issued several directions and guidelines to the government and regulatory authority for formulated a policy to regulate the existing and new schools.

The petitions were filed by the Peshawar District Bar Association and Peshawar resident Mohammad Aqeel.

Abbas Khan Sangeen, Zulfiqar Khalil, Zahidullah Zahid, Fazal Shah and Shakeel Aman, lawyers the petitioners, had contended that the private educational institutions had been minting money from students on one pretext or another.

The bench ruled: “It is high time to check the overall activities of the private schools/ institutions and for that matter we are of the view to put complete ban on any fresh/ new opening of the school right from playgroup / primary level to the intermediate level, unless and until the regulatory authority so constituted formulated the policy, law and regulations to the extent: The building in which the school is to be operational must have area of playground, assembly premises/ hall, furniture, libraries, washrooms, water facilities, laboratory; and tuition fee, annual fee, canteen, etc. its management and charges.”

The bench further observed, “The regulatory authority shall formulate the uniform policy regarding the fee including annual and tuition fee and charging extra then that shall be banned completely.”

It added that the policy would also regulate matters related to uniform, textbooks and syllabus, qualification and salary of teachers, and the maximum strength of students in a class and a section.

The court asked the educational institutions not to charge more than half of the tuition fee from the second and third children of same parents. It is added that there shall be compulsory physical training classes.

The bench ordered that effective measures should be taken for checking corporal punishment in schools.

About the existing institutions, the court ruled that the regulatory authority as well as the relevant Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to formulate the policy and measures for implementing that policy to the extent of buildings including playgrounds, classrooms, etc., within a period of one year.

“The continuation of schools in the residential premises is highly deplorable and as such the regulatory authority and the BISEs are advice to chalk out the program for shifting the same to non-residential side,” the court ruled.

It further ordered that unless the uniform policy of fee including annual and tuition fee, is formulated, there shall be complete ban on any increase in the said fees.

The bench directed the regulatory authority to submit its report on the policy before the registrar Judicial of the high court within three months, positively. The bench directed that in case no report was field in the specified period the additional registrar (Judicial) shall file a contempt of court case for implementation of the order.

“Indeed, Courts could neither assume the role of policy maker nor that of law maker, but it is very unfortunate that the authorities/ regulatory authorities so constituted before 2001 and till date are not performing their duties up to the mark rather there is a criminal negligence on their part, which resulted in establishing schools right from playgroup/ primary level to the university level, without having any proper buildings other facilities including water supply, edibles, playgrounds, assembly halls, etc,” the bench observed, adding that majority of around 80 percent of the private schools are without the said facilities.

The court ruled that it had been observed with great concern that to date, the system of employment of the teachers and allied staff in the said schools/ institutions had not been regularised, systematically.

“No one is there to check their standard as especially below matriculate teachers are engaged,” it added.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2017