PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday summoned the secretary elementary and secondary education and managing director of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Private Schools Regulatory Authority (PSRA) directing them to explain why they had failed to implement a court’s judgment delivered around five months ago for regulating the affairs of private educational institutions.

Active Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Mussarat Hilali fixed Apr 24 for the next hearing into a joint implementation petition filed by Peshawar District Bar Association members Farman Ali, Zulfiqar Khalil and others, asking the relevant officials, including the elementary and secondary education secretary and PSRA MD, to show up and explain their positions on the matter.

The bench also directed the court’s additional registrar (judicial) to file a contempt petition against the officers, who had failed to implement the court’s judgment delivered on Nov 9, 2017.

It also asked the deputy inspector general of the traffic police to appear on next hearing and explain why they had not been taking action against the overloaded vehicles, which normally carry students on vehicle roofs.

Abbas Khan Sangeen, lawyer for the petitioners, said the court had directed the education secretary to do the needful on the matter within three months and observed that in case no report was submitted, the additional registrar (judicial) of the court would file a contempt of court for the implementation of the order.

He said the high court had 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 formulate the policy, law and regulations to the extent; the building in which the school is to be operational must have area of playgroup, assembly premises/hall, furniture, library, washrooms, water facilities, laboratory; tuition fee, annual fee, canteen, etc. its management and charges.”

The lawyer said the court had directed the regulator to formulate a uniform policy regarding fee, including annual and tuition fees, and overcharging students wouldn’t be permissible.

He added that the court had also ordered private schools not to charge more than half of the tuition fee from the second and third children of same parents.

The lawyer said the court had declared illegal the charging of transport fee from students during summer vacations, while private schools were told to charge the maximum of 50 percent of the tuition fee during the vacations of more than 30 days.

He said the court had ruled that the annual increase made was totally unjustified and that under no circumstances, the annual fee increase should be more than three percent annually.

On Nov 8, the court had accepted three petitions against private educational institutions, provincial government and regulatory authority on multiple grounds.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2018