ON the morning of Nov 20, the management of a school at its Barki campus, Lahore, pulled out the children from their classes and made them sit in a separate room, in isolation, by suspending all their education activities till they were rescued by their parents and police.

The parents received this information from a student through a students’ phone call. Ironically, the parents were not allowed to go inside the school. They were made to stand outside in the sun till the arrival of the police after repeated calls to police helpline 15.

The children’s only crime was that their parents were holding the fee illegally increased by the school management since September 2018 as the school was in clear violation of Lahore High Court orders barring private schools from raising the fee without undergoing a scrutiny of regulatory regime to be formed in 90 days of the order.

The deputy district education officer, Lahore Cantt, also reached the campus. After investigations he recommended immediate action against the school management to the SHO Barki police station. The media also reached the spot and interviewed parents who were in distress.

As usual, police were reluctant to lodge an FIR against the school management. However, after the intervention of the Punjab education minister police lodged an FIR No. 517/18.

The powerful private school owners are active now and using all sorts of tactics to pressure the parents to withdraw FIR.

I request chief justices of Pakistan and LHC to take suo motu notice of this harassment of schoolchildren.

An Affected Parent

Lahore

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2018