ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee on Thursday called for strengthening the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (Peira).

Formed in 2006 as a registration authority, Peira was upgraded in 2013 as a regulatory body but has so far almost failed to establish its writ in regulating private educational institutions.

A subcommittee of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Education, which met at Parliament House with MNA Ali Nawaz Awan in the chair, held detailed discussion on Peira on Friday.

The authority is being run on an ad hoc basis, lawmakers say

The lawmakers said it was strange that the authority supposed to regulate over 2,000 private schools was being run on an ad hoc basis.

The committee was told that Peira had two members and 30 support staff. Currently, Joint Secretary Ministry of Education Ayesha Khalid is looking after its affairs in addition to her own duties.

For the last many years, bureaucrats have one after the other been holding the additional charge of Peira on a temporary basis.

The convener of the committee said Peira Act had a provision of new members but so far no serious steps had been taken to hire the members.

He said there was also a provision of a board which was not formed yet. However, officials from Peira told the committee that there was no provision for the formation of a board in the regulatory authority rather there was a typo mistake in section 23 of the Peira Act.

After hearing the points of view of the education ministry and Peira, the convener of the committee decided to seek the law ministry’s opinion on section 23 of Peira Act.

The committee was told that Peira’s rules were formed in 2016 for registration of schools and fee determination. However, the rules related to determination of the fee of private schools were struck down by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in Jan 2018.

Peira has filed an intra-court appeal which would be heard in October.

The committee decided that necessary amendments would be made to Peira Act for better service delivery and promotion of education. The committee also directed Peira to coordinate with schools and parents for setting up parent-teacher councils.

Later, the committee convener Ali Nawaz Awan told Dawn that it was unfortunate that an authority established to regulate and promote private education had failed to deliver.

“This authority has been running on an ad hoc basis and we have decided to strengthen it. If need arises, we will make amendment to its ordinance. We will also look into the complaints of private schools,” he said, adding there was also a need to check quality of teachers and their salaries.

“We will look into the issues of salaries of teachers. In short, we will safeguard rights of the students, parents, teachers as well as owners of the schools,” he said.

MNAs Sadaqat Ali Khan, Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak, Mehnaz Aziz and Parliamentary Secretary Education Wajiha Akram also attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2019