LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has been asked to restrain all private schools from demanding fee from their students during the period of coronavirus lockdown.

Since the pandemic hit Pakistan, all educational institutions are closed and students are at homes, so all overhead expenses including utility bills apart from salaries of teachers and employees are almost zero, states an application filed by the Judicial Activism Panel (JAP) in a pending contempt petition seeking action against the private schools for violating the court order on fee issue.

JAP Chairman Advocate Azhar Siddique pleads in the application that the schools are bound to allow concession for such periods as majority of the parents are not earning these days due to the lockdown situation.

He argues that the cruelty of the private schools can be gathered from the text messages being sent by them to the parents asking them to deposit the full fee through online banking.

He says the messages by the schools and the demand for the fee during the lockdown is a blatant violation of Articles 9 & 14 of the Constitution and amounts to exploitation.

The applicant submits that Article 25-A of the Constitution gives right to free education but private schools are main hurdle in the provision of this right to the citizens of the country.

He asks the court to restrain private schools from demanding fee from the parents during the period of lockdown. He further urges the court to restrain schools from extending harassment and threats to students and their parents.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2020