LAHORE: Private schools have partially started implementing 20 per cent fee concession announced by the Punjab government, with some of the institutions issuing new vouchers for the current month, while other charging not only the full fee for the month, but also half monthly fee in advance despite parents protest.

Last week, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Minister for School Education Murad Raas had directed all the private schools of the province to give 20pc fee concession to the parents for two months April and May keeping in view the financial crunch people are facing because of the lockdown imposed in the province to slow down the spread of Covid-19.

The chief minister also directed the schools administrations that no employee should be sacked during the period, but the Punjab School Education Department (SED) had issued no notification so far for implementation of the fee concession, causing confusion and providing an opportunity to the school owners to use the grey area to their advantage.

However, the Parents Action Committee (PAC) members said the government should first implement the Supreme Court order [issued June last] about the fee cut because the government was yet to determine the fee structure first and then implement the 20pc concession.

Earlier, the Pakistan Education Council (PEC) had refused to accept Punjab Minister for School Education Murad Raas’s order to go for voluntary fee cut.

The council had denied agreeing to the government demand of 20pc cut in schools fee because it would impact the salaries of the staff and other expenses, like rent of school buildings. The council represents some of the leading schools in Pakistan.

“That we are aware of the human and economic impact of Covid-19 and had offered alternate options to the Punjab government, but did not voluntarily agree to lower fees by 20pc,’’ it had said.

However, on Monday, the parents had started receiving messages from some schools about implementing the fee concession and issuing new vouchers.

“Dear parents, the school is issuing revised fee bills with a reduction of 20pc in the fee amount for the months of April and May 2020 in line with the directives of the Punjab government. The 20pc fee reduction applies from Pre-school to A levels,” a message from a school’s administration reads.

“The fee voucher will be sent in an email/WhatsApp to the parents. Those parents who have already paid the fee will get an adjustment in the next fee bill. Timely payment is highly appreciated,” added the message.

However, some of the schools are still flouting the government order and insisting on payment of fee as per the earlier routine.

“I went to American Lycetuff school’s Riwaz Garden Branch on Monday to get revised fee voucher, but the administration refused to revise it, saying they were told by the head office to charge the fee as per earlier voucher as they were not implementing the government order. So I had to deposit not only the full fee for the April, but also half fee in advance for the summer vacation (July)”, says father of a student while, showing a copy of the fee voucher that verified what he was saying.

He questioned the seriousness of government’s direction to the schools, saying if it was not in a position to get its orders implemented it should not intervene in such matters and put the parents in an odd situation. He lamented that the school had also not implemented the Supreme Court order, and he had to pay fine for submitting fee late as he kept waiting for its implementation.

OKARA: While the entire world is grappling with the health, social and financial hazards of Covid-19, the spread of misinformation about the pandemic is also on the rise and it is more dangerous than the actual disease, says University of Okara Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Zakria Zakar in his social media message.

He advised the people, especially the social media users to behave responsibly and avoid spreading disinformation about coronavirus.

“In order to stay updated about the pandemic and save ourselves from panic, we should only rely on the data and information coming from reliable sources such as World Health Organization (WHO) and our national health advisories. The information coming from social media can lead to depression and dread,” Dr Zakar says.

“This is the time we should learn to adopt reasonable and rationale attitude. This is the time for self-actualisation. The fight against coronavirus can only be won with collective resolve and responsibility”, adds the academician.

PITB: The Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) on Monday launched a voice chatbot “Rehbar” to help the people get updated information about different government departments and services.

The chatbot is part of Punjab government’s measures to fight coronavirus. It will initially only respond to people’s coronavirus-related queries but will grow and mature with time to answer all the common queries about different government departments and services, an official claims.

‘Rehbar’ listens to people’s queries and can guide them, saving their precious time and resources. It is easy to use and the users can get information by simply talking to it. Rehbar uses the latest language technologies to understand users speech and can respond to them in Urdu language. “We envisage a future where Rehbar will be helping the citizens with authentic information and suggestions during all kinds of calamities and emergencies in addition to routine services,” say a senior official of PITB on condition of anonymity. He says the app was available at Google Store and can be downloaded to get the latest information about the coronavirus pandemic situation.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2020