PESHAWAR: Parents of students and representatives of civil society organisations held a protest demonstration here on Thursday against owners of private educational institutions for forcing them to pay fee for the past many months when schools were closed due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Holding banners and placards, they gathered outside the Peshawar Press Club and chanted slogans against the owners of private schools for sending daily messages to pay the dues at the earliest.

“We will not pay the fee at any cost for the months lost due to coronavirus pandemic,” they said.

A number of people, including former MPA Meher Sultana advocate, Sangeen Khan advocate and Alamzeb Khan, told mediapersons that schools remained closed for past many months, but even then the owners were forcing parents to pay full dues which was unjustified.

Majority of the schools, they said, had sacked staff to avoid financial burden, but they did not announce any relief for the parents and started charging the fee at the same old ratio. The protesters said that the rulers were least bothered to take notice of the parents’ miseries and pay the dues or get them waived.

Hold demonstration against owners of private schools

They said that Private Schools Regulatory Authority of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had also failed to play any effective role for resolution of the issue. They said the lockdown had equally affected the people and the parents had no resources to pay the dues.

The parents urged the government to take notice of the issue and bar the owners from charging the fee. The private schools, they said, had become mafia fleecing the people without imparting education to the children.

“We have already paid fee for two months though the institutions were closed,” they said and demanded of the government to resolve the issue otherwise parents would continue protest demonstrations.

The protesters also demanded proper representation for the parents in the PSRA to raise voice against injustices of private schools in its meetings.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2020