ISLAMABAD: The Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (Peira) has notified a new fee policy, directing private schools not to increase their fee by more than 5pc.

However, Peira stated that any institution demanding more than five per cent annual increase “shall be required to establish a case based on rationality and keeping in view the extraordinary additional facilities available and quality of education.”

It added: “The beyond five per cent increase in fee shall range from six to eight per cent on an annual basis.”

Peira is supposed to regulate all private schools in Islamabad but so far it has no role in determining the fee of private schools. Under its new policy too, it did not fix the fee and set a benchmark of five per cent annual increase.

It said private schools can increase their fee by five per cent from the baseline fee structure of 2017.

“All PEIs (private educational institutions) shall charge a fee as per the rates which were being charged during the academic session 2016-17,” the authority said, adding that institutions which wanted to increase their fee by more than five per cent would have to apply to Peira to get permission.

Under new policy, schools can increase fees from baseline structure of 2017; Official says failure to comply with policy shall lead to initiation of action against institution

“A decision shall be made on a case to case basis after appraisal based on the indicators for quality determination in a PEI, which covers seven core aspects. These aspects are quality of education, classroom learning environment, infrastructure and facilities, transparency and public disclosure, administrative/operational strength, cleanliness and discipline and safety and security.”

The new policy also stated that the institutions “shall be bound to duly declare all fee structure, school’s internal policy, if any, and other charges to parents prior to granting admission and to maintain transparency in sharing the fee structure, including monthly and tuition fee, annual charges, development charges or any other charges.”

There shall be no increase in fee at any level during an ongoing academic session. PEIs shall charge fees on a monthly basis only. In case of late fee submission, the school may waive the late fee charges (fine), however, the imposition of fine shall be as follows.

In case of a fee due in 30 days, the fine shall not exceed five per cent of the actual fee. In case of a fee due in 60 days, the fine shall not exceed 10pc.

The policy said all schools will make public disclosure of ‘Schedule for financial charges’ with the parents/students prior to admitting any student at any level of study.

“There shall be no charges at all other than those mentioned in the Schedule to be duly acknowledged by the parent/student accordingly,” the policy said.

It also barred private schools from compelling students to buy school items from specific vendors/shops.

“No PEI is authorised to compel parents/students to purchase uniform, textbooks and other stationery items from specific vendors (including supplies from schools’ shops).

“Notebooks printed with logos and embroidered/stitched/printed uniform badges shall be strictly prohibited. However, school branding (logo) shall only be done through pin badges and stickers for notebooks (if required).”

When contacted, Peira’s spokesperson Zafar Yousafzai told Dawn that the new policy had been notified on August 6 and shared with all private schools.

He said before finalising the policy all stakeholders were taken on board to devise a sustainable solution to the issue of fee determination based on rationality and transparency.

He said failure to comply with the policy shall lead to the initiation of action against the institution as mandated under section 16 and 19 of the Islamabad Capital Territory Private Educational Institutions Act 2013.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2021