KARACHI: The Directorate of Inspection and Registration of Private Institutions, Sindh warned the principals and administrators of private schools of strict action if incidents of corporal punishment were reported from any educational institutions.

In a circular issued to principals and administrators of private schools on Tuesday, Additional Director Rafia Javed said that it had become general practice in many private schools to physically and mentally harass students due to reasons such as non-payment of fees, dispute between parents and the administration, etc.

“The students are kept in various sorts of isolation, made to stand for hours, expelled from class, made to sit on the floor, awarded corporal punishment and treated harshly in general while their parents are also insulted and threatened with the expulsion of their kids from the school, which are inhumane acts that cannot be accepted in any case,” she wrote.

“Therefore the managements of such schools are strictly warned to refrain from such practices in future. All such matters should be resolved amicably. The children/students are assets of the nation and they should be treated kindly rather than in any harsh way,” she wrote.

In a second letter, also addressed to principals and administrators of private schools, she strictly warned against the practice with dire consequences.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2022