CHINIOT: As many as 103 private schools have been fined Rs41.1 million by the Chiniot district education authority (DEA) for delay in renewal of their registration certificates.

The DEA CEO on Wednesday issued a final reminder for depositing the penalty amount within three days and warned that those schools which failed to submit the fine amount would be sealed.

It is pertinent to mention that some private schools were running without registration or they had not renewed their expired registration certificates after which the DEA sealed 103 schools on March 20, 2026, after issuing them show-cause notices.

A personal hearing was held at the office of the then DEA CEO Azhar Sohail Niazi on March 29 and the schools were imposed a penalty ranging from Rs300,000 to Rs1 million based on their enrollment and the period of default.

The sealed schools were reopened after they received the penalty orders and they resumed academic activities. Out of the 103 schools, 57 opted to appeal before the Faisalabad commissioner to waive the penalties.

The commissioner heard the affected schools and the DEA on May 7. However, the commissioner found no solid reasons to waive off the fine, but the fine amount was reduced from Rs27.4 million to Rs14.32 million. The other 36 schools did not appeal before the commissioner and their total fine remained Rs13.7 million.

However, private schools have demanded a complete waiver of the fine stating that most of the affected schools were charging low fees and would be closed down because of default.

In an open letter to Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat, Private Schools Association Chairman Ehsanullah appealed to take notice of this ‘unjust and illegal’ order and direct the authorities to take the decision back.

He claimed that most of the unregistered private schools had been submitting complete files for registration but dishonest clerical staff often ‘lose’ the files to gain some bribe and direct them to submit it again. Moreover, he said the meeting of the district registration authority (DRA) had not been convened for the past three years to approve the registration of schools. However, he said the meeting on March 24 took place to impose fines instead of registering the schools.

He said that most of the affected schools charged low fees ranging from Rs700-1,500 and were educating children in far-flung rural areas. He said that it was not possible for them to pay Rs300,000 to Rs1 million in penalties. He said that many of these schools would be closed down which would affect the education of the underprivileged segment of society.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2026