LAHORE: Private schools will be allowed to raise the tuition fees by eight percent and a summary to this effect has been moved to the chief minister.

Punjab Minister for School Education Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan said this in the Punjab Assembly on Friday.

“No school has been allowed to increase fees so far because the summary is still in the process,” he said, and warned: “district coordination officers are told to move against any school found guilty of preemptive increase.”

In the Question Hour in the Punjab Assembly, the minister said the Punjab government had frozen fees in 2014 through an ordinance, and kept them frozen in 2015 as well. However, it allowed five percent increase in 2016. The private schools management did not agree to the ratio of the raise. A committee, consisting of parents and school managements, was formed to hammer the issue out. After protracted negotiations, increase of eight per cent was agreed to and a summary has been moved for the chief minister.

Summary with CM

The assembly session, which started some two-and-a-half hour later than its stipulated time of 3pm, worked only for two hours before it fell to a broken quorum, hampering the official agenda of tabling an ordinance – the Punjab Agriculture, Food and Drug Authority – in the House. Though quorum was never attained (the house started its proceedings with 60 odd members and attendance soon was reduced to 40), but it survived for next 100 minutes because no one pointed it out.

After the Question Hour, Leader of the Opposition Mian Mahmoodur Rashid wanted to talk about the Panama Leaks in an out of turn adjournment motion and found the treasury ready for the challenge. Law Minister Rana Sanaullah stood up to request the chair to allow debate on the issue. The chair asked the assembly staff to look for time, given the schedule of the House, and he will fix the time.

It perhaps caught the opposition off guards; it boycotted the proceedings, walked out of the house and pointed out quorum on its way out. The number was reduced to around 20 against requirement of 93, and the chair adjourned the House till Monday afternoon.

The House also witnessed a brief boycott by the media, which wanted action against police officials who had arrested reporters in Okara. The chair sent MPAs Chaudhry Sher Ali and Dr Waseem Akhter to assure the journalists of appropriate action. Reporters returned to the House after some 15 minutes of boycott.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2016