KARACHI, Aug 12: Unregistered private schools are flourishing in Karachi owing to the lack of interest by the authorities in fresh drive to bring such institutions under legal net through Sindh Private Educational Institutions (Regulation and Control) 2001.

The ordinance, promulgated in early 2001, made it mandatory for privately managed schools and other educational institutions to get registered or renew their previous registration with the concerned government department. The ordinance allows concerned authorities to impose Rs500 fine per day on unregistered schools until they come under legal net.

According to the officials of education department, so far 3,700 private schools have either been registered with the department or recently applied for registration, claiming that the number of unregistered schools in private sector is obviously in five figures.

“It is estimated that there are around 10,000 privately-run unregistered schools in the city, which flourish owing to the slackness of officials concerned,” a source at the education department said. The drive for fresh registration of private schools in Karachi got poor response, as they only received 1,700 to 1,800 applications, both for registration and renewal of registration from private schools.

“Owners of the unregistered private schools would be fined Rs500 per day after the deadline, set by the department till they get registered,” he said adding that the department has also decided to close down such institutions and sent their cases to the court.

Under the Sindh Private Educational Institutions (Regulation and Control) Ordinance 2001, private schools are required to get a fresh registration or renewal for running a private educational institution in the province.

As per provisions, “No institution shall be established or continued except in accordance with the provisions of the ordinance on private school management.”

Under the said ordinance, any person intending to establish or continue an existing institution shall submit an application to the registration authority on a prescribed form and the fee prescribed.

Though the government belatedly started complying with the requirement of the ordinance, its main concern was to get an exact number of schools and the number of students enrolled, the source said. “The education department wanted to tighten the noose around the fleecing private schools slowly,” he added.

According to him, some of the major institutions and most of the private schools of below average standard were still out of the net, although the government gave an even-handed treatment to each and every institution to improve the functioning of schools in the private sector.

The terms and conditions, required for acquiring registration certificates, bound management of such institutions to provide proper teaching and learning facilities to all students, professionally trained and qualified teachers for all compulsory and optional subjects.

“The charges and funds collected by an institution other than the fees shall be approved by the registering authority at the time of registration. The charges and funds structure, so approved, shall retain its proportional values with the fee structure charged by the institution in the current and preceding sessions.

According to the ordinance, private educational institutions should allow 10 per cent free-ship to its students on a need-cum- merit basis. The institutions should not terminate the services of any staff or expel any student without prior approval of the registering authority.

Under the rules, the private institutions are required to fix pay scales of the teaching and non-teaching staff, give them allowances and facilities of leave and other benefits commensurate with at least the pay and allowances admissible to such staff in a government institution; and the deviation, if any, shall be subject to approval of the registering authority.

The education department would soon issue letters and notify through the press that those who have failed to register their schools should act positively, otherwise, they would have to face an action under the private educational institutions ordinance 2001, an official of education department said.

Parents believe that owners of private schools have converted their institutes into money-making machines by raising the fees and demanding money from students in the name of donation and on other pretexts. They said that the authorities should take effective action to streamline the operation of such institutions.—PPI