Sagheer Ahmad Shamsi believes low-fee private schools have been caught between a rock and a hard place. They are not making big money but the government departments treat them with hostility, he complains while talking to Cutting Edge. They don’t get any benefits from the private schools associations, but they have to act on the strike calls given by them, Shamsi says sitting in his office in the Sabzazar area of Lahore.
“As they don’t charge a heavy fee, they mostly remain in a struggling phase to keep their schools running.” However, he regrets, every government official coming to the school believes that the person sitting in the principal office should be taken to task at any cost, and he should be fleeced in one way or the other. Mostly, these officials openly demand bribes and, in case of rejection of their demand, create hurdles in the smooth functioning of the schools, alleges Mr. Shamsi.
The school owner says that there’s a lot of competition in the market, as one can find a school or an academy in every other street in almost all localities of Lahore. “In their meagre incomes”, adds Mr. Shamsi, “these small schools have to work really hard to produce good results in the board exams to retain their students.” That’s why, he adds, these schools always remain under threat of losing their students to some other school in the locality if they fail to satisfy the students, their parents or produce good results in the board exams.
Relating problems of such private schools, Shamsi says that every English or science subject teacher demands a competitive salary. “But we, the gali-mohallah schools, couldn’t charge a ‘competitive fee’ being located in dwellings of lower income groups.” He says that these schools, which make over 70% of the private schools sector, even can’t force parents to buy books, uniforms or stationary etc., from the school or some particular shop, as they cannot afford it at all, explains the principal.
Mr. Shamsi, whose school system has three branches in the Sabzazar area of Lahore, claims that the Punjab provincial government has done an injustice to the “low-fee schools” by not exempting them from the strict laws, approved by the Punjab Assembly recently.
He says that the free market economy exerts great pressure on the low-fee schools at least, as the managements of such schools always remain under the threat of losing their students if they increase the fee more than a certain limit annually. Mr. Shamsi says that his schools add only Rs. 50 to 100 to the fee of a student annually, which is almost negligible.
Muhammad Ahmad Amin, a retired Education Department official, and currently serving as the administrator at a famous chain of schools in Lahore, endorses Mr. Shamsi’s complaints. Talking to Cutting Edge in his office in Allama Iqbal Town, he says that Pakistan doesn't have enough good schools in the public sector. The private sector can meet the demand if the government takes special measures to facilitate it.
Mr. Amin says that private schools should be allowed to work as for-profit ventures. Quality education and a profitable enterprise aren't mutually exclusive, he believes. He says that private schools should be able to charge what fees they want, and let the market decide whether they need to revise their prices (fee) or not.
The educationist claims that the private schools must be allowed to set their admission criteria, as quality should not get killed by ill-planned social engineering and ill-advised government policies. He believes that stifling the growth of private schools is a terrible mistake when the government capacity for rapidly expanding quality education is limited.
Ahmad Amin says that low-cost subsidised government or heavily government-aided schools should coexist with a flourishing private sector. It would be a good step toward provision of quality education to the selected groups of people who can afford a heavy fee. Ultimately, it will benefit the country in the long run, he believes.
However, the parents paying a heavy fee for “quality education” for their children have long been complaining about highhandedness of the private schools. They have been demanding of the government to stop the “private school mafia” from frequently raising the fees.
Imran M. Khawaja, taking part in a protest demonstration at Liberty Roundabout, Lahore, recently, alleged that the schools were raising fees by 10% every quarter. “I am now paying around Rs. 66,000 every quarter for my child. The fee rises by 30% every year. This is unjustified,” he adds.
Paying heed to the complaints and protests by parents against exorbitant fee increase by private schools, the provincial assembly passed the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation Amendment) Bill 2015 in the first week of March. The bill makes it binding on every private school to seek permission for increasing fees three months prior to the start of the academic year, and no school could increase the fee for the rest of the academic year. According to the bill, the government will regulate school fees and impose penalties in case of any violation, through an authority, constituted under the law.
The authority would be responsible for registering new schools, while the institutions already working in the province are required to register themselves with the authority within 45 days. The authority would be required to dispose of applications for registration within 60 days. Under the bill, admission fees and security fees charged must not exceed a month’s tuition fee. Also, schools are not allowed to tell parents to purchase uniforms, textbooks or other material from them or a particular shop. The bill proposes a fine of up to Rs. 20 million in case of violation of the new law.
The draft of the bill proposes an administrative penalty up to Rs. 20,000 a day for violations. The penalty is to be charged the number of days from issuance of a notice to the day when the violation is fixed. For violations that continue for over 30 days, the registering authority might file a complaint with a magistrate of the first-class. The court could impose a fine between Rs. 200,000 and Rs. 2 million. The fine proposed for failure to register with the new authority is between Rs. 300,000 and Rs. 4 million. The private schools are allowed to file appeals against the registration authority’s decision. They may submit these appeals to the divisional commissioner concerned, who would be required to decide the matter in a month.
However, the passage of the bill infuriated the private schools representative bodies. On March 8, 2016, the All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF) and the Pakistan Education Council (PEC) announced a two-day shutdown in protest against the passage of the bill by the Punjab Assembly. Kashif Mirza, the APPSF president, told Cutting Edge by telephone that over 97,000 private schools are registered with his association, and at least 90,000 of them observed a strike on March 9-10. He threatened that the private schools representative body can extend their strike call indefinitely if the government did not listen to their demands.
Adeeb Jawdani, the owner of a chain of schools in Lahore, terms the proposed bill to regulate private schools a draconian law. However, he opposes shutting down schools to press for acceptance of their demands. Jawdani, the president of the All Pakistan Private Schools Managements Association, says that he has challenged the bill in the Lahore High Court. He tells Cutting Edge that Provincial Education Minister Rana Mashood had assured him that the schools charging less than Rs. 5,000 per month in fees would be exempted from the bill and that recommendations in this regard would be sent to the chief minister soon. He regretted that no practical steps have been taken in this regard so far.
However, the issue is still unresolved. A spokesperson for the Education Minister told Cutting Edge on March 17 that a 12-member committee has been formed to look into grievances of the private schools. He claimed that the Education Department would not allow private schools to loot citizens. He said that the process of increasing fees would be made transparent and the Lahore district administration would hire chartered accountants to conduct audits of private schools for the last three years.
“As they don’t charge a heavy fee, they mostly remain in a struggling phase to keep their schools running.” However, he regrets, every government official coming to the school believes that the person sitting in the principal office should be taken to task at any cost, and he should be fleeced in one way or the other. Mostly, these officials openly demand bribes and, in case of rejection of their demand, create hurdles in the smooth functioning of the schools, alleges Mr. Shamsi.
The school owner says that there’s a lot of competition in the market, as one can find a school or an academy in every other street in almost all localities of Lahore. “In their meagre incomes”, adds Mr. Shamsi, “these small schools have to work really hard to produce good results in the board exams to retain their students.” That’s why, he adds, these schools always remain under threat of losing their students to some other school in the locality if they fail to satisfy the students, their parents or produce good results in the board exams.
Relating problems of such private schools, Shamsi says that every English or science subject teacher demands a competitive salary. “But we, the gali-mohallah schools, couldn’t charge a ‘competitive fee’ being located in dwellings of lower income groups.” He says that these schools, which make over 70% of the private schools sector, even can’t force parents to buy books, uniforms or stationary etc., from the school or some particular shop, as they cannot afford it at all, explains the principal.
Mr. Shamsi, whose school system has three branches in the Sabzazar area of Lahore, claims that the Punjab provincial government has done an injustice to the “low-fee schools” by not exempting them from the strict laws, approved by the Punjab Assembly recently.
He says that the free market economy exerts great pressure on the low-fee schools at least, as the managements of such schools always remain under the threat of losing their students if they increase the fee more than a certain limit annually. Mr. Shamsi says that his schools add only Rs. 50 to 100 to the fee of a student annually, which is almost negligible.
Muhammad Ahmad Amin, a retired Education Department official, and currently serving as the administrator at a famous chain of schools in Lahore, endorses Mr. Shamsi’s complaints. Talking to Cutting Edge in his office in Allama Iqbal Town, he says that Pakistan doesn't have enough good schools in the public sector. The private sector can meet the demand if the government takes special measures to facilitate it.
Mr. Amin says that private schools should be allowed to work as for-profit ventures. Quality education and a profitable enterprise aren't mutually exclusive, he believes. He says that private schools should be able to charge what fees they want, and let the market decide whether they need to revise their prices (fee) or not.
The educationist claims that the private schools must be allowed to set their admission criteria, as quality should not get killed by ill-planned social engineering and ill-advised government policies. He believes that stifling the growth of private schools is a terrible mistake when the government capacity for rapidly expanding quality education is limited.
Ahmad Amin says that low-cost subsidised government or heavily government-aided schools should coexist with a flourishing private sector. It would be a good step toward provision of quality education to the selected groups of people who can afford a heavy fee. Ultimately, it will benefit the country in the long run, he believes.
However, the parents paying a heavy fee for “quality education” for their children have long been complaining about highhandedness of the private schools. They have been demanding of the government to stop the “private school mafia” from frequently raising the fees.
Imran M. Khawaja, taking part in a protest demonstration at Liberty Roundabout, Lahore, recently, alleged that the schools were raising fees by 10% every quarter. “I am now paying around Rs. 66,000 every quarter for my child. The fee rises by 30% every year. This is unjustified,” he adds.
Paying heed to the complaints and protests by parents against exorbitant fee increase by private schools, the provincial assembly passed the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation Amendment) Bill 2015 in the first week of March. The bill makes it binding on every private school to seek permission for increasing fees three months prior to the start of the academic year, and no school could increase the fee for the rest of the academic year. According to the bill, the government will regulate school fees and impose penalties in case of any violation, through an authority, constituted under the law.
The authority would be responsible for registering new schools, while the institutions already working in the province are required to register themselves with the authority within 45 days. The authority would be required to dispose of applications for registration within 60 days. Under the bill, admission fees and security fees charged must not exceed a month’s tuition fee. Also, schools are not allowed to tell parents to purchase uniforms, textbooks or other material from them or a particular shop. The bill proposes a fine of up to Rs. 20 million in case of violation of the new law.
The draft of the bill proposes an administrative penalty up to Rs. 20,000 a day for violations. The penalty is to be charged the number of days from issuance of a notice to the day when the violation is fixed. For violations that continue for over 30 days, the registering authority might file a complaint with a magistrate of the first-class. The court could impose a fine between Rs. 200,000 and Rs. 2 million. The fine proposed for failure to register with the new authority is between Rs. 300,000 and Rs. 4 million. The private schools are allowed to file appeals against the registration authority’s decision. They may submit these appeals to the divisional commissioner concerned, who would be required to decide the matter in a month.
However, the passage of the bill infuriated the private schools representative bodies. On March 8, 2016, the All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF) and the Pakistan Education Council (PEC) announced a two-day shutdown in protest against the passage of the bill by the Punjab Assembly. Kashif Mirza, the APPSF president, told Cutting Edge by telephone that over 97,000 private schools are registered with his association, and at least 90,000 of them observed a strike on March 9-10. He threatened that the private schools representative body can extend their strike call indefinitely if the government did not listen to their demands.
Adeeb Jawdani, the owner of a chain of schools in Lahore, terms the proposed bill to regulate private schools a draconian law. However, he opposes shutting down schools to press for acceptance of their demands. Jawdani, the president of the All Pakistan Private Schools Managements Association, says that he has challenged the bill in the Lahore High Court. He tells Cutting Edge that Provincial Education Minister Rana Mashood had assured him that the schools charging less than Rs. 5,000 per month in fees would be exempted from the bill and that recommendations in this regard would be sent to the chief minister soon. He regretted that no practical steps have been taken in this regard so far.
However, the issue is still unresolved. A spokesperson for the Education Minister told Cutting Edge on March 17 that a 12-member committee has been formed to look into grievances of the private schools. He claimed that the Education Department would not allow private schools to loot citizens. He said that the process of increasing fees would be made transparent and the Lahore district administration would hire chartered accountants to conduct audits of private schools for the last three years.
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