Govt to implement court orders on summer vacations fee

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan Tuesday assured the Senate that the government would ensure implementation of the court orders regarding charging of fees by private schools in the federal capital during the summer vacation.
Replying to a calling attention notice, the minister said the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) had been summoned by the apex court on October 4, whose order would be implemented in its true spirit.
He said earlier the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had restrained the private schools from collecting the fees for summer vacation in advance. Similar orders were also issued by the Lahore and Peshawar high courts, he added.
He said in compliance with the IHC order, PEIRA had directed the private educational institutions in the federal capital to stop demanding summer vacation fees in advance from the parents. The Authority, in its first notice, asked the private institutions to follow the court order and warned them that their licences would be cancelled in case of violation. Similarly, another notice was also issued to the private schools by PIERA, he added.
He said on May 18, the order was challenged and set aside by the Supreme Court on technical grounds.
Earlier, in the calling attention notice, Senator Kalsoom Parveen said the state was responsible to ensure free education to the students. Private schools, she alleged, had been looting the public in the name of education.
She said the private schools had been become a mafia and PEIRA had no mechanism to regulate them. The PEIRA chairman had failed to address the issues related to the private schools.
She asked the government to take notice of charging of fees by the private schools in Islamabad during the summer vacation despite a restraining court order in that regard.