Shahbaz Sharif noticed unlawful annual increase in the fee

Lahore : Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has constituted a special committee to address the complaints regarding unlawful annual increase in the tuition fee by some of the elite schools which has been managed by the private sector in the province.

The special committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary Punjab Shamail Ahmad Khawaja was convened today at Civil Secretariat, Lahore. Chairman Punjab Examination Commission Dr. Zafar Iqbal Qureshi, Secretary Schools Education Punjab Dr. Allah Bakhsh Malik, Secretary Higher Education Punjab Barrister Nabeel Ahmad Awan, Deputy Secretaries, Saba Asghar Ali, Abdul Rehman Khagga and Muhammad Yunis participated.

While giving presentation to the special committee, Secretary Schools Education Punjab Dr. Allah Bakhsh Malik explained the legal framework for private educational institutions in the province and said that complaints regarding charging of high fee received from parents are regularly addressed but in most of the cases, parents do not file complaints in writing.

Taking notice of the violation of Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion & Regulations) Amended Ordinance 2017, the Punjab Chief Minister has desired to review and recommend more effective regulatory regime and enforcement mechanism to fully implement all sections of the relevant regulations in letter and spirit.

The ACS Punjab proposed reorganization of District Enforcement Committees by adding the Deputy Commissioner and District Police Officer of the concerned district as convener and co-convener respectively. This would help ensure that no such private educational institution be allowed to enhance more than five percent arbitrary increase in the annual tuition fee which do charge four thousand rupees or more than that monthly tuition fee. This step will help secure public interest.

These recommendations of the special committee will be submitted to the Chief Minister Punjab for approval.