Strike Of Private Schools Continues Against KP Govt Decision To Reduce Fees

The strike of private schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa continued against decision of PTI led coalition government regarding reduction of fees and non-payment of tuition fee during summer vacations

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Apr, 2018 ) :The strike of private schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa continued against decision of PTI led coalition government regarding reduction of fees and non-payment of tuition fee during summer vacations.

In KP, most of private schools remained closed on second consecutive day on Tuesday owing to strike call given by the private educational institutions management association against recent decision of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to reduce fees and non-payment of tuition fee from students during summer vacations .

The meeting of private educational institutions management association was also held here on Monday to protest against the decision. The owners of the private educational institutions attended the meeting and requested KP government to review on its decision.

President of the association, Yawar Naseer said KP government had approved an act few months ago according to which the fees of private educational institutions have been reduced by 10 percent, while fee structure has also been changed.

The KP private schools authority has also announced further 20 percent reduction in the fees, after which the total reduction in fees has reached 30 percent now, he claimed. "The private schools management is now unable to decide whether they should work according to the law or accept the directives of the regulatory body," he maintained.

Naseer said the new act bounds the private schools not to receive fees from students during summer vacations that were unjustified. "Most of private schools are in rented buildings and owners of those buildings also receive rent during summer vacations," he said.

He maintained the salaries of teachers during summer vacations are also paid from the fees received from students. Due to these reasons, he said, it is impossible for the private schools owners to comply with all the directions of PTI government.

He said the protest will continue if the government did not resolve problems of private schools owners. Presently around 30,000 registered and unregistered private educational institutions are working in KP and its closure will make negative effects on the performance of students.

On the other hand, parents of students also continued protest against decision of private educational institutions for closing schools and in support of KP Government decision to reduce fees. A rally in favour of the Private Schools Regulatory Authority of KP Government and against the strike of private schools was held in Charsadda on Tuesday.

The protesting parents were holding placards and banners against management of private schools, said the private schools should stop using education sector for their business gains and looting public in the name of quality education.

They said the private schools were playing with the future of Pakistan only for business gains and were seemed uninterested in resolution of their problems. The protestors were holding placards and banners inscribed with different slogans such as 'strike of private schools unjustified, stop looting of general public in name of quality education.' Later, the protestors peacefully dispersed.