LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday directed that private schools could only collect summer vacation fee from students’ parents for one month. Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi passed the orders while hearing a petition moved by Advocate Sheeba Qaisar.The judge restrained all private schools from collecting the summer vacation fee in advance and directed them to act upon the notification issued by the provincial government in this regard. The judge observed that the government often gives advertisements in the media but does not bother to issue advertisements beneficial for the public.The lawyer-petitioner told the judge that the Punjab government had already issued a notification and stopped the private schools from collecting the fee for summer vacations in advance, but the schools were forcing students to pay the fee in advance, which was creating problems for students and their parents. The Education Department officials present in the courtroom said they had not received any complaint from parents or students in this regard. On this, Justice Qureshi remarked that concealing facts could not be tolerated and directed the officials to advertise that notification in newspapers.The judge also directed the education officials to take action against those schools which were charging full summer vacation fee collectively and submit a report on the next hearing. The court adjourned the hearing till June 2.
