Fees increase: Private schools refuse to follow SHC ruling

KARACHI: The private schools have refused to abide by a Sindh High Court (SHC) ruling not to increase the monthly tuition fees, sources within the education department informed the Geo News on Thursday.

The SHC, earlier, ruled against the private schools increasing tuition fees by over five percent. A three-judge larger bench comprising Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Ashraf Jehan announced their verdict which was earlier reserved in June.

The private schools’ management told the education department that it intended to challenge the SHC's decision in the Supreme Court within three months’ as the expenses incurred by schools did not allow them to minimise the fees.

A full bench of the SHC heard the identical petitions against increase in the tuition fees by private schools in violation of the Sindh Private Educational Institutions (Regulation and Control) Ordinance 2001. The petitioners Bushra Jabeen, Arshad Fawad, Muhammad Shariq Feroz and 600 other parents had challenged the increase in tuition fees by four private schools in violation of the ordinance. They said their children were studying at the private schools in the KDA Scheme, Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Qasimabad and the schools’ administrations increased the tuition fees by 12 to 60 percent in violation of the law. The petitioners’ counsel contended that the private schools could not be allowed to make a profit from their own choice as education is a basic necessity of life like food and healthcare, and the government has the authority to stop the private schools from profiteering.