Fees hike committee fails to finalise new rules

The committee formed by Sindh’s school education department to frame rules and rationalise the annual increase in private school fees in the light of a Sindh High Court decision could not finalise its recommendations.

The committee, which has convened four formal meetings since it was established on April 2, includes the Directorate of Inspection and Registration of Private Institutions Sindh’s (DIRPIS) director general, Mansoob Hussain Siddiqui, Deputy Secretary Ihsanullah Laghari, DIRPIS Registrar Rafia Jawed, head of curriculum Dr Fouzia Khan, Ameena Saiyid of Oxford University Press and Dr Akbar Yezdani.

According to the term of references, it was decided by the department that the committee would submit its recommendations to the SELD secretary within 45 days. The last meeting of the committee was held on May 3, 2018, and the members submitted their suggestions to the director general.

On March 5, on a petition of some parents, the SHC had ordered the education department to set up a committee and examine the rules about fee hikes and set new rules with a mutual understanding.

Dr Akbar Yezdani, one the committee members, said deliberations were still under way and suggestions from all stakeholders had been submitted and were being discussed. He said parents and schools, however, agreed on an inflationary mechanism, the details of which were still being worked out but no decision had been finalised as yet.

“Some misleading rumors have been circulating on media regarding the finalisation of certain decisions, which are completely false and baseless. No decisions have been made and nothing has been finalised as yet.”

All Sindh Parents’ Association Joint Secretary Hamood ur-Rub Jaffry, addressing a joint press conference with representatives of the private schools association at the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday, said more meetings of the committee had been scheduled for further discussion.

He said that if any decision was made by the committee with consensus, all stakeholders would sign the summary of new rules and a final notification would be officially issued, but till then whatever was circulating in the media were mere rumors.

They showed concerns over the issuance of the notification for the early summer vacations by the Government of Sindh. The provincial government had rescheduled the summer vacations from May 14 to July 17 instead of June 1 to July 31 this year, they added.

They said the schedule of early summer vacations should not applied to those schools in which the academic year was under way between August and May. As per the previous notification issued by the SELD of March 6, 2018, the academic session for schools following Cambridge O & A Levels system will start on August 1. The exams of O and A Levels are still ongoing. They demanded that the notification for such schools should be withdrawn.