Around 45 schools in Islamabad facing summer fee crackdown

Islamabad: After finding 44 private schools in the federal capital to be violating the Islamabad High Court’s bar on the summer break fee, the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority has written to the district administration for crackdown on them. However, action has yet to be taken in this respect.

Last month, the Islamabad High Court had stopped private educational institutions from collecting fee during the June-July summer vacation and asked all those who had already got that from students to adjust it afterward. The PEIRA later put up notices in newspapers asking parents to formally inform it about violation of that court order for action. Working under the administrative control of the CADD, the authority registers and regulates Islamabad Capital Territory's private schools totalling over 1,000.

According to a PEIRA official, the people have so far complained against 44 privately-owned educational institutions for collecting summer break fee or forcing them into depositing fee. The complainants insisted that those schools had threatened to withhold the exam result cards of their children if summer fee wasn’t deposited.

The official said the PEIRA member (registration) had written to the chief commissioner of Islamabad for acting against owners of such schools under the Islamabad Capital Territory Private Educational Institutions (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2013. He however said action on the communication was awaited.

An official of the district administration said the chief commissioner had called a meeting of the private school owners on the matter next week. He said action would be taken against all those adamant to violate the court orders on summer fee.

When contacted, PEIRA chairman confirmed the authority’s communication to the district administration over the summer fee crackdown and said the court’s order in that respect would be enforced in letter and spirit.