Regulator sets the ball rolling on fee policy

Islamabad: The Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) has set the ball rolling for the development of a fee policy for the privately-owned schools and colleges of Islamabad Capital Territory.

The regulator has formally asked the chief executive officers and principals of ICT’s all private educational institutions (PEIs) to produce details of the fee charged, teachers hired and facilities provided on campus.

According to a PEIRA letter, the regulator needs to ‘compile certain sets of data of the ICT PEIs for compliance in letter and spirit’ in line with an Islamabad High Court judgment announced on February 28, 2020.

“In pursuance of the decision of the honourable IHC and in exercise of functions and powers enunciated in Section 4(c) and Section 5(a)(b) of Islamabad Capital Territory Private Educational Institutions (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2013, the ICT-PEIRA is mandated to regulate (determine, fix) fee charged by private educational institutions (up to higher secondary level or equivalent) operating in Islamabad Capital Territory.

“In this context, the Authority has decided to develop a rational and inclusive policy on fee determination of PEls operating in ICT for which the relevant information from your institution is required on prescribed format regarding Grade-wise average fee charged during the Academic Period 2016-17 and facilities and quality of teachers,” it read.

The regulator asked schools to produce the sought-after information on the prescribed proforma posted on its website. It added that once the data was received and compiled, the stakeholders would be invited for a wider consultation in order to formulate a rationalised policy through participatory approach based on accurate statistics.