Owners stage protests across KP to seek reopening of private schools

PESHAWAR: The owners of private schools in different districts of the province and other parts of the country Friday staged protest demonstrations to press the government to reopen the schools or announce a comprehensive relief package for them.

The protest demonstrations were held on the call of Private Education Network. All the associations of private schools supported the call. In Peshawar a protest demonstration was held outside Peshawar Press Club. The demonstration was led by Gul Nabi, Fazal Hussain, Aqeel Razzaq, Abdul Qudus and other leaders of private schools association. They were holding placards and chanting slogans to press government to accept their demands. Before the demonstration, they also addressed a press conference and forwarded their demands to the government. Talking to The News, Nazar Hussain, a central leader of the network, said that the government was not listening to their problems. The government should understand the situation and take early steps to resolve it otherwise private schools would start closing down, he said.

He added that the schools were closed for four months and they were unable to pay rents of buildings as well as salaries of teachers. If the situation persists, they would be left with no choice but to close the schools, he said.

In Nowshera, the local chapter of the private schools association staged a protest to demand the reopening of the educational institutions from June 1.

The owners of the private schools threatened to reopen the schools on their own if the government did not meet their demand. Later, speaking at a news conference, Anwarul Haq and others rejected the Education Department decision to keep the schools and colleges closed till July 15 and said these should be reopened on June 1. They also demanded relief package for the private educational institutions as they had suffered due to the closure and the lockdown due to the coronavirus. Protest rallies were also staged in Chitral, Parachinar, Swat, Bajaur and other districts of the province.