Private schools refuse to budge on April 8 protest plan

Islamabad : The representatives of private educational institutions have renewed their plans to march on streets and stage sit-ins across the country on April 8 against the government's restriction on in-person classes.

Members of the All Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges Association along with students, teachers and parents will march on Islamabad's D Chowk in the Red Zone and hold classes in the education ministry's offices if the government doesn't allow the resumption of in-person learning, association's central president Malik Abrar Hussain told reporters here on Sunday.

Hussain said trader bodies had assured the association of their complete support and cooperation for the protest and active participation in it.

He said the government was managing the important education sector through ‘trial and error' and thus, denying children and youth an easy access to education.

The APPSCA president claimed that by and large, educational institutions observed coronavirus-related SOPs and recorded far fewer cases compared to other sectors.

He said it was ironic that the markets, which caused spread of the virus, were open but educational institutions had been closed in an act of conspiracy against the cause of education.

Hussain said the matriculation and intermediate examinations were just around the corner and that learning losses caused by the prolonged campus closures won’t be covered.

“Students and their parents will join our [private schools’] long march if the government does not reverse decision on school closures,” he said.

The APPSCA president flayed the government for breaking its promise of providing interest-free loans to the teachers and small school owners and relief to the private educational institution during the last lockdown.

He demanded financial assistance for educational institutions, which had remained closed during the pandemic, and relief for teachers rendered jobless.