PEF increases fee in partner schools

LAHORE:Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) in its 75th meeting of Board of Directors held on Monday increased per student fee in its partner schools.

PEF Chairman Aftab Akbar bore all the expenses of the meeting which was held at Kalar Kahar. Speaking at the meeting, PEF MD Asad Naeem presented the agenda of the increase in the fee of partner schools and said the fee was not increased since 2016. The house unanimously approved the increase in the fee of partner schools. As per the agenda, an amount of Rs50 per student was increased from class three to five, Rs 100 per student was increased for class six to eight. During the meeting, the board members were of the view that there was an increase in the drop out ratio from class 6 to 8 and students of this age were usually forced towards child labour therefore the increase in the fee was necessary to decrease the drop out ratio and provide quality education to out of school children through PEF schools. The meeting also approved to clear the backlog payments from September 2020 in upcoming budget. This decision was made upon completion of verification of 75,000 students. Therefore 2500 schools were also allowed for new admissions.

The meeting approved holding Quality Assurance Test in May, June 2021. The MD presented the agenda and requested the board members not to hold English subject in QAT because most of the schools remained closed due to Covid-19. However, the board members did not agree with the suggestion and decided to facilitate the schools who failed in the English subject test by not implementing any penalty. The meeting also approved the monthly Rs2,000 travel allowance for 10 handicapped employees of PEF.

Board members including MPA Sania Kamran, Additional Secretary Schools Farid Sheikh, representative University of Education Dr Intezar Hussain, MPA Shandana Gulzar, IT Expert Dr Basit Ali, barrister Syed Raza Ali, Barrister Muhammad Ahmad Pansota, Khalid Sultan from P&D Department and Muhammad Sultan from Social Welfare Department attended the meeting.