Supreme Court seeks schedule for shifting private schools from Cantt areas

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday sought schedule for shifting private schools from all 42 cantonment boards across the country.

Justice Ijazul Ahsen asked the counsel for Cantonment Board about compliance on its earlier order. The counsel submitted that all three thousand schools had been issued notices while advertisements were also given in the newspapers in this regard.

To a court query, the counsel submitted that they were thinking of evacuating big schools from the cantonment areas. “When the law does not permit, how we will allow this?” Justice Ijazul Ahsen asked the counsel. “Are we above the law?” the judge questioned.

Meanwhile, the court directed the counsel to submit a schedule stating as to when private schools would be shifted from cantonment areas if the review petitions were rejected and adjourned the hearing for a month.

The court had stayed the evacuation order earlier passed by the apex court giving a deadline of December 31, 2021, directing closure of private schools in all 42 cantonment boards across the country.

Similarly Syed Qalbe Hassan, counsel for private education institutions, had told the court that more than 3.7 million children were enrolled in 8,300 private schools located in 42 cantonment boards across the country.

The cantonment boards had already begun sealing schools and issuing notices to vacate when the private schools and colleges association filed a review petition before the top court.