Punjab education minister warns pvt schools against strike

LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Education, Rana Mashhood Monday said the school owners who are set to go on a strike have no regard to the future of the children.

“The government will announce its action in the next two days if the school owners went ahead with the strike,” he warned in a statement following the call of strike given by some private school owners.

Earlier, some of the private school owners announced to keep their schools shut for two days to register their protest against the Education Bill.

The provincial minister said 97 per cent of the private schools will open tomorrow as normal.

“No one will be allowed to unduly raise the school fee,” he asserted, adding, however, that talks will be held with school owners.

The bill, tabled by Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah last month, will stop private institutions from charging fee during academic year 2016-17 at the rate higher than the fee charged during the last academic year. It will also stop private schools from charging additional fee for security and laboratory.

Private institutions running without registration will not be able to operate any further and failing to register the institutes will cost the owners up to Rs4 million in penalties.

The bill will also stop the institutions from binding the parents to purchase textbooks, uniform and other material from a particular shop or provider. It has been passed in response to the public outcry over enhanced fees last year.

A large number of parents had complained about unexpected fee hike by few private schools in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and elsewhere in the country in 2015 and staged protests against the unprecedented fee increase.