KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday issued notices to the management of four major private schools on contempt of court applications over their non-implementation of court order regarding enhancement in annual tuition fees.

The three-member bench of SHC headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi also enlisted the director general, directorate of inspection of private schools, to come up along with the record of fee structure approved by the provincial authorities on Nov 19.

The parents of a large number of students enrolled in various private schools across Karachi filed applications seeking contempt of court proceedings against management of schools for allegedly defying the Sept 3 judgement of the bench which ruled that private schools could not enhance the annual tuition fees above five per cent.

The lawyers for the applicants contended that despite the SHC judgement, the schools have enhanced the tuition fee by more than five per cent and maintained that as per director general, directorate of inspection of private schools, the record of fee structure was “lost in the rain”.

On Sept 3, the same bench had declared the enhancement in annual tuition fees by more than five per cent by private schools and institutions as illegal and directed their managements to refund it within three months.

The bench in its judgement had also directed the government to increase the education budget and to formulate a uniform education policy for both public and private education sectors in such a manner that there should be no difference in the quality and standard of education provided by public and private schools.

Last year, a set of identical petitions was filed by the parents of students studying in various private schools in the provincial metropolis. They contended that as per rules, private schools’ managements could not raise tuition fees by more than five per cent in an academic year, but the schools had been raising the fee by more than 10pc.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2018