ISLAMABAD: Raja Khalid, 40, who runs a low-cost private school in Bhara Kahu, is disturbed over the government’s recent directive to all private schools to refund the hike in the fee which was implemented this year.
Low-cost private schools continue to outnumber the expensive but more high profile private schools in Pakistan. The former are run without any funding and support from the government while the latter tend to get subsidised plots for the construction of school buildings in urban areas.
And the recent tug of war between parents, expensive private schools and the government has landed these low cost schools in trouble.
A group of parents took to the streets against the exorbitant fee increase by the elite schools at the start of the new academic session.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took notice of the issue and directed that there would be no increase in the current year’s fee.
Subsequently, the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) issued a notification directing all private schools to readjust the increased fee in the coming months.
The low-cost private schools, which started their academic session in March/April, were also directed to readjust the fee and this is giving them sleepless nights.
Owners say they cannot afford to refund increased amount
“We used to charge Rs500 per month. After a gap of two years, we increased the fee to Rs700 in March this year to meet recurring expenses. But now the parents have started asking us to refund or adjust the increased fee in the challans of the coming months,” Khalid tells Dawn.
He said after increasing the fee, he had also revised the salaries of teachers and other staff members.
“I have 110 students; how I can return Rs1,000 per student? We are also barred from charging any extra fee. Now, the exam session is approaching and we have no idea how we are going to arrange for the answer sheets. Earlier, we used to charge Rs300 per student for it,” he said and claimed that parents, teachers and students were happy with the school’s performance and fee structure.
“But now things have changed. The parents are demanding the old fee structure which we can’t afford,” Khalid said, adding low-cost schools had nothing to do with the recent controversy over the fee hike by expensive, private schools.
“A few elite schools are charging exorbitant fee and the parents protested against them. But the government notification has barred all private schools from increasing the fee,” he added.