ISLAMABAD: The operators of private schools have rejected the recently notified Registration and Fee Determination Rules 2016 drafted by the Pakistan Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (Peira) that cap fee structures.

Addressing a press conference at his office, Afzal Babur of the Private Schools Network (PSN) – which represents around 700 low cost private schools – called the recently notified rules “unjustified” and against private education.

“Our schools will not be renewed under these rules,” Mr Babur said, adding that Peira did not consult stakeholders while finalising the rules.

The president of the Private Schools Association, Zofran Elahi, whose association represents private schools in the urban areas, also rejected the rules. Mr Elahi said they were not taken onboard by the regulatory body for the finalisation of the rules.

Registration and Fee Determination Rules 2016 were drafted by Peira, notified by CADD earlier this month

The Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD), Peira’s parent organisation, notified the rules on June 21. According to these rules, no private school will be allowed to charge fees above the set limit.

According to the rules, the upper limit for monthly fees for matric, FA and FSc has been set at Rs8,350, and Rs12,525 has been set for ‘O’ Levels and ‘A’ Levels. If a school wants to increase its fees, the school operators would have to convince the regulatory body, which will in turn determine the fees.

The rules were formulated an increase in fees charged by elite private educational institutions in September 2015. The move was criticised and protested by students’ parents and caught the attention of the prime minister, who barred private schools from charging exorbitant fees.

The private schools then challenged the federal government’s decision in the Islamabad High Court, which recently decided in favour of the schools and set aside the government’s notification.

Addressing the press conference, Mr Babur from the PSN said that according to the new rules, schools are bound to renew their registration annually, which comes with a hefty fee.

“We will stage protests, then we will move the courts and as a last resort we will close down all our schools, but we will not accept these rules,” he said. He added that the government has failed to bring any improvement to the private education sector.

“Over the last three years we have had to face over five chairmen of the regulatory authority. That is quite enough to gauge how sincere the government is with private school education,” he said.

A senior Peira official who asked not to be named said that the authority held a number of meetings with operators of private schools before finalising the rules.

“We have records of meetings, which took place in January, February and March,” he said. He said that if any school wished to increase their fees, their operators should come forward and explain their case.

“We have set a benchmark, but in case any school is offering beyond the benchmark, we are ready to determine their fee, but we can’t give a free hand to private school owners to charge the parents at their own will,” he said.

He said the new rules also prevent private schools from forcing parents to purchase uniforms and stationary from a specified store.

“Being the regulatory authority it is our mandate to determine fee structure of private schools,” he said, and added that authority would play its due role without facing pressure from private school associations

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2016