Saddia Mazhar,
ISLAMABAD,(Parliament Times): Ashar a Brilliant Student who belongs to a middle lower class family was admitted to Private schools in H-8 sector of Islamabad in 2018 in 8th Grade. The school initially waived off the admission fee and to confirm the admission the school management allowed him the fee concession and payment in installments. But this December (Dec.2019) his all
concessions were withdrawn by the school management in the middle of the session. According to the school administration the decision was made just because of increasing expenses and wages of the employees. But on the other hand the parents are right in saying that the commitment by the school management was for whole session and how they can do in the middle of the academic session. This is not the story of Ashar only; there are hundreds of such unheard stories. the education statistics of Pakistan shows that from nursery, pre-nursery and 6 to 12 grade, private schools have
surpassed government schools. Pakistan’s education statistics report for 2015-16 shows that the overall educational institutions in Pakistan from pre-primary to the university level are 303,446 – of which 191,065 are public and 112,381 private. The total enrolment is 47.5 million – out of which 27.7 million is for public and 19.8 million is for private.
According to private educational institution regulatory authority ( PEIRA) There are 1,242 registered Private Educational Institutions (PEIs) in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) along with students’ strength of 262,503 [Boys – 150,332 & Girls – 112,171] & teachers’ strength 19,105. Here the question arises that is there any law defined when the private schools were
built in capital, either By the Government or Capital development authority. As people are protesting inordinate increments in the fees of private educational institutions, startling revelations have come to light about how the government allotted these institutions precious land at throwaway prices. The document available from capital
development authority shows as many as 11 plots allotted during 1981-1996 to different private Montessori’s, schools and colleges, while 32 plots were allotted by the Musharraf-led regime during 2005-2007 at throwaway prices. The following allocations are shown in the document: Froebel’s International School: 6,000 square yard plot at Rs70
per square yard in Islamabad’s highly-valued F-7/2 in 1981. Beacon house School System: 23,725 square yard plot at Rs100 square yard in Sector H-8/1 in 1985. The City School: 14,036 square yard plot at Rs100 per square yard in Sector H-8 in 1986. National College of Business and Management Sciences, Wahid Public School: 8,888 square yard and 14,605 square yard plots respectively at Rs250 square yard. International Grammar School and College, Toddlers Academy,
Ambrose Hall School, Cambridge School and Islamabad School of Art and Sciences: Various amounts of land allotted at Rs500 per square yard. Magic Roundabout Nurseries: 1.80 acres of land at Rs843 per square yard at Farash Town in 2006. Siddeeq Public School and Sajid Ideal Model High School: Three acres of land each, at Rs1,785 per square yard in 2006. PakTurk International School: Two plots allotted in 2006; one
measuring 2.66 acres at Rs1,785 per square yard in Chak Shahzad, and the other measuring 12,100 square yard at Rs7,400 per square yard in Sector H-8 Bahria College Naval Complex, Bahria Foundation College, Headstart School, Roots Montessori School and Modern Institute of Informatics and Management: Various amounts of land allotted at Rs4,500 per square yard. All plots were allotted with the approval of the Capital Development Authority, the document claims. Of the 1,069 private schools registered with the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA), 977 were set up in residential areas, while 17 were constituted in 17 commercial buildings, according the Record provided by PIERA.
The CDA also decided to take Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) and Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (Peira) on board before finalizing the new policy for allotment of plots for private schools and shifting of the private schools. According to CDA’s existing by-laws, private schools cannot operate in residential areas. But in violation of the bylaws, currently over 350 schools are operating in residential houses. Sources in the CDA said the civic agency was determined to revise its policy of 2002 which has many loopholes. Plots allotted under the policy in 2007-8 drew criticism resulting in the cancellation of 17 out of the total 19 plots allotted to private schools. “After receiving data from Peira and FDE, the size of available plots to be allotted would be reviewed. For this purpose, FDE and Peira were requested to provide data to the CDA ,” Syed Safdar Ali ( CDA spokesperson.) “It is also being suggested that in most of the government schools, sufficient space was still under-utilized. Therefore, FDE will be requested to take up the matter at their competent forum so that some private institutes could be accommodated in these un-utilized spaces.” He added He said it was also proposed that private schools would be allowed to operate evening classes on premises of government educational
institutes where only morning classes were held, to encourage good students belonging to lower middle class and needy segment of society. here they will be charged with minimum tuition fee. Capacity enhancement in existing building structures of educational institutes may also be considered. According to existing rules, private schools cannot be operated
in residential areas. In 2018, the planning and building control directorates recommended allowing pre-schools in residential areas but a final decision could not be taken. In H-8, the CDA had allotted a large number of amenity plots to
private schools against nominal charges. However, a few years ago the CDA changed its policy under which plots would be openly auctioned. Now, proposals are being made to develop new criteria for allotment of school plots.
Private school owners have been pleading the federal Government, Capital Development authority that 20 years ago there were 393 government schools and colleges and now the number had reached only 423. During this period, the population of the capital city increased five times but the government did not establish schools as per the requirement of the population. In addition they requested to Chairman CDA to look into the matter personally and resolve their issues on priority basis. As a result, the private schools filled the gap, so there should be an amicable solution to the issue of non-conforming use of residential buildings as schools, they demanded. The educational experts expressed that as many as 300,000 private schools across the country were sharing the burden of students with the government however the students in these schools would come out if they were closed down. They argued that a cheap fee would directly affect the
facilities in these schools while they stressed that the government should also focus on improving the standard in government schools. They asserted that the private schools were giving better facilities to students against high fees and their syllabus was also upgraded each year while the government schools continued same outdated syllabus for years.
I have four children three are school going ,they are studying in government school because this school management does not offer any concession to my kids, a security guard who is serving from last two years in a private school in H.8 Islamabad express his grief. The whole education system is suffering with poor quality of education and facilities .private institutions have an upper hand as government educational institutions are not providing that quality in comparison with private ones.so private institutions are confident enough in exploitation and asking for money in the name of different funds.
There is a need to alter the popular conception that private schools are always better than government schools but also to work on improving the quality of learning in both types of school. Private institutions are making money instead of providing quality education. In an interview the Federal minister of Education Mr Shafqat mehoomd told that the government is trying to introduce uniform curriculum throughout the country. “In seventy years the state didn’t provide a
uniform curriculum and quality education to the citizens,” he said. Discrimination led to problems in the society and a certain segment decided to opt English medium teaching model for progress leaving majority of the population behind.
“Government cannot re-invent the wheel but it has decided to go for uniform education system and wants to shift towards Single National Certification model in education,” he said. Improving quality in government schools, and regulating and
setting standards for the private sector is the need of the hour. And the action taken by the current Government can be considered as positive until the
complete implementation of rules and procedures are done effectively.