PEIRA dismisses proposal of increasing school fee

Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) has said that there would be no increase in schools fee without its approval.

The representative of PEIRA, Qaiser Majeed Malik has given this statement while talking to Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).

Taking notice of the statements that private schools have given to increase the fee, he said that the chairperson of regulatory body will soon hold a meeting along with the members of the All Private Schools Association to discuss the matter in detail.

It is important to mention here that last week All Punjab Private Schools Federation (APPSF) and Pakistan Education Council (PEC) shut down the schools for two days as a result of strike against passed education authority bill. They demanded 10 percent increase in school fee instead of 5 percent.

But after the assurance of government to resolve the issue, federation ends strike by giving the deadline of one week.

The chairperson of All Punjab Private Schools Federation, Kashif Mirza said if our demands will not met in this one week then we will go for strike for indefinite period of time.

Moreover, Abdul Waheed Khan, information secretary of Private Schools Association Islamabad (PSAI), told APP that private institutions needed to increase the school fees to meet their expenditures.

He added PEIRA had raised the registration fees for the private schools from Rs20, 000 to Rs50, 000. That’s why the schools have to raise the school fee of students.

He also demanded that the federal private schools should be handled by Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) instead of the regulatory body.

Abdul Waheed Khan said that private schools were already paying a handsome amount to PEIRA after every two years, which has been raised by fifty percent, to be paid annually.

He also said that, “Just a few schools can afford these heavy charges by PEIRA as for most of the schools it is quite difficult to pay these charges.”

He also said that owners of school’s buildings raise the rent by 10 percent annually which pushes schools to more increase fees.