PA passes private schools bill to curb additional fee hike

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly unanimously adopted the private educational institutions amendment bill on Friday, paving the way for the provincial government to stop private schools from increasing fee at will.
The new bill, tabled by Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, will stop private institutions from charging fee during academic year 2016-17 at the rate higher than the fee charged during the last academic year.
It will also stop private schools from charging additional fee for security and laboratory.
Private institutions running without registration will not be able to operate any further and failing to register the institutes will cost the owners up to Rs4 million in penalties.
The bill will also stop the institutions from binding the parents to purchase textbooks, uniform and other material from a particular shop or provider.
The bill has been passed in response to the public outcry over enhanced fees last year.

A large number of parents had complained about unexpected fee hike by few private schools in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and elsewhere in the country in 2015 and staged protests against the unprecedented fee increase.