SC freezes private schools fees at Jan 2017 rates – Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: From now on, private schools will charge the same monthly rate that was being made in January 2017, according to the Supreme Court ruling in a case related to the fee structures of private educational institutions.

In the detailed ruling issued here on Friday, the higher court eliminated any increase in the fee structures of private schools after January 2017.

It will be considered that there has been no increase in the rate since 2017 and that it is frozen at the rate in effect in January 2017, says the verdict.

The SC bank that decided the case was headed by the President of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Asif Saeed Khosa. Judge Ijaz-ul-Ahsan wrote the verdict and Judge Faisal Arab wrote an additional note.

Judge Ahsan expressed concern about reports that private schools had increased rates excessively since 2017 and ordered that rates be recalculated in accordance with the provisions of the Punjab and Sindh laws.

However, according to the verdict, the annual rate increase will be allowed only in accordance with the law / rules / regulations until 2019 and beyond. The recalculation process will be supervised by regulators and only the fee structures approved by them will be allowed.

Eliminate any increase in rate structures from that moment

The calculation of school fees in Punjab and Sindh will be carried out in accordance with the Punjab Private Educational Institutions Act (Promotion and Regulation) (Amendment), 2017 and the Sindh Private Educational Institutions Rules (Regulation and Control), 2005, respectively.

The verdict says that since the beginning of June 2017, several private educational institutions have increased their rates exorbitantly in violation of the relevant laws / regulations. But regulatory authorities have turned a blind eye to the plight of students and their parents who have struggled to meet the growing demands of private educational institutions and face the possibility of paying increased fees for Good or bad. thief or look for alternative options that in the field of education are extremely limited.

Given this situation, Judge Ahsan said, the main court through a provisional order of December 30, 2018 had ordered a 20 percent cut in the fee structures of those educational institutions that were charging fees higher than Rs5 , 000 per month.

"We have reason to believe that said order was duly fulfilled," says the ruling, adding the amount equivalent to 20 percent of fees (reduced according to court order) or any other amount will not be recovered as arrears.

The excess of the fees charged will be adjusted in the future rate, says the verdict, adding that regulators will closely monitor the fees charged by private schools to ensure strict compliance with relevant laws and regulations / regulations.

The court also ordered the establishment of complaint cells to deal with complaints related to the increase in rates.

The ruling explains that the private educational services industry constitutes a "company" under article 18 of the constitution, which simply takes it as any commercial activity for the provision of services.

However, he says that, according to the ordinary meaning of "commerce", which is basically the purchase and sale of goods and services, the private educational services industry constitutes a "trade" and, therefore, may be subject to regulation by A licensing system.

Although people have the right to conduct educational services business to earn money, but that right is neither absolute nor unlimited, says the verdict. Under a licensing system, the state is empowered to regulate the exercise of that right and, therefore, may impose certain restrictions, which include the power to regulate and control prices.

Such power must be exercised in a fair and reasonable manner and is justifiable in the touchstone of being unreasonable or arbitrary, the responsibility lies with the person who alleges lack of reasonableness or arbitrariness, says the sentence.

He explains that the laws of Punjab and Sindh are intended to give government control over unrecognized private educational institutions by providing a registration system and regulating various issues related to private educational institutions, which include, among others, school fees and Staff salaries Respective government or registration authorities.

It seemed that the legislature thought that the supervision of private educational institutions was necessary and of public interest, particularly from the perspective of students and their parents considering the trend of unregulated, unpredictable and exorbitant increases in school fees, hence the limits ; and from the perspective of the teachers when it came to their salaries, said the ruling.

While the court is aware of the hard work that many of the school owners have done, we do not consider the restrictions to limit the fees in question to be arbitrary or excessive in nature.

Additional note

Meanwhile, Judge Faisal Arab in the additional note noted that parents of students from the full range of middle-class families had approached the higher courts, not to question the cost of tuition that schools charged at the time of Admission, but what stirred them. It was the periodic increases made in tuition fees that proved to be a huge burden on their budgets.

Therefore, a substantial increase in rates compared to existing rates stirred up turmoil between parents who invoked Rule 7 (3) of the Sindh Law and Section 7A of the Punjab Law to seek a reduction in Rate structures

Justice Arab recalled that in the last 30 years the country witnessed an accelerated growth of educational institutions in the private sector, since the dependence of parents to educate their children in such institutions has grown phenomenally.

This dependence is due to the pathetic quality of education in the government education system, since many government schools do not have adequate buildings. Where before there was a school building that worked properly, now it is in ruins and most of the schools do not have teachers and, where there are any, they do not take classes, they remain mostly absent but they are paid from the treasure.

Posted on Dawn, September 14, 2019