KP Bans Annual Fee Hike By Private Educational Institutions

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Private Schools Regulatory Authority (KP-PSRA) has approved the new PSRA regulations under Section-30 of the KP-PSRA Act-2017 in compliance with the Peshawar High Court judgment passed on November 8, 2017, banning the increase in fees by private educational institutions until further directives.

The KP PSRA is currently working on developing a uniform policy for annual increase in school fees, and until he same is formulated, educational institutions have been barred from raising fees arbitrarily.

A press release issued by the authority on April 10 and available at www.kpese.gov.pk said that a meeting chaired by Managing Director Syed Zafar Ali Shah approved the new regulations and called on the managements of all private schools operating in the province to comply with the directives in letter and spirit. The regulations will be applicable to all private, montessories, tuition academies, kindergartens, primary, middle and high secondary schools.

Per the new regulations, private institution can only charge 50 percent fee from the second and third child of the same parents and charging tuition fee for vacations of more than 30 days has also been made unlawful. However, keeping in view administrative expenditures like utility bills, rent, and salaries, private school managements have been allowed to charge maximum 50 percent of tuition fee in addition to the annual fee. In accordance with court directives, the PSRA also banned the charge of transport fee for the period of summer vacations from students.

The Peshawar High Court has also authorised Traffic Police Department to de-board any student of a private institution hanging outside of any private transport vehicle and ordered a punitive fine on school principal, school owner or class teacher in case any such incident occurs. Similarly, the respective police station of every school has been authorised to register a case against the school administration found violating regulations set by the PSRA.

Also, all private institutions would abide by the set policy of KPK Safe Food and Halal Food Authority in school canteens. A food inspector would inspect the food items weekly and keep a strict quality check.