Zubair Qureshi
Participants of the webinar on private education system in the Covid-19 era urged the government to urgently respond to the needful in the state of emergency by allocating funds for the relief to parents who are being forced to pay school fees of their kids during pandemic days. They also urged the authorities to support small and medium-sized schools.
They said the governments world over have given special packages to the students but our government is putting all the resources in defence ignoring health and education sectors.
The representatives of the private schools were of the view that no relief was being provided to private schools of any tier except the bank loans at discounted rates after pledging the school assets. Only some of the top tier schools could benefit from this scheme not to talk about the low-fee schools housed in rented houses in lower-middle class areas.
Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) and DTNTV jointly organized the webinar on ‘Private Schools: Challenges and Responsibilities” on Saturday. About 100 participants showed off including parents, teachers, school management and reps of the private schools’ association and civil society to make the webinar a big success.
Senator Sitara Ayaz, Deputy Mayor Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad Zeeshan Naqvi and Zafar Iqbal, Deputy Director of the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) were among the guest speakers. Devcom-Pakistan and DTNTV Director Munir Ahmed conducted the webinar.
Speaking on the occasion, Senator Sitara Ayaz urged the regulatory authority to take stakeholders on board for consolidated recommendations for the government to act upon in letter and spirit to provide relief to the students and parents, and also to the schools where necessary in the state of Covid-19 emergency. We all are going through a miserable phase where we need the government support besides shouldering each other. Despite hue and cry we see no plan of action so far.
Zeeshan Naqvi, Deputy Mayor MCI, said their organization is available for any possible support the private schools need to facilitate the students and parents at large. He urged the PEIRA to form a permanent forum including parents, civil society reps and other stakeholders for regular interaction to improve the private education in federal capital at least.
Devcom-Pakistan Director Munir Ahmed said the PEIRA is much weaker in communicating with those who approach the concerned officers. Citing his own experience, he said the PEIRA chairperson could not respond to an email and dozens of calls in four days. This is ironic that even the women leadership in the government sector is equally irresponsive to citizens contrary to the worldwide practices.
Zafar Iqbal briefed regarding the scope and mandate of the PEIRA and mentioned that a set of recommendations were prepared and submitted to the ministry of federal education. The recommendations include a relief package for all types of schools, teachers and students. A national conference, he said, is expected on July 8 to review the emergency situation and post-covid-19 scenario for the private education system beside the public educational institutions.
Rabia Amin said many schools have no discount policy even for anyone of three children of a single parent. Books, notebooks, and uniforms all are provided by the schools but at very high prices without any check by the regulatory authority.
Chief Patron of the Private Schools Association Dr Ifrahim Satti said private schools are catering 40 million students, and most of them are low-fee schools that are facing financial crunch. Without any relief package, more than 20 per cent schools would shutdown their doors that would create another problem while 50 million children are already out of school.
