PESHAWAR - As admissions have begun after the recent examinations, various private schools have started fleecing parents with impunity as they are charging fees on various heads, while citizens are powerless and have to ‘grin and bear it’, The Nation learnt in a survey. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has already established Private Schools Regulatory Authority (PSRA) to check any exploitation of parents by the private schools.
A few years ago, the provincial high court had ruled that the private schools would only receive tuition fees and no other fee. However, the court order is being violated because many schools are charging parents exorbitant fees. Several parents complained that the schools were charging them exorbitant fees with impunity while there was no authority to check the exploitation. A parent, whose children study at Allied School System model campus at Wazirbagh Road in Peshawar city, visited the school where the management asked him to deposit a sum of around Rs30,000 just upon the promotion of his two minor children to next class.
“The management of Allied School in New Kakshal told me to deposit promotion fee, miscellaneous fee, and charges of books, while they also told me to buy stationary for the students from the market,” he said. “My child was promoted to the next class. I was made to pay such a high fee that I felt as if I was admitting my children for the first time when uniforms and shoes are also arranged.
This is totally unfair,” he added. Several other parents also said that they had paid extra fee to their children’s schools. When contacted, Attaullah Khan, an assistant director of the KP Private Schools Regulatory Authority, told The Nation that as per the Authority’s regulation as a high court verdict, the private schools were only allowed to collect tuition fee and no other fee. “Those private schools which exploit parents by charging them illegal kinds fees can approach the Authority and file a complaint, on which action is taken against the school concerned,” he added.
