IHC bars private schools from charging fees for summer vacations

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court has barred private schools in the federal capital from receiving fees for summer vacations.

While hearing a petition on Friday, the court ordered that amount already paid by parents shall be adjusted against fees for the period after vacations.

During the hearing, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui asked the counsels for Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PIERA) what the authority was doing regarding the issue of fees being collected for summer vacations.

To this PIERA counsels, Muhammad Faisal Khan and Rashid Hanif, said they could not do anything about restraining schools from collecting fees for summer vacations as the court had taken away the authority from PIERA. They said a petition against the withdrawal of authority from PIERA was under hearing.

However, the high court issued restraint orders and adjourned the hearing till June 20.

The issue of schools charging fees for summer vacations has been going on since a long time, but no steps have been taken yet to stop the practice. Not only in the federal capital, but in other cities of the country too parents and guardians have been complaining of schools charging a sum in advance, a requirement that becomes a burden for people from a low-income background.