KP private schools express reservations about ‘new’ law

PESHAWAR: Atif Khan, Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education of KP assured the province’s private schools that they would be taken into confidence before any new education law is implemented during a consultative meeting.

Representatives of private schools expressed their reservations on the government’s introduction of a uniform exam system for 5th grade, during the meeting held yesterday.

Led by Executive Director of Beaconhouse School Sytem Nasir Qasoori, the private school representatives expressed grief about not being consulted before the introduction of the new system.

Assurity was given that all stakeholders would be taken into confidence by the minister and the new rules and regulations will be discussed with them before they became legal. A briefing was also given to the representatives about the benefit of the new assessment system.

At the end of the meeting the executive director of Beaconhouse School System assured the minister of his support and also appreciated his role.

The KP government has taken its upcoming fiscal year’s education budget to Rs 139 Billion from a mere Rs 61 billion four years ago, and set a very high bar for other provinces.

With an influx of approximately 34,000 former private school students in government institutions, the state of education in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is in a tussle with itself.

According to experts the reason is due to the tenuous K-P Registration and Functioning of Private Education Institutions Ordinance, 2001, which has allowed the cost of private education to rise without a ceiling cap and without defined criteria on teacher qualification. Unable to afford private education parents have opted for public education for their children.

Source: The Nation