Private schools fleece parents by charging high fee amid closure

The private schools in Peshawar are reportedly charging high fees from students despite the closure of schools enacted in the past one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to reports, more than 6,000 private schools are charging fees between Rs500 to 2,000 per month and provide basic classroom and playground facilities to students. The majority of these schools were incapable to accumulate fees from the students during the shutting of these institutions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Moreover, some 500 among these schools had to close down permanently because they were unable to pay the rents of buildings and pay remuneration to staff. The remaining ones were affected by the long wave of the pandemic.

A protest drive was launched by the teachers and owners of private schools to prompt the government to help the educational institutes on the brink of closure.

The committee under the managing director of Elementary and Secondary Education Foundation Zariful Maani sent suggested the government restrict the decision of closing educational institutions to the district level, students and teachers should be vaccinated, and other essential provisions should be taken to prevent the spread of the disease.

The committee had also recommended that the government should push parents to timely disburse the fee to schools. Thus, the schools were gradually reopened and the stakeholders resumed the activities. However, the reports suggested that the schools that have been charging fees of more than Rs2,000 were the least affected by the closure.

The PSRA data reveals that nearly 2,000 schools collected up to Rs 6,000 monthly fees, while over 1,000 private schools collected Rs10,000 fees a month. The schools that charge a fee of Rs15,000 per month are two dozen. Nearly 20 schools in the province are collecting Rs20,000 fees per month. Three schools in the province collected Rs25,000 as a monthly tuition fee, while each institution charges Rs35,000 and Rs45,000 each.