Learning boundaries

Supreme Court order to close private schools, colleges in 42 cantonment boards is likely to affect nearly 3.7m students.

ISLAMABAD: Learning knows no boundaries, goes the famous saying. However, for the citizens of the third world, there are boundaries galore when it comes to learning, as they are faced with countless hurdles in their path to achieving proper literacy.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan’s order to close down private schools and colleges from 42 cantonment boards across Pakistan is likely to create yet another such hurdle in learning for as many as 3.7 million students and 0.2 million teaching and non-teaching staff of approximately 15000 schools and colleges.

As per Supreme Court order, the Cantonment boards’ administration had issued notices to all the private schools to close down the institutions by December 31. Therefore, the authorities have already started sealing the private educational institutions existing in the cantt areas.

Three years back, in 2018, a Supreme Court bench headed by former chief justice Saqib Nisar had ordered to remove all the private schools working in cantonment boards’ areas by December 31, 2021, and since the deadline has reached, it is time to strictly implement the court orders.

Needless to say, the apex court order has greatly compounded the worries of the parents as to how their children studying in the affected institutions would continue their studies. This sort of forced break in studies is bound to affect most students as they will be seeking fresh admissions which is not an easy task by any means.

The school owners who have invested a massive amount of money to establish the educational institution in the respective cantt areas across the country and are operating for the last many years, are compelled to set up new campuses outside the cantonment board areas, which is quite an uphill task.

Some of the school owners, while talking to Bol News, disclosed that the apex court ordered the removal of private schools and colleges from the cantonment board areas on the plea of a single person and without listening to their point of views. They have also filed a review petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and have requested the court to at least consider their problems and give a patient hearing to them.

“We are paying heavy taxes to the cantonment board including advertisement tax for the last many years,” argued the owners. “If we were unauthorized to run private educational institutes in such areas, then why is the concerned department collecting taxes from us?

“The private schools in this country accommodate 60 percent of the children, simply because the number of good government schools is very less,” an owner contended while speaking to Bol News. “Many of these educational institutions are charging Rs1500 to Rs3000 per month fee in the cantt areas which is affordable for most parents. Now if these institution will be forced to move out  of the cantonment board areas, it would not only increase the financial burden on the owners but also on parents will have to make alternate arrangements for the pick and drop of their children.”

School owners further argued that the educational year in most institution is still in progress and the students will be severely hit by the SC order to close the educational institutions in the Cantt areas by December 31, 2021. “How can we close down our schools and colleges before the end of the educational year?”

The representatives of the private schools also complained about the unfair criterion being adopted by the cantonment board authorities for closing down private educational institutions. “The authorities here are accusing us of operating in residential areas whereas banks, beauty salons and shopping malls are also working in the same areas, so why aren’t they facing the music.” they said.

Some of the parents of the affected children, while talking to Bol News, said they have registered their complaints on the Prime Minister Complaint Portal as well and have requested the government to stop closing down private educational institutions in the cantonment board areas.

Meanwhile, the All Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges Association (APSCA) has set up a camp outside the National Press Club in Islamabad in protest against the closure of schools and colleges from cantt areas.

Media coordinator APSCA, Malik Abrar told Bol News that they have set up the protest camp because no one is taking notice of their requests and our problems. “Now this camp will continue till the cancellation of the Supreme Court order,” he said.

He added that during COVID-19, all the private educational institutions suffered a lot and the government should be sympathetic to their plight and should stop closing down the private schools and colleges from cantt areas.

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