Punjab govt to introduce new legislation regarding private schools

LAHORE: Punjab government has planned to introduce new legislation to regulate private educational institutions in the province.

This legislation will primarily restrain the private educational institutions from increasing the fees on unjustified grounds. In this regard, Punjab Schools Education Minister, Dr. Murad Raas, revealed that the new legislation will accord protection to parents against the exorbitant fee hikes and will cover uniforms, books, harassment, and other issues in private institutions.

While highlighting the latest incident of sexual misconduct in Lahore’s elite school, the minister said that there is no law currently in the province that authorizes the education ministry to initiate legal proceedings against anyone involved in harassment in private schools.

“At present, my ministry has no legal authority to take action against a teacher of a private institution,” he said by adding, “However, the new law will permit us to take action on any issue pertaining to private institutions in accordance with the law.”

He added that the Punjab government has also drafted a bill to prevent the publication of hateful content. The bill will allow the ministry to initiate legal action against publishers involved in printing material deemed as provocative.