65,000 teachers to be recruited: Bangash

Education department initiating good schools rating awards

Ziauallah Bangash, adviser to chief minister on elementary and secondary education yesterday said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was fully committed to safeguarding every child’s right to free and quality education.

Speaking about initiatives in the education sector in the first 100 days of the new government, he said that in its renewed commitment to education, Khyber Pakthtunkhwa Elementary and Secondary Education Department (KPESED) has unveiled its new identity as it aspires to improve quality of learning by modernising 10,000 pre-nursery classrooms and recruiting 65,000 additional teachers.

He said that around 7,000 school leaders would be appointed for improved management, while a hotline would be put in place to ensure public accountability.

Bangash said that education department was initiating good schools rating awards for the best performing schools. He also said that around 5 million trees would be planted under the green schools programme with the aim of creating awareness about environment issues.

In a related development, the Supreme Court yesterday ordered a 20 per cent decrease in fees charged by upscale private schools, and ordered them to return fees they had charged for summer vacations. The order is applicable to private schools across the country whose fees exceed Rs5,000 (Dh132).

Exorbitant fees case

The court, while hearing a case pertaining to exorbitant fees charged by private schools, had in October ordered the institutes to furnish their respective audit reports, and formed a committee to find an amicable solution to the issue of exorbitant fees being collected from parents.

The audit reports for Beaconhouse School System, The City School, Lahore Grammar School, Roots School System, Bayview Academy and 15 other schools, which were submitted before the court yesterday, mentioned that the directors and top officials of the schools had received Rs62 million in salaries in 2017. A total of Rs512 million was spent on employees’ salaries in one year, while Rs5.2 billion was spent in five years, the report said, adding that various facilities were also provided.

The chief justice wondered, “Have these schools bought uranium mines or gold mines?”