Cut fees by 20%, Pak schools told

Top court orders private schools to return summer vacation fees, says they can only increase fees by 5 per cent each year; accounts of Lahore Grammar School frozen

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday 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 court, while hearing a case regarding exorbitant fees charged by private schools, had in October ordered the institutes to finish their respective audit reports, and formed a committee to find an amicable solution to the issue of exorbitant fees being collected from parents.

Additionally, the court passed the order that private schools can only increase their fees by 5 per cent each year, and ruled that no private school would be shut.

The audit reports for Lahore Grammar School (LGS) and Beaconhouse School System (BSS), which were submitted in the court, said that the directors and top officials of the schools had received Rs62 million in salaries in 2017. A total of Rs512m 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.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday 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 court, while hearing a case regarding exorbitant fees charged by private schools, had in October ordered the institutes to inish their respective audit reports, and formed a committee to ind an amicable solution to the issue of exorbitant fees being collected from parents.

The audit reports for Lahore Grammar School (LGS) and Beaconhouse School System (BSS), which were submitted in the court, said that the directors and top oficials of the schools had received Rs62 million in salaries in 2017. A total of Rs512m was spent on employees’ salaries in one year, while Rs5.2 billion was spent in ive years, the report said, adding that various facilities were also provided.

The chief justice, commenting on the large amounts, wondered, “Have these schools bought uranium mines or gold mines?”

“Each director gets a salary of Rs8.3m,” Justice Nisar said and observed that the LGS audit report appeared to be incorrect, and expressed his displeasure with the auditor, saying they should be caught and handed over to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

“Children are not getting relief of even Rs2,” the judge said. “The FBR should investigate.”

The court ordered the FIA to freeze the accounts of LGS, and summoned the chairman of FBR and the director general of the FIA immediately.

“They’ve opened schools in rented bungalows and earn huge amounts off each room,” the chief justice observed.

The court was told by Ayesha Hamid, a lawyer for the schools, that all were ready to reduce their fees by 8 per cent, to which the top judge responded that the decrease was much too small.

Justice Ijaz-ul Ahsan noted that the schools had provided incorrect igures in their audit reports. “Look at how directors are receiving Rs8.3m in salaries.”

BSS counsel Shahid Hamid argued that Beaconhouse had paid Rs764m in taxes. He also told the court that Punjab had about 54,000 private schools.

“You may have paid a lot of taxes, but the students are not getting any beneit from them,” Justice Ahsan responded. “They will only be beneited when the fees are lowered.”

“If children’s’ education is being affected, then the court will play the role of a parent,” Justice Nisar asserted.

The court subsequently ordered a 20 per cent reduction in the fees of all private schools, and directed them to return the fees they had charged for summer vacations.

Additionally, the court passed the order that private schools can only increase their fees by 5 per cent each year, and ruled that no private school would be shut.

The court directed the FBR chairman to scrutinise the tax records of LGS and to seize the details of their accounts, their ledger books and electronic records for this purpose.