Sharif orders freeze on private school fees

No private schools across the country should raise their fees in 2015, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said.

He ordered the education ministry and the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) to implement this decision in true letter and spirit, Dawn online quoted a statement as saying.

According to the statement, the prime minister directed both the ministries to hold consultative meetings with all stakeholders in order to devise a unanimously-accepted policy that regulates fee increases by private schools.

The directions were part of an effort to come up with "proposed legislations in order to regulate and keep a check on profiteering by private schools".

Sharif's order comes on the heels of an ordinance, issued by the Punjab government, which also bars private schools from raising their fees this year.

Education Minister Baleeghur Rehman, who was tasked by the PM to solve the fee hike issue, had met with private school representatives on Friday and had reportedly sent a summary to the PM on the basis of his meeting.

Earlier, a group of parents who started a drive against the exorbitant fee hike by elite private schools on Sunday announced their decision to launch a signature campaign to press the government to take action against the private schools.