KARACHI, September 3: Sindh High Court on Monday prohibited private schools from raising fees by over 5% per annum.
The three-member bench of the SHC headed by Justice Ashraf Jehan and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi hearing the case issued notices on the imposition of income tax on school fee and directed the provincial government and private school representatives to reply by September 7.
Over 100 parents of school children had moved court against ‘unilateral fee hikes’. The petitioners said private schools routinely introduced fee hikes citing increased expenditure.
Teacher salaries, they said, constituted less than 50% of school overheads. The counsel for the petitioners said the State was empowered to prevent schools from making excessive profit.
“The law does not allow schools to annually increase fee,” an additional advocate general told the court.
“While private schools can fix (tuition) fee for three years, the provincial government has final say.” Unchecked fee hikes first came into the limelight after parents of students started staging demonstrations nationwide in 2017.-Sabah
