23:14
Unknown
Rawalpindi
Justice Ali Baqar Najafi of the Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi Bench, Friday suspended a notification of the Punjab Boards Committee of Chairmen (PBCC) barring the students of non-affiliated and non-registered private schools from appearing in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination with science subjects.
In another matter, the same LHC bench directed the private school owners of Murree to submit admission forms of students for board examination who secured less than 75 per cent marks in the pre-admission entry test.
In the first case, the petitioner — the Private Schools Owners Association (PSOA) president — through his counsel Raila Saleem Saboohi, had challenged the PBCC notification barring the private candidates and candidates of non-registered or affiliated schools from submitting their admission forms for the SSC examination with science subjects, citing lack of proper laboratory facilities.
The petitioner adopted before the court that the notification is discriminatory and in violation of the basic human rights as education is the fundamental right of every citizen.
The court, while issuing stay orders, re-listed hearing till last week of January 2013.
Advocate Saboohi, while talking to this correspondent, said that there are three categories of private schools. The schools having their affiliation with the education boards and these private schools have no problem in submitting admissions of their students. The second category of schools has registration with the office of the Executive District Officer (EDO) Education. The registered schools were properly examined by the EDO-Education and then these were given registration certificates. Thirdly there were academies and tuition centres neither having affiliation nor registration. The students of non-registered institutions face problems in the admission of their students with science subjects.
The legal counsel of the PSOA argued before the court that the function of the education boards is just to examine the ability of students. It is not their duty to check whether private schools have laboratory facilities. They had an obligation to verify that either a student could perform science practicals or not. If he could not do the practicals, the examiner could fail him in the subject, but board boards could not bar these students from appearing in the examination, Advocate Saboohi argued before the court.
She further argued that the poor children studying in non-registered and non-affiliated schools, who also do some labour after their study hours, should be provided with a chance to appear in the SSC examination with science subjects. Recently, there has been a student securing first position in the Punjab University Bachelors of Arts examination and the same student has been a labourer at a ‘tandoor’. So the authorities should take care of such students who have been studying in the low fee private schools. A child could not be denied a right to appear in the examinations after studying for ten years in a private school close to his neighbourhood.
The RBISE secretary and controller examination were present during hearing in the case.
Petitioner PSOA President Abrar Ahmad, while talking to this correspondent, said that the registered schools should be given affiliation, but the education department has made the affiliation process so expensive and time taking that the owner of small school could not afford. The affiliation fee is Rs100,000 while the annual inspection fee is 20,000 that is beyond the economic resources of a small-scale academic institution.
In another matter, the court directed the private schools of Murree to send admissions of students securing less than 75% marks in the pre-admission tests. While hearing the matter, Justice Najafi observed: “The weak students should not be left aside and they should be given proper opportunity to take part in the examination process.”
The petition was filed by the parents of some students whose children were denied admissions by the administration of different schools in Murree, citing the reason that they secured less than 75% marks in the pre-admission tests.
Justice Ali Baqar Najafi of the Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi Bench, Friday suspended a notification of the Punjab Boards Committee of Chairmen (PBCC) barring the students of non-affiliated and non-registered private schools from appearing in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination with science subjects.
In another matter, the same LHC bench directed the private school owners of Murree to submit admission forms of students for board examination who secured less than 75 per cent marks in the pre-admission entry test.
In the first case, the petitioner — the Private Schools Owners Association (PSOA) president — through his counsel Raila Saleem Saboohi, had challenged the PBCC notification barring the private candidates and candidates of non-registered or affiliated schools from submitting their admission forms for the SSC examination with science subjects, citing lack of proper laboratory facilities.
The petitioner adopted before the court that the notification is discriminatory and in violation of the basic human rights as education is the fundamental right of every citizen.
The court, while issuing stay orders, re-listed hearing till last week of January 2013.
Advocate Saboohi, while talking to this correspondent, said that there are three categories of private schools. The schools having their affiliation with the education boards and these private schools have no problem in submitting admissions of their students. The second category of schools has registration with the office of the Executive District Officer (EDO) Education. The registered schools were properly examined by the EDO-Education and then these were given registration certificates. Thirdly there were academies and tuition centres neither having affiliation nor registration. The students of non-registered institutions face problems in the admission of their students with science subjects.
The legal counsel of the PSOA argued before the court that the function of the education boards is just to examine the ability of students. It is not their duty to check whether private schools have laboratory facilities. They had an obligation to verify that either a student could perform science practicals or not. If he could not do the practicals, the examiner could fail him in the subject, but board boards could not bar these students from appearing in the examination, Advocate Saboohi argued before the court.
She further argued that the poor children studying in non-registered and non-affiliated schools, who also do some labour after their study hours, should be provided with a chance to appear in the SSC examination with science subjects. Recently, there has been a student securing first position in the Punjab University Bachelors of Arts examination and the same student has been a labourer at a ‘tandoor’. So the authorities should take care of such students who have been studying in the low fee private schools. A child could not be denied a right to appear in the examinations after studying for ten years in a private school close to his neighbourhood.
The RBISE secretary and controller examination were present during hearing in the case.
Petitioner PSOA President Abrar Ahmad, while talking to this correspondent, said that the registered schools should be given affiliation, but the education department has made the affiliation process so expensive and time taking that the owner of small school could not afford. The affiliation fee is Rs100,000 while the annual inspection fee is 20,000 that is beyond the economic resources of a small-scale academic institution.
In another matter, the court directed the private schools of Murree to send admissions of students securing less than 75% marks in the pre-admission tests. While hearing the matter, Justice Najafi observed: “The weak students should not be left aside and they should be given proper opportunity to take part in the examination process.”
The petition was filed by the parents of some students whose children were denied admissions by the administration of different schools in Murree, citing the reason that they secured less than 75% marks in the pre-admission tests.
Posted in: Islamabad
0 comments:
Post a Comment