Schools to reopen for administrative work

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Responding to the request of the All Private Schools Management Association Sindh (APSMAS), the provincial government has allowed the schools to re-open their offices to perform administrative works.

The APSMAS Chairman, Syed Tariq Shah, in a video message, informed the media on April 2 that the Government of Sindh has accepted their request and the administration blocks of the private schools will now be re-opening. 

He expressed his gratitude to the Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah and the Provincial Education Minister, Saeed Ghani, for the prompt action of issuing the notification in this regard. 

Tariq Shah, who is also Secretary General of the National Educational Council Pakistan (NECP), announced that the private schools will be operating their administration offices at the designated timings from April 3.

“The schools will be sending text messages to parents to inform them about the timings at which their administrative offices will remain open. All the standard operating procedures regarding Coronavirus (COVID-19) will be religiously followed because it’s binding on all of us to take care of each other,” he observed. 

“The schools have been advised to consider those parents compassionately who have been severely affected by the prevailing crisis. Similarly the schools will not be charging any late fee as parents couldn’t do so due to the lockdown,” the APSMAS Chairman added. 

“As the schools will now be collecting fees, it becomes their responsibility to disburse the salaries of all teachers at the earliest. I will urge them to do it as early as possible,” Tariq Shah requested. 

He also appealed to the parents to be considerate in paying the fees without further delay as the schools were entirely dependent on fee collection to meet their fixed and running costs.

Private schools seek interest free loan for surival

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Chairman of the All Private Schools Management Association Sindh (APSMAS), Syed Tariq Shah, who is also Secretary General of the National Educational Council Pakistan (NECP), fears closure of privately-run educational institutions if parents do not pay tuition fee.

In a statement issued in Karachi on March 31, he also demanded of the federal government to provide interest free loans to private educational institutions in order to enable them to overcome the current crises by temporarily meeting their expenditures. 

He appealed to parents to pay tuition fee regularly every month so that private institutions would not suffer badly and would survive in such crisis situation. 

He didn't mince words in stating that it would be very difficult for the private educational institutes to survive in such crisis situations and not only there would be possibility of unemployment of staff but also the future of millions of students could be at risk because tuition fee is the only source of income for institutions and the revenue collected through the tuition fee is being used to pay staff’s salaries, building rent, utility bills and government taxes. 

Tariq Shah advised the private school administrations to provide a payment solution in terms of easy installments for those parents who are unable to pay tuition fees on a monthly basis due to severe economic constraints. 

While appreciating the measures taken by the government to deal with Coronavirus (COVID-19), he stated that private institutes were supporting the government in every step taken and desire them to focus solely on the eradication of the virus and treatment of its victims so that the pandemic could be controlled in Pakistan including Sindh and normal routine life would be resumed soon. 

He pointed out that the private education sector was actively supporting the government to upgrade the standard of education and literacy rate by providing quality education. 

“The private institutions are not only the source of employment for millions of people but also paying a huge amount of revenue to government as taxes, therefore if these institutions would be closed, then not only the future of students will be at risk, thousands of staff will be unemployed as well as government will not get revenue in terms of tax which would result in new educational crisis,” Tariq Shah warned.

Government urged to let private schools administration work

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The All Private Schools Management Association Sindh (APSMAS) has urged the provincial to allow the schools to open their offices to carry out administrative functions. In a tweet on April 1, 

Syed Tariq Shah, Chairman, APSMAS, has appealed to the Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, to let the schools open for administrative matters. 

“Appeal from Govt of Sindh. Allow schools to open office for admin matters. Only source of fund for schools is fee collection as we have to pay salaries, building rent, govt taxes and utilities. We request Honourable CM Murad Ali Shah, Education Minister Saeed Ghani and Murtaza Wahab,” he tweeted. 

Tariq Shah, who is also Secretary General of the National Educational Council Pakistan (NECP), in a statement the other day, had drawn the attention of the government about this matter too. 

While requesting parents to pay tuition fee regularly every month so that private institutions would not suffer badly and would survive in such crisis, he also demanded of the federal government to provide interest free loans to private educational institutions in order to enable them to overcome the precarious situation by temporarily meeting their expenditures.