PESHAWAR - On the directive of Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan, the first meeting of the committee for resolving the problems of private schools and formulating future strategies held here at Committee Room Civil Secretariat with reference to the problems caused by the Covid-19.
The office-bearers of Private Schools Education Network (PEN) told the meeting that private schools have been badly affected by the Corona situation. They shared views over attendance of school teachers and administration staff, tax exemptions for schools and soft loan demands from the government.
Minister for Education Akbar Ayub Khan, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister for Excise and Taxation Ghazan Jamal, Secretary Education Nadeem Aslam, Managing Director Private Schools Regulatory Authority Tashfeen Haider and President Private Schools Education Network Saleem Khan, Fazlullah Daudzai, Anas Takrim and other-officials attended the meeting.
The members of the committee agreed to allow 10% of the total teaching staff for online classes and 10 employees of the administration staff to attend the schools so that the school affairs could be run smoothly and to prevent wastage of precious time of the students.
Regarding soft loans to private schools from Frontier Education Foundation, Minister for Education and other members of the committee said that if the Foundation wants to amend the Ordinance to deal with the emergency situation and then get formal approval from the Board, the Education Department would make recommendations for the Foundation and special care would be taken of all rules and regulations.
Regarding tax exemptions, it was decided that private schools have been given tax exemptions in many places in the budget and no additional burden or tax has been imposed on them. However, the committee would consider their issues and decide in accordance with the law.
Regarding the participation of private schools in the Ehsas programme, Minister for Education Akbar Ayub Khan said that special talks would be held with Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood in this regard. He said that students of universities were benefiting from the Ehsas programme adding that the federation would extend hand if there was no legal complication.
The next meeting would be held on Monday in which all recommendations would be finalized and report would be sent to the Chief Minister.