The Sindh High Court has barred private schools from collecting private school fees in summer vacation for several months at once. TechJuice reported that schools must issue notices for those fees in May, and must not use simultaneous vouchers to take more than one month together.
Parents who are given June and July slips in the same sitting are covered by this direction. TechJuice, citing other media reports, said June fees must be paid by June 30 and July fees by July 30. Schools may not demand both payments at the same time.
What the hearing covered
The directions came in a petition challenging the collection of June and July fees, and the practice of making parents buy books and uniforms from the schools. A government lawyer was present, as was a representative of the private schools directorate.
Counsel for the petitioner said schools were issuing two vouchers together. He argued that no academic activity takes place in the vacation, and that fees should not be charged for that period. The TechJuice report does not name the petitioner, the counsel or the judge.
How June and July are to be paid
On the account given so far, private school fees in summer vacation are still payable. June is due by June 30 and July by July 30. What the court has stopped is a demand for both months through vouchers sent at the same time. The notices themselves are to be issued in May, so families see them before the break.
Counsel had asked the court to hold that vacation months cannot be billed at all. The reported order instead fixes when notice is given and blocks a combined collection. It does not, in the details published, cancel the June and July charges. TechJuice attributed the June 30 and July 30 deadlines to other media reports of the order.
Books, uniforms and the next step
The court did not decide the books and uniforms dispute itself. It told the private schools directorate and the other parties to resolve that issue by mutual consultation, and to meet within two weeks. It then disposed of the petition and directed the directorate and the other respondents to act in line with its order.
What Quetta has ordered
Quetta’s district administration has taken a harder position, according to the same TechJuice report. Private schools that collect fees for vacation periods will have their registrations cancelled and their premises sealed. Deputy Commissioner West Munir Ahmed Durrani issued a notification banning the practice after a Balochistan High Court ruling.
The ban runs from the date of that notification, which the report does not give. Schools have been told to put the court’s decision into effect.
Officials said schools that charge for the winter break face the same outcome: cancellation of registration and sealing. The deputy commissioner urged parents to report vacation-fee complaints without delay to his office or to the relevant officials of the Education Department. Prompt reports, the administration said, would allow timely action. No complaint telephone number is stated.
For a family in Sindh, the practical change is a May notice and a separate due date for each month. For a family in Quetta, a bill for the vacation can put the school’s registration and building at risk. These are different orders, in different provinces, and neither is described as a rule for the whole of Pakistan.
