The problem of the future of three million children!
This is not to mention the children who have been promoted to the next class by the federal government on the advice of the provincial governments. These are the children who are studying in schools affiliated to the Punjab Education Foundation, abbreviated as “PEF”.
The future of three million PEF children is at stake. It is an autonomous body of the government, which came into being in 1992 when Nawaz Sharif became the Prime Minister for the first time and in Punjab, he appointed one of his loyal colleagues Chaudhry Ghulam Haider Wynne as the Chief Minister.
The organization was set up to raise funds to build a private school but was unsuccessful. It was revived during the reign of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi when in 2006 it was offered to join private schools with very low fees. Dr. A. Bakhsh Malik became its first MD and Shahid Hafeez Kardar its first Chairman. I visited school, took children’s exams.
The successful ones would be “adopted”. Then what happened, phase after phase began to come, in the first phase only ten, in the second 54 and then from hundreds reached thousands. Dr. A. Bakhsh Malik set up such a monitoring system that the monitor would not even drink a glass of water from the school. These schools have examinations once a year and there is an excellent system of monitoring. In 2019, PEF schools have topped the matriculation examinations in four education boards of Punjab.
Not only did this continue under Mian Shahbaz Sharif, but more than 4,000 government primary schools that had reached the brink of failure were handed over to PAF, where there were 30 students and two teachers, now there are more than 200.
There are more students. Thus, the number of children in these schools is more than four lakh. However, the previous government had set up a separate body for these government schools called ‘Pima’. There are currently more than 12,000 schools run by PAF and more than 4,000 by Pima. Six years ago, the fees of PAF schools were increased by Rs. 100 to Rs. 550, the same fee is still being charged.
The need for a long introductory preamble has arisen because many people do not have information about PAF, but they are self-sufficient in criticism and commentary. Since the present government came, there have been three such occasions. That the money received by the PAF schools was delayed for three months on various pretexts. Even this year, schools have not received payment for three months.
There seem to be less technical reasons and more personal reasons behind this delay. Punjab Education Minister Dr. Murad Rass has decided at all costs that these schools have to be put to rest only by disturbing and failing them. Since this institution has been approved by the Assembly, he will not remove it by any order or action Can Last October, all the students of all the schools were fully verified. Payments kept coming according to the number of children, but cruel deductions were made in the payment coming in February, no one knows How much of his payment was deducted in the last five months? Now the payment has not come from March to May, the minister has informed the nation that “… there are big scams in PAF, I will not allow a single rupee of taxes to be shifted from one place to another, about three and a half lakh children.” They are fake, everyone will be held accountable … Etc. etc. ” Payments have also been withheld from absent or uncertified children by declaring them “fake”.
Where there is a fee of five hundred and fifty rupees for six years, how much imagination can there be of “looting”? Even the schools with such low fees are ‘mafia’ according to the minister. Their additional admissions have been closed for two years. Threats continue in various ways. A child of a government school costs Rs. 2,000 or less. At the expense of a child of a government school, three children are getting education in PAF, which is also a relatively standard education. Suggestions are being made on social media to abolish PAF and invest this fund in government schools, while government schools have turned into white elephants.
PAF schools have also been criticized for the low salaries of teachers, with PAF directing at least half the pay to staff, which is mandatory. The government has a duty to provide a pay call for PAF school teachers, so that allegations of exploitation against these schools can be dropped. At the moment, PEF school owners are under severe pressure, not teachers’ pay However, landlords have not received rent and schoolchildren have their own affairs. In such a situation, despite the scorching heat of Ramadan, these school owners are forced to protest in front of the Punjab Assembly for the sake of their students, teachers and their survival, said Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. PF school owners demanded that their three-month payments be made immediately, deductions be refunded at all costs, payments be increased, and other issues be postponed until the school reopens. Minister of Education! There is no room for 3 million more children in your government schools, the people do not trust your schools anyway.
Who will hear this cry, Chief Minister of Punjab? Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi? Is anyone ready to inherit these 3 million children? Your government schools do not have the capacity to accommodate 3 million more children, the public does not trust your schools anyway. Who will hear this cry, Chief Minister of Punjab? Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi? Is anyone ready to inherit these 3 million children?
