The federal government has issued a mandatory directive capping annual school fee increases at 5% for the new academic year. Private institutions exceeding this limit will now face automatic audits and potential license reviews, a move officials claim is designed to provide immediate relief to families struggling with record-high inflation. Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui announced the policy during a press briefing in Islamabad on Tuesday.
The decision follows months of complaints from parent associations regarding arbitrary fee structures that often outpaced official inflation rates.
“Schools exist to educate, not to function as profit-maximization centers,” the minister said. He confirmed that the cap applies to all private schools, regardless of their fee bracket or curriculum affiliation. The policy mandates that any school seeking a fee adjustment beyond the 5% threshold must secure prior approval from the provincial education department.
To gain this, institutions must provide audited financial statements justifying the increase a hurdle designed to discourage excessive hikes. For parents, the announcement offers a rare reprieve. Many households have seen school costs balloon by 20% to 30% annually over the last two years, forcing some to pull children out of private institutions entirely.
Private school owners, however, have pushed back. The All Pakistan Private Schools Association warned that the cap fails to account for rising operational costs, including electricity tariffs and teacher salaries.
“We cannot maintain quality education if our revenue is frozen while our overheads skyrocket,” a spokesperson for the association said. Despite this, the government appears firm. The education ministry has launched a dedicated portal where parents can report violations directly.
Officials promised that complaints will trigger an inspection within 72 hours. Whether the policy survives legal challenges from school owners or leads to a decline in service quality remains the primary concern for stakeholders. For now, the government is betting that the political capital gained from this intervention outweighs the friction it has sparked within the private education sector.
