Regulatory bodies to be set up for private educational institutions

The government will establish regulatory bodies at the national and provincial levels to regulate the activities of the private educational institutions.
"The Ministry of Education will establish regulatory bodies to streamline the activities of educational institutions soon," official sources informed Business Recorder on Saturday.
Presently, the government has no control over the private schools, colleges and universities. Provincial governments have promulgated ordinances for promotion and regulation of private educational institutions.
A bill is also under process for the promotion and regulation of private educational institutions in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).
Sources said that private sector is playing a major role in increasing literacy rate as government can not achieve Education For All (EFA) goal alone.
The objective of this regulatory body is to bridge the gap between government and private educational institutions. All the private schools and colleges will have to get registration certificate from these regulatory bodies.
"Government will announce lucrative packages for attracting private sector in investment for the uplift of basic education in the country" source added.
According to sources, the government will provide matching grants for the establishment of the educational institutions by the private sector in rural areas through national and provincial education foundations.
It was learnt that plots in residential schemes would be given on reverse prices with income tax rebate to the private sector.
Sources further informed that those schools which are running on the non-profit basis, would be exempted form all kinds of taxes.
Regulatory framework is a step forward towards the public-private partnership, which had been hailed by the private sector.
It is pertinent to mention here that there are numerous private schools, which are running in the federal capital without government's permission.
Capital Development Authority (CDA) had launched a grand operation against those schools, which established in the residential areas.
Federal education minister Zobaida Jalal had intervened into the matter and appealed CDA to stop operation against these schools.