Quetta private schools barred from charging winter vacation fees: DC warns of sealing

Private schools in West Quetta district may not charge parents any fee for the winter vacation, under a notification from Deputy Commissioner West Quetta Munir Ahmed Durrani issued on Monday 12 October, ARY News reported. The order applies a Balochistan High Court ruling on winter vacation fees, and schools that ignore it risk losing their registration.

What the West Quetta order says

• Who it covers: private educational institutions in the West Quetta district.
• What is barred: collecting fees for the months of the winter holidays.
• Why: the deputy commissioner told schools to follow the Balochistan High Court's decision on the matter "in letter and spirit", as ARY put it. ARY did not give the case number or the date of the ruling.
• Penalty: a school found charging winter vacation fees can have its registration cancelled and its building sealed.

Why it matters in Quetta

Winter vacation in Balochistan's cold zone is the longest school break in Pakistan. Under the Balochistan Education Department's usual schedule, schools in the cold areas, Quetta among them, close from about mid-December for roughly two and a half months, while warm-zone schools get about 10 days. For a Quetta family with two children at a private school, two or three months of tuition charged for weeks when classes are not held is a large bill, which is why the fee question returns to court and to the district administration almost every year.

The notification does not say whether a school may still collect fees for the weeks of December or February when it is open, or how annual charges spread across 12 months will be treated. Parents should ask the school for a written breakdown of what each month's voucher covers.

What parents can do

1. Check the voucher. If the December, January or February challan includes tuition for vacation weeks, ask the school to remove it, citing the deputy commissioner's order.
2. Do not pay in advance for the vacation months under protest without a receipt that names the months.
3. Complain: the deputy commissioner said complaints made to the DC office in Quetta or to the relevant education department will be acted on at once.
4. Keep copies of fee vouchers and any school circular; they are the evidence the administration needs to act.

Working out how much of the family budget goes on school fees? Our salary breakdown calculator shows your take-home pay month by month, so you can see the saving from three months without fees. More school notices are on our education news desk.