LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry has urged the Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif to take notice of the imposition of heavy commercialization tax on the education sector and sealing-off the private schools by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA).
Member Punjab Assembly Nasreen Nawaz and All Pakistan Education Promotion Movement Chairman Fayyaz Khan were also present on the occasion.
While addressing a huge delegation of over 100 owners and representatives of private schools, LCCI Vice President Kashif Anwar said that LDA had assured that private schools would not be sealed but still raids are being conducted for sealing private schools for the recovery of commercialization fees.
Kashif Anwar said that Chief Minister of Punjab should take notice of the situation as it seems that some elements are trying to create bad image of the Punjab government that has taken various initiatives to promote the education in the province. He said that LDA officials should be directed by the Chief Minister to stop sending police teams for sealing private schools.
He also urged the Punjab government to bring down the rate of commercialization fees that had recently been raised without consulting the stakeholders. He said that all those education institution which were charging fees up to Rs 2,500 per month should be given some breathing space by reducing the commercialization fees that was exorbitantly high.
Earlier, the head of the delegation informed the vice president that the rate of commercialization had been raised to the level that some schools were unable to afford it. He said that it was unfortunate that schools that were charging over Rs 20,000 per month have commercialization fees equal to those who were charging up to Rs 2,500 per month.
