SHC orders private schools to exempt orphans from fee

KARACHI: In a historical verdict, the Sindh High court on Wednesday ordered all the private educational institutes to exempt orphans from every kind of fee, ARY News reported.

Hearing a case pertinent to orphans, the SHC directed the provincial government to reserve Rs10 mn annually for orphanages in the province. The court asked the government to legislate for orphans’ enrollment in private educational institutes.

Highlighting the rights of orphans, the court directed the government to register the orphan as per law and asked the Sindh’s chief secretary to personally look into the matter.

The court also ordered to devise a mechanism to give identity to the abandoned children. SHC directed the orphans’ board to ensure quarterly meeting.

It is pertinent to mention here that nearly 22.5 million of Pakistan’s children were out of school with the majority of them girls, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on November 13, last year.

The 111-page report titled “Shall I Freed My Daughter, or Educate Her?: Barriers to Girls’ Education in Pakistan” concluded that many children had no access to education, including because of shortage of government schools, especially for girls.

The report said thirty-two percent of primary school age girls are out of school in Pakistan, compared with 21 percent of boys as by ninth grade, only 13 percent of girls were still in school.