Private schools in Rawalpindi that are still operating without registration have been given one week to complete the process, after which their premises could be sealed. The warning came from the District Registration Authority at a meeting chaired by Additional Deputy Commissioner for Social Services Fazail Mudassar, where officials reviewed the registration of unregistered institutions, their compliance with legal requirements and the safety of school buildings.
Under the decision taken at the meeting, unregistered institutions will have a seven-day window to submit their documents and meet all legal conditions. Schools that fail to do so within that period will face enforcement action, including the sealing of their premises, a step that would leave parents and pupils scrambling for alternatives mid-session. The authority also considered applications from 35 newly established private schools. One application was turned down because its paperwork was incomplete, while the registration of the other 34 was approved on condition that they submit certificates for their IT and science laboratories.
The meeting also agreed to fine schools that broke government instructions during the summer holidays, and it decided that the structural safety of private school buildings would be assessed by an independent third party. A committee headed by the Additional Deputy Commissioner for Social Services has been set up to oversee that evaluation, reflecting growing concern about the condition of buildings where thousands of children spend their days.
That concern was underlined by the District Education Authority’s chief executive, Yasin Khan Baloch, who told the meeting that the authority is surveying 7,000 private schools and 1,300 government schools in the district for safety measures and dangerous buildings. So far, 5,000 schools have been surveyed, and 300 private schools along with 143 government schools have been asked to complete safety work within a week. A member of the registration authority, Javed Khan, also raised the issue of notices from some municipal officials demanding the commercialisation of school buildings while safety audits were still under way, and urged the chair to direct those officials to stop.
The one-week deadline puts real pressure on school owners, but it also raises a question that will matter to parents most: what happens to children if a school is sealed? Registration and safety checks are plainly necessary, and a building that is unsafe should not house pupils. Yet enforcement that closes schools without a plan for their students could punish families for failures that are not theirs. The district administration’s next test, therefore, is not just to enforce its deadline but to make sure the survey of thousands of schools leads to safer classrooms rather than sudden closures.
