The Supreme Court granted stay against the eviction of private educational institutions from the Cantonment Areas and issued notices to the Boards heads with the direction to file replies.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, on Wednesday heard the review petitions regarding removal of educational and commercial buildings from Cantonments areas.

The counsel for the private schools/colleges argued that 3.7 million students were enrolled in 8,300 schools in the Cantonments. He said when these schools will be shut then where will the children studying in them go? He contended that the apex court had not listened to the private schools’ owners’ point of view while delivering the judgment.

Hamid Khan, representing the students’ parents in the case, said the real bone of contention was building schools on residential plots.

The court then adjourned the hearing of the case for an indefinite time period.

A Supreme Court bench headed by former chief justice Saqib Nisar in December 2018 had ordered for removal of all the private schools working in cantonment boards’ areas by December 31, 2021.

In light of the Supreme Court order, the administration of the Cantonment boards, served the evacuation notices to the private educational institutions, which had asked private schools to shift their establishments from residential areas by December 30, 2021.

The red notices were issued to 8,430 private schools in 42 Cantonment boards across the country after the lapse of the deadline.

The Cantonment boards’ administration after this date had started sealing the private institutions in the Cantt areas.

Teaching and non-teaching staff and school owners on Wednesday, protested at the Constitutional Avenue against the evacuation of private schools from Cantonment areas without being provided with an alternative space.

Parents have also expressed their concern over the future of their children’s education, if private educational institutions were abolished without providing them with an alternative space.

They said that the apex court ordered the removal of private schools and colleges from the cantonment board areas on the plea of a single person and without listening to their points of view.

They have also filed a review petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and have requested the court to at least consider their problems and give a patient hearing to them.

According to the All-Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges Association Joint Action Committee leaders said the closure of private schools in cantonment areas will affect three million students as well as teaching and non-teaching staff. They had said that this will lead to unemployment, resulting in robberies, thefts, and suicides.

They said that the educational year in most institutions is still in progress and the students will be severely hit by the SC order to close the educational institutions in the Cantt areas by December 31, 2021.

“How can we close down our schools and colleges before the end of the educational year?”

This story was first published in Business Recorder on Jan 6, 2022.