Staff Reporter
Peshawar:
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has ruled that private schools across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are legally bound to extend social security benefits to their employees, including teachers, under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Employees Social Security Act, 2021 (KP-ESS Act, 2021).
The judgment was announced in a writ petition filed by the Private Education Network (PEN), which had challenged a notification dated January 6, 2025. Through this notification, private schools were brought within the definition of “establishment” under the KP-ESS Act, making them liable to provide social security coverage to their staff. The PHC had earlier suspended the notification during the pendency of the case.
Representing PEN, Advocate Taif Khan argued that private schools were already regulated under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Private Schools Regulatory Authority Act, 2017 (KP-PSRA Act, 2017), which, according to him, was a special law that should prevail over the general social security law. He further contended that the KP-ESS Act imposed an onerous administrative burden on private schools by requiring submission of detailed employee records, including attendance registers, salary details, overtime records, and bank account particulars.
On the other hand, the Employees’ Social Security Institution (ESSI), represented by Gohar Durrani, and the Private Schools Regulatory Authority (PSRA), represented by Barrister Asad-ul-Mulk, maintained that the two laws operated in entirely different domains. They argued that while the KP-ESS Act, 2021 deals exclusively with social security and welfare of employees, the KP-PSRA Act, 2017 is limited to the regulation of private schools concerning registration, operational standards, fees, and related matters. They also emphasized that the KP-ESS Act is a beneficial welfare legislation and must be interpreted accordingly.
Barrister Asad-ul-Mulk further clarified that the fund maintained by the PSRA under Sections 13, 14, and 15 of the KP-PSRA Act, 2017 is not utilized to provide social security benefits to employees of private schools, but is applied for other lawful purposes.
In its detailed judgment, the PHC relied on several Supreme Court precedents interpreting the Employees’ Social Security Ordinance, 1965—a pari materia law—and reaffirmed the same legal principles. The court observed that even educational institutions operating on a charitable basis cannot be excluded from the scope of social security laws, remarking that the proverb “charity begins at home” squarely applies in such cases.
The court categorically held that the KP-PSRA Act, 2017 and the Private Schools Regulations, 2018 are confined to regulation and supervision of private schools and have no nexus with the provision of social security benefits to employees. It ruled that private schools clearly fall within the definition of “establishment” under the KP-ESS Act, 2021, and that the impugned notification was lawfully issued in the exercise of statutory authority.
Consequently, the PHC dismissed the writ petition, lifting the earlier injunction against the notification.
With this ruling, private schools throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are now obligated to register with the Employees’ Social Security Institution and provide social security benefits to their employees, including teaching staff, with immediate effect.
Leave a Reply