Fact-check: Low enrollment, not funds, led to school shut down at Pakistan high commission in India

Social media users appear to believe a claim that the Pakistan embassy in India has shut down a school, for the children of its diplomatic staff, due to insufficient funds.

The claim is misleading.

Claim

On May 28, an Indian journalist wrote on Twitter that the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi had shut their school for staff and diplomats “due to the economic crisis in Pakistan”.

“They had no funds to pay teachers and school staff,” he further wrote, “Salary pending since the last three years. The Pakistan high commission was approaching the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) but the Pakistan government rejected all requests.”

The tweet had been viewed one million times and liked over 7,000 times, at the time of writing.

A similar tweet had been shared by another online user on May 29.

“Pakistan high commission (PHC) in New Delhi has shut their school for staff/diplomats as they haven't paid salaries for 3 years. MoFA has no money to pay them,” read the tweet.

Fact

Low enrollment, rather than lack of funds, pushed the Pakistan high commission to close the school for its staff’s children, an official at the embassy told Geo Fact Check.

“Upon completion of the current academic year, the activities of the Pakistan high commission school have been suspended because of low enrollment levels,” a spokesperson of the embassy told Geo Fact Check.

He added that the strength of the embassy had also been downgraded by 50% in June 2020 “at the request of the host country (India)”.

“The school was never open to the public and exclusively catered to the needs of the children of the high commission,” he said.

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With additional reporting by Muhammad Binyameen Iqbal.

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