Punjab resumes school privatisation

Punjab government has resumed privatisation of government schools under a policy that had been discontinued during the PTI rule.

No school was handed over to the private sector from 2018 to June 25 this year, while the present government has already approved the handing over of 285 institutions to Punjab Education Foundation under public-private partnership.

Under the decision, the authorities concerned have selected 69 schools for privatisation in Narowal, 34 in Rawalpindi, 12 in Lahore, 19 in Gujranwala and 28 in Kasur district.

Advertisements have been published for the public-private partnership.

An official said the schools would be handed over to the Punjab Education Foundation after the summer vacations.

However, teachers' unions have opposed the move.

Teachers' associations leaders Muhammad Shafiq Bhalwalia and Basharat Iqbal Raja said the government should refrain from privatising schools, warning that otherwise there would be strong protests.

The PML-N had handed over 5,000 schools from the public sector to the foundation under public-private partnership during its last 10-year rule in the province.

According to sources in the education ministry, the government has decided to hand over 1,000 public
sector schools to the foundation during the coming financial year.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2022.