Privatisation of public schools begins

Under first phase, six primary and girls schools will be privatised in district Rawalpindi

RAWALPINDI:

The Department of Education has started to privatise government schools under the Public Private Partnership.

In the first phase, tender offers have been invited for the privatisation of 25 government schools across the province, including 11 government schools of the Rawalpindi division.

All government schools included in the first phase are primary and girls schools. All these schools will be given in public-private partnership under the Punjab Education Initiative Management Authority (PEIMA). Applications for these have been sought from interested parties till April 24. However, teachers' organisations have rejected the privatisation of schools.

Among the educational institutions to be given by the government authorities to the private sector, six are in district Rawalpindi, four in district Chakwal, one in district Attock, three in district Bahawalpur, three in district Rahim Yar Khan, two in district Khushab and one school in each of the districts of Bahawalnagar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Gujarat, Lodhran, Rajanpur and Sargodha.

After the completion of the first phase, a list of 100 schools has been made for the second phase, while another 5,000 government schools will be handed over to the private sector from June 1 to August 14 during the summer vacation.

Punjab Teachers Union Secretary General Rana Liaquat Ali said that the privatisation of government schools is nothing but a disaster for the education system. The chief minister should reconsider this decision, he said, adding that at present, there are 122,000 teachers’ seats vacant in government schools and recruitment should start immediately. “Teachers should not be forced to take to the streets.”

Muhammad Shafiq Bhalwalia, Central Secretary General of the Punjab SES Teachers Association said that by handing over government schools to PEIMA, PEEF and NGOs in a phased manner, education will become expensive. According to the Constitution of Pakistan, the state is bound to provide free education to every child from class I to class 10.

District President of the Educators Association Basharat Iqbal Raja said that by increasing the cost of education, poor and middle-class children will be completely deprived of education.

The education department sources said the 25 schools will be handed over to PEIMA by the second week of May.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2024.