Govt to sell public schools to private sector

With little funds available for hiring more teachers, public schools are up for sale on classified websites

LAHORE:

Among the large variety of items up for sale on classified websites, a common characteristic shared by all is their obsolete nature, where the owner perhaps no longer valued the car, appliance, furniture or pet and hence was willing to exchange it for money. Going by this logic, what can one deduce when the government decides to sell thousands of public schools on OLX?

Reportedly, the Punjab government is hoping to earn billions of rupees by handing over the charge of nearly 13,000 public schools to the private sector by cutting the education budget under the guise of improving the quality of education in the province. In other words, instead of controlling its lavish expenditures on other superfluous amenities and increasing the funds allocated for the education sector, the government has decided to outsource the institutions in a phased manner since it apparently cannot afford neither the salaries of the teachers nor the costs of construction and repair of the buildings.

Saeed Namdar, a retired teacher at the School Education Department opposed the government's decision of selling schools on the grounds that this move will not improve the quality of education, but will only further worsen it.

"The government should have imposed an emergency in the education field, but on the contrary, it decided to put schools up for sale. The statesmen should review this decision and fill the vacant posts of teachers so that the quality of education can genuinely be improved," opined Namdar.

According to Rana Liaquat Ali, General Secretary at the Punjab Teachers Union, the Punjab government is going to sell 13,000 schools on OLX since it is unwilling to fill the shortage of teachers.

"Approximately, 126,000 vacancies of school teachers exist at the moment and even if 50 per cent of them are filled, then selling the schools can be avoided. But the government is refusing to hire more teachers since this would put burden on the treasury and would compel the state to curtail its lavish spending. In essence, the government does not want to cut its own expenses but is cutting the education budget. Furthermore, the government will collect revenue from the parties purchasing the school through the annual rent of the building, maintenance allowance and other expenses. In this way, the government will fill its treasury, but this will not improve the quality of education. Instead, parents will be overburdened with expenses which the common man cannot afford," assessed Ali.

Salman Abid, Professor of Social Sector Reforms at the University of Punjab shed light on the fact that excelling in the field of education was the only means for any nation to achieve developmental goals. "But unfortunately, instead of imposing an emergency in the education sector, the Punjab government is selling educational institutions on OLX. This is a violation of the rights of the students of this province. Such a move will cause the education sector to suffer immensely and create dissatisfaction among the teachers. Therefore, the government should reverse this decision and improve the quality of education by recruiting more teachers," urged Abid.

Speaking to The Express Tribune on the matter, the Provincial Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat said, "Outsourcing schools under public-private partnership does not mean that they are being privatized.

Rather, it means that the government will work with the private sector to tackle the challenge of out-of-school children and bring these children into schools in collaboration with the community."