Punjab mulls privatising middle, high schools

About 4,500 primary schools have already been handed over to private owners

RAWALPINDI:

The Punjab school education department has also finalised the process of selling 500 public middle and high schools by November end after the privatisation of 4,500 primary schools, irking the educators who have already planned a major sit-in in Lahore.

The department will advertise the list of middle and high schools this month. About 4,500 primary schools have already been handed over to their owners after privatisation, while applications for the sale of another 7,500 primary schools have been sought by November 25. At the end of November, 500 middle and high schools will be offered for privatisation.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the target was to complete the sell-off of 20,000 to 25,000 primary, middle and high schools by April 1, 2025.

Around 130,000 teachers would go to the surplus pool, they said, adding it was also decided to reduce the education budget by 40 to 50% in the new fiscal year 2025-26.

Rana Liaquat, Basharat Iqbal Raja and Shafiq Bhalwalia of Grand Teachers Alliance (GDA) blame the PML-N-led Punjab government for placing education and health at the lowest priority and say the privatisation of basic health centres has also started in the province.

They fear that the privatisation of schools will make education very expensive and the doors of education will be closed for the poor and children of BS 1-15 employees.

According to GDA leaders, the prices of textbooks have increased by 50%, while next year, the prices of textbooks and stationery will increase further by 25%. The number of out-of-school children in Punjab will exceed 30 million by December 31, 2024.

They again announced that the teachers would stage a big sit-in in Lahore against privatisation, which would continue until their demands were met.