Public schools witness low enrolments

Privatisation of government schools cited among key reasons

RAWALPINDI:

Private schools have once again dominated the admission process for the 2025 academic year.

Despite announcements, public schools have yet to begin new admissions, and a large number of parents have already enrolled their children in nearby private schools. Smaller private institutions with fees as low as Rs1,000 have seen an influx of enrolments.

Private schools are set to begin their new academic year and classes in the first week of March, while public schools are scheduled to start new classes from April 1, with new admissions beginning in March.

Although banners have been put up for new admissions in government schools, the number of enrolments so far has been disappointingly low.

Government schools will only begin classes for newly admitted students from April 3, which has led many parents to prefer private schools. Punjab has a total of 42,937 government schools, including 857 higher secondary schools, 8,081 high schools, 7,217 middle schools, and 26,782 primary schools.

In Rawalpindi District, the number stands at 1,800.

At present, around 12.1 million students are enrolled in government schools, with 700,000 children set to complete their matriculation and intermediate exams by February 28.

Private schools in Punjab, numbering around 300,000, cater to nearly 20 million children, while 27 million children in the province are out of school, with many of them being street children.

Efforts to bring these children into the education system have largely failed.

Last year, the privatisation of government schools and the selling of 5,500 schools, along with teacher strikes and school closures, led to a decrease in student enrolment in public schools.

This year, the education department's efforts to increase admissions in public schools appear to be stalling from the outset.

Parents typically begin enrolling their children in February, but with the delay in public school admissions, these schools are failing to meet their targets.

District Education Authority Chief Executive Officer Amanullah Chhina stated that admissions in government schools have begun, and any student who applies will be admitted.

He added that admissions will be conducted in two phases: the first phase will run until May 31, and the second phase will run from August 15 to October 31.

Irfan Mazhar Kiani, President of the All Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges Association, shared that private schools are experiencing a surge in admissions, with annual exams already underway and new classes set to begin in March.

Muhammad Shafiq Bhalwalia, General Secretary of the Punjab SES Teachers Association, stated that no serious efforts have been made to bring street children into schools, causing their numbers to grow continuously.

He warned that without addressing these issues, the number of street children in Punjab could cross 30 million in the next year.

He also suggested that all employees and officers from scale 1 to 20 should be made responsible for ensuring children are enrolled in government schools, or else parents will no longer consider enrolling their children in these schools within the next five years.