Privatisation push fuels dropouts

The number of out-of-school students has increased at a record rate after the privatisation of government schools.

In the past several months, a greater number of children have signed up for labour in workshops, auto shops, tire puncture shops, brick kilns, hotels, houses, small and large shops across Rawalpindi district. Girls aged 7 to 12 years working as house help has also increased to an alarming extent.

Due to the rising cost of education and the declining purchasing power of parents, instead of educating their children, they have been forced to send them to work in homes, shops, factories, workshops and kilns.

The Education Department has taken notice of the rapid decrease in the number of children in schools. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Education, Senior Section Officer Ahmed Bilal Khan, wrote a letter to the Chief Executive Officers of District Education Authorities of all 42 provinces, District Education Officers and Deputy District Education Officers of Tehsils.

Additionally, raids were conducted in all districts during monitoring and checking to stop children between the ages of 7 and 14 from working in factories, workshops, hotels and homes. Orders have been issued to take the children out of workshops, hotels and factories and enrol them in government schools. Older children, who are between the ages of 10 and 16, have been asked to be enrolled in evening afternoon schools.

The district labour departments have also been ordered to cooperate with the education department teams in these raids. They have been directed to enrol the children in primary and evening schools. They have also been directed to provide uniforms, books, copies and school bags free of cost.

All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association President Abadar Ahmed Khan said that the government has no education policy. Private schools in the streets charge a monthly fee of Rs500 to Rs1,000 from poor children. At present, the number of out-of-school children is the highest it has ever been in Punjab's history at 27 million. "If a policy is not established, this number will reach 30 million by the new academic year in March 2026," said Khan.

Reports sought on unsafe schools

Despite the government earmarking Rs40 billion, the Punjab Education Department has failed to provide complete data and cost estimates for unsafe and dilapidated school buildings, many damaged by floods, rains, earthquakes, or weakened with age, as well as for additional classrooms, science laboratories, libraries, computer labs, auditoriums, washrooms, and other missing facilities.

Taking stern notice of the lapse, the authorities have issued a strongly worded letter to the Chief Executive Officers of District Education Authorities (DEAs) across all 42 districts, expressing serious displeasure and reprimanding them for the delay.

They have been ordered to urgently submit full details of all unsafe school buildings and classrooms with repair cost estimates, and to provide separate reports for missing facilities.

The letter criticised the delays as evidence of poor coordination between education authorities and school heads, calling it unacceptable. It directed that the required data and estimates be submitted within one week.