Punjab expands school privatisation drive

The Department of Education has resolved to commence the third phase of the privatisation of government schools in December this year. Under this phase, 4,500 primary, middle, and high schools are to be handed over to the private sector. To date, the privatisation of 12,500 schools has already been completed.

Across the province, all schools — primary, middle, and high — with an enrolment of 100 students or fewer will be privatised without delay. Lists of such institutions have been requested from the relevant authorities.

Teachers serving in these schools will either be redeployed to nearby institutions or placed in the surplus pool. For the first time, high schools have also been included in the privatisation drive.

Rana Liaqat, Secretary General of the Punjab Teachers Union; Muhammad Shafiq Bhalowalia, Central Secretary of the Punjab SES Teachers Union; and Busharat Iqbal Raja, President of the Educators Association, have strongly denounced the decision and demanded its immediate reversal.

The teachers' representatives asserted that the government's move to introduce teacher rationalisation alongside privatisation would severely disrupt the education system. They cautioned that privatising schools would lead to increased fees and further erode the already fragile state of public education.