Privatisation wave shrinks public schools

Following the privatisation and sale of government schools, Punjab has witnessed a record decline in the number of public educational institutions due to privatisation and public-private partnership policies, according to education sector representatives.

Around three-and-a-half years ago, the province had 47,413 government primary, middle, high and higher secondary schools.

The number has now dropped to 38,108 due to privatisation and sale policies. These include 21,637 primary schools, 7,298 middle schools, 8,236 high schools and 937 higher secondary schools.

During the summer vacations, another 15,000 primary, middle, high and higher secondary schools are expected to be privatised under various schemes.

In major cities, divisional and district headquarters, the sale process of 500 high and higher secondary schools built on large land areas and having more classrooms has also been initiated under the name of "Nawaz Sharif Animation".

Applications for tenders have already been received. After the summer holidays, the number of government schools is expected to decline further.

There are a total of 673,120 sanctioned teaching posts across all categories of schools in Punjab. However, only 310,401 teachers are currently serving in schools across the province.

These include 161,128 primary teachers, 100,056 middle school teachers and 43,826 high and higher secondary school teachers. The remaining posts have been abolished.

A complete ban has been imposed on the recruitment of regular teachers, and no teacher has been recruited since 2018. Authorities now plan to hire teaching interns on daily wages and lump-sum salaries instead of regular teachers.

Punjab Teachers Union President Ramzan Inqalabi, Education Pensioners Association Secretary Mohammad Shafiq Bhalwalia and Educators Association President Basharat Iqbal Raja said schools previously privatised had seen their educational systems collapse. They claimed that buyers of those schools were now asking the government to take them back after failing to run them.

They alleged that the bureaucracy had "played with the education system" over the past three years and accused the government of trying to withdraw entirely from the education sector. According to them, the purpose of the three-month summer break is to complete the sale process of schools peacefully.

They said teachers and clerical staff would not be present during the holidays, making it easier to transfer schools and declare staff surplus.

They demanded an immediate reversal of the privatisation policy, saying the Constitution obliges the government to provide free education and healthcare.