If the private sector can share some of the burden of public education, free education might become a possibility in the province, says a report prepared by the education department.
According to the ‘Education Sector Plan’, 153 out of 982 union councils in Khyber -Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) do not have high schools for boys, while 477 union councils do not have public girls schools.
Elementary Education Foundation Training Coordinator Shafiqur Rehman said that on April 5, the provincial government had initiated the Rokhana Pakhtunkhwa Talimee Programme to strengthen the private sector. This project, estimated at Rs500 million, was launched in all 25 districts of the province, whereby private schools were asked to enrol students who could otherwise only afford public education. Four private schools in each district were given financial, administrative and technical support.
Rehman said that the main focus of the programme is to work in union councils where there are no high schools or middle schools for girls and boys. Union councils selected private schools which had the capacity to accommodate larger numbers of students than they currently do.
In the programme’s initial stage, 9,000 students were enrolled in 100 schools across the province. Tuition fees of participating schools were also increased by up to 40% to support students from low-income groups.
Deputy Director for Elementary and Secondary Education, Hamid Naveed, said that the main objective of the programme is to supplement the efforts of the government in achieving the ‘education for all’ goal set by UNESCO. “Building partnerships between public and private sectors encourages the private sector to strengthen its system,” he said.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Education Sector Reforms Unit (ESRU) Deputy Director Farid Khattak said that the programme is looking to expand beyond its original target of 100 schools to areas where middle and high schools are lacking.
“Establishing schools from scratch in such a large number of union councils is a very difficult task,” Khattak said.
The ESRU is looking to identify 400 more schools to carry out the programme. Khattak said that the government will provide these schools with adequate training and financial support. “The aim of the programme is to provide access to higher education to students who cannot complete their studies because of no middle or high school in their areas,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 2nd, 2012.
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