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Affordable Private Schools in Pakistan

There are more than 90,000 affordable private schools in Pakistan and more than 60% of them are recognized by the Department of Education. From 1999-2009 private provision multiplied almost three fold from 36,000 schools to over 90,000 at primary and secondary levels spreading across urban and rural areas. Punjab has the highest growth out of all provinces, with over 32% of primary school students enrolled in private schools. Private provision in Pakistan is seen to be providing a ‘choice’ for even poor families who are willing to buy quality education for their children.

 

National Education System

The structure of the educational system in Pakistan comprises of four stages; an elementary or primary stage for five years, ranging from grades one to five, a middle level through grades six to eight, lower secondary level consisting of grades nine and ten and a upper secondary level consisting of grades eleven and twelve. Students can opt for vocational /technical education on the completion of grade eight through a vocational technical or third stream as part of the matriculation program or formally in vocational institutes after successfully completing grade ten. The Education Sector Reforms Action Plan 2001-02 – 2005-06 prioritized on the provision of primary/elementary education to all children and provided incentives for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to flourish in the education sector. Due to the government’s favorable approach to private participation in education, a large number of private institutions have flourished in Pakistan which provide education not only to the elite sections of society, but also cater to the socio-economically disadvantaged rural and urban poor.

 

Case Study: Sheikhupura, Punjab

Sheikhupura is an industrial city in the province of Punjab with a large rural population. The educational study report of ASER 2008 in Pakistan estimates that 22% of children in the school going age (5-16 yrs) in rural areas are enrolled in private schools. A study conducted by Renwick Irvine, for his M.Phil dissertation, ‘The myth of choice in education quasi-markets: The nature and implications of the emergence of private schools in Punjab, Pakistan’, reports on the rapid growth of low cost small private schools in Sheikhupura District in Punjab. A qualitative approach was adopted which focused on two localities, one, an urban slum community in Garibabad and another rural community in Makki 460 within Sheikhupura District. The study revealed that majority of the teachers is female, potentially providing an encouragement for girls to enrol.  The school owners aspired for imparting quality education to children though they implemented conventional methods of teaching-learning processes and lacked a clear conception of parameters for quality education. The sustenance of a school’s reputation depended on the image of the school owner, his contacts in the community and promotional events hosted by the school such as prize giving days. A positive result of such efforts was that private schools were actually mobilising demand by raising the profile of education within the community.   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

Affordable Private School Profile

The following are common attributes of affordable private schools in Pakistan:

School Management and Operations

  • Schools are operated largely by sole proprietorship; however, at times family of the school owners invest in the school
  • The school owners are often unemployed and qualified graduates for whom the school is a source of income in the absence of alternate employment
  • A majority of the school owners are women who are educated house-wives encouraged to set up schools as an income-generating activity to supplement the earnings of their husbands
  • The teachers employed are generally related to the school owners so as to keep it within the family
  • Monthly school tuition fees ranges between $2 USD and $17 USD per student
  • School enrollment average 125-150 students in an academic year
  • Schools offered incentives in terms of fee concessions and reduction on fees for families with more than one child enrolled
  • In a study conducted on APS in Sheikhpura, Punjab, teachers reported a high level of accountability to the school owners

Parents and Students

  • Parents prefer APS located close to their residence so that the children did not have to walk long distances to the school
  • Since majority of the teachers in APS are women, parents prefer to send their daughters to these schools, however a majority of APS are mixed schools
  • Parents perceive APS as being able to impart ways of appropriate and ‘civil’ behavior to children such as neatness, tidiness and instilling a sense of discipline in them

Teaching and Learning Environment

  • The teacher-pupil ratio is 1:22 to 25 on an average
  • Students receive personalized attention from teachers
  • APS identify with middle class and progressive values

School Financing

  • APS are financed by the school owner’s individual or family earnings
  • The main source of revenue for schools is students’ fees; hence, schools aim at attracting students by hosting promotional events such as prize distribution functions, as a marketing strategy

Opportunities and Challenges

A large number of affordable private schools are being established and encouraged by the state in Pakistan due to favorable government position on private participation in education. However, several of them are yet to implement the normative standards for being ‘recognized’. These schools face challenges related to financing and re-investing for better school facilities and teacher training.


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