RAHIM YAR KHAN: The Punjab School Education Department (SED) has decided to privatise government schools under a public-private partnership model in the coming months and Rahim Yar Khan will be the most affected district with the private sector taking over maximum schools -- 1,000 out of 2,777 -- among all districts of the province.

Initially, as many as 13,000 out of 49,000 schools across Punjab will be handed over to the private sector, focusing on those schools facing severe teacher shortages. The SED has decided that all schools with at least 50 enrolled students and a lack of sufficient teachers will be privatised. The decision was made in the backdrop of 567 government schools having no teachers, and about 5,400 schools with only one teacher.

The Punjab government has named this project Punjab Schools Reorganisation Programme (PSRP). Through this programme, 13,000 schools under the SED will be handed over to private entities and NGOs under the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF). However, school teachers’ unions have opposed the move.

The School Teachers Organisations (STOs) representing government schools have already announced a protest movement. Following protests on May 28 and July 25, 2024, they are planning a final protest sit-in after Aug 17, when schools reopen after summer vacation.

In the meantime, four different STOs have filed cases in the Lahore High Court (LHC) to halt the privatisation of these schools. According to STOs, their efforts have already been fruitful.

The LHC Bahawalpur bench has issued stay orders against the privatisation of 40 schools in Rahim Yar Khan on the petition of district president of the Punjab Teachers Union South Punjab (PTU-SP), Hafiz Umar Iqbal. Similarly, the LHC Multan bench has issued stay orders for 29 schools in Layyah and Muzaffargarh. As a result, the SED has postponed the handover of these schools to private entities and NGOs to Sept 30, 2024.

President PTU-SP Rana Shahbaz Safdar says that in the regime of former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, the schools which were handed over to private persons or NGOs, their infrastructure was totally destroyed. But on the other hand a single teacher of a primary school had been teaching all subjects in six to seven classes for last many years. The government should not only support those teachers but hire more teachers, the schools were being privatised declaring the teachers ineligible.

Meanwhile, the privatisation plan also raises further questions about its compatibility with Article 25-A of the Constitution, which guarantees the fundamental right to free education for children aged 5-16 years.

An educational specialist Farhan Aamir said the government must address this crucial issue by taking on board all those who are relevant stakeholders in this matter.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of District Education Authority Tariq Jamil Baloach and In-charge of schools privatisation project Muhammad Mohsin did not reply to the calls and text messages of the correspondent for their version on the issue.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2024