Application deadline extended to April 7 as NGOs and private schools show little interest
Public school in Pakistan. Photo: AFP (file)
RAWALPINDI:
Under the Punjab Schools Reorganization Programme, the interest of NGOs, private schools and education experts in acquiring government schools in the third phase of privatization has decreased significantly.
Very few applications were received to acquire public schools, prompting the education department to extend the deadline for submitting applications in phase three to April 7.
According to a circular issued in this regard, educated youth, NGOs, private school owners and education experts can now apply for procurement of government schools until April 7. As of March 10, only a limited number of applications had been received.
Teachers’ organizations and educational sources told The Express PAkGazette that the previous experience of public schools taken over by the private sector had failed. In southern districts of Punjab, buyers have started returning previously purchased government schools. Due to this situation, the government has decided that the returned schools will merge with nearby institutions.
In the third phase, 29 more schools in Rawalpindi have been included. Currently, the number of government schools in Punjab has decreased from 47,000 to around 38,500.
Applications to purchase public schools will be submitted online until April 7.
Groups, private school owners and education experts that previously acquired public schools have refused to accept more schools in the third phase, raising concerns that the privatization program could fail.
Leaders of teachers’ organizations Basharat Iqbal Raja, Akhiyan Gul and Shafiq Bhalwalya said the government’s educational experiments have resulted in a decline in student enrollment in public schools.
Old textbooks will be redistributed
Due to severe financial and economic crisis, the education department has instructed all government schools to collect textbooks of previous classes of students who are expected to be promoted from class one to class nine.
Class teachers have been directed to collect these books from students.
To this end, an “Old Book Bank” has been formally established in schools, managed by teachers. These old textbooks will be distributed to students promoted to the following classes.
For the last eight years, the Punjab government has been distributing free textbooks every year to students of all classes in government schools. However, during the 2025 academic session, new textbooks were short in record numbers and teachers took old books from some students to provide them to new ones.
