The provincial education department has decided to take the privatisation programme of government schools to the next phase and approved the handover of 4,500 more primary, middle and high schools to the private sector. With the third phase starting in December, the total number of schools handed over to the private sector will exceed 12,500.
According to officials, this phase will include all schools with less than 100 students. The concerned district officers have been instructed to submit the updated lists of such schools immediately so that the transfer process can be expedited.
As a result of privatisation, the teachers posted in these schools will either be integrated into nearby campuses or placed in the supplement pool. This time, for the first time, high schools have also been included in the purview of privatisation.
On the other hand, the announcement has created a strong reaction among the teachers’ organisations. The representatives rejected the government’s decision, saying that giving schools to the private sector would inevitably lead to an increase in fees and further destabilise the already struggling public education system.
