In a province where more than 10 million children are out of school, the Punjab government’s education policy has become a source of growing frustration and fear for parents already overwhelmed by poverty.
Rather than strengthening the public education system, the provincial government is dismantling it — handing over thousands of government-run schools to the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) in a move widely seen as flawed, short-sighted, and in violation of constitutional obligations.
Article 25-A of Pakistan’s Constitution guarantees that “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.” For decades, this was reflected in the provision of free education, free textbooks, and minimal overhead costs in government schools. It was this very framework that gave impoverished families a lifeline — the hope that despite their financial challenges, their children could still access the promise of a better future.
That promise is now slipping away. Since assuming power in 2024, the Maryam Nawaz government has fast-tracked the privatisation of public schools across Punjab. While previous administrations gradually transferred around 4,300 schools to PEF under the Public Schools Reorganisation Programme (PSRP), recent estimates suggest the current government has handed over up to 14,000 schools — nearly 37pc of all public schools in the province — to private operators within a single year.
This sweeping move has been presented as reform, but for the majority of Punjab’s low-income families, it has translated into exclusion. PEF-run schools, while still operating under government oversight, function like low-cost private schools. They often charge monthly fees ranging from Rs2,000 to Rs3,000 — a sum that is simply unaffordable for the average household struggling to survive under skyrocketing inflation and a collapsing job market.
Over 44pc of Pakistan’s population — about 107 million people — now lives below the poverty line, as per World Bank data from 2025. In Punjab, the effects are particularly harsh, with millions of families unable to put food on the table, let alone afford school fees. In this environment, the government’s decision to turn free public schools into fee-based institutions — under the guise of partnership — is not just tone-deaf, it is dangerous.
Supporters of the policy claim that enrolment is rising in PEF-run schools, pointing to figures showing that 1.1 to 1.4 million children were enrolled through education initiatives in early 2025. But these numbers are deeply misleading. Education experts and community feedback suggest that most new admissions to PEF schools are not from the ranks of out-of-school children. Instead, these are children previously enrolled in more expensive private schools whose parents, unable to keep up with rising costs, have shifted them to PEF schools which are cheaper by comparison — but still not free.
Meanwhile, the actual out-of-school population in Punjab remains staggeringly high — around 11 million children between the ages of five and sixteen. Of these, nearly 4 million are at the primary level. Girls are especially affected, with 28pc out of school compared to 26pc of boys. And yet, instead of expanding access to public education and addressing the barriers that keep children — especially girls — out of school, the provincial government is systematically outsourcing its responsibility to entities that cannot and do not offer universal access.
PEF schools operate on performance-based funding and are under no obligation to serve every child. Their focus, naturally, is on maintaining enrolment figures that secure continued financial support — not on reaching the millions of unserved children in the most impoverished and remote areas. The result is that while government schools disappear, the poorest families are left with nowhere to go.
Punjab has an estimated 38,000 government schools and up to 100,000 private schools, many of them unregulated. Rather than investing in teacher training, infrastructure, and curriculum reform, the government is retreating — shedding public responsibility and placing it on a private sector that is unequipped to deal with the scale and complexity of the education crisis.
This policy shift is not just bad governance — it is a betrayal of the public. It undermines the very foundation of equitable education and widens the already dangerous gap between the privileged and the poor. By continuing to hand over government schools to PEF, the Maryam Nawaz administration is effectively turning a public good into a market commodity — one that millions simply cannot afford.
At a time when the state should be acting to pull children into schools, it is pushing them out through policies that prioritise outsourcing over inclusion. The consequences will be long-lasting: a generation denied the education it was promised, a workforce unprepared for the challenges ahead, and a society more deeply divided along lines of wealth and opportunity.
If the Constitution still holds any meaning, then the right to free and compulsory education must be more than words on paper. It must be defended — not privatised.