Daily Times

The trend of unregistered schools Pakistan is very common as 18 percent of primary and 14 percent of lower secondary and 4 percent higher secondary are being functioned without having regulation or registration from the concerned government bodies, said a report released on Monday.

The report titled “Global Education Monitoring Report 2022, non-state actors in education, who chooses who loses” conducted by Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) in joint collaboration with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The report revealed a rapid proliferation of private education institutions requires stronger oversight to ensure that quality and equity are not put at risk.

The report stated that out of 5,000 total schools in Rawalpindi two thirds private schools having no registration, adding that 2016-17 Private School Census, some 54,000 private schools offered pre-primary education in Punjab province under various categorizations, such as pre-nursery, nursery and prep. The majority of programs operated as unregulated entities, without government supervision and oversight.

It recalled that the less than 3 percent the annual GDP is being spent on education since last 12 years. Due to this backdrop, the report added, public sector schools are insufficient in both supply and quality.

“Private education has grown to fill the gaps. One third of students in Pakistan attend privately funded schools with 45 percent of those in private education and 25 percent in state education in urban areas paying for additional private tutoring,” adding that overall 8 percent of students are enrolled in religious schools.

The report highlights the exponential growth of private tutoring and educational technology companies in the country, predominantly due to rapid growth in the labor market and the resultant competitiveness in the education system. As compare to other south countries, it added, a franchise model of tutoring is prevalent in the country, with companies or academies running schools and tuition centers, and developing their own curriculum and textbooks.

The report further noted the stark disparities in learning outcomes between privately educated and state educated students. Those attending private institutions consistently score significantly higher than those enrolled in state schools where the student-teacher ratios are as high as 92:1. However, after controlling for socioeconomic status the relative advantage in learning outcomes that private schools enjoy is reduced or eliminated.

The Report urges the government to increase its involvement in education systems, and has devised five policy recommendations to enhance the quality and equity of education across all schools in South Asia.

On the occasion, Additional Secretary Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training Waseem Ajmal said that the report has shattered many myths about the private and the public sector in the education as it gives global insights revealing that what works and what doesn’t work.

The report, Ajmal said, raised questions of effectiveness of many practices of learning outcomes, cost-efficiency and administration. He recalled that actually many aspects of the reports needed to have a deliberation in consultation with all stakeholders while fining it a road map to form comprehensive policies for education sector.

Ajmal further highlighted those private schools our countries are working as non-state actors and such actors are considered very integral in any society in the world.

Baela Raza Jamil, CEO ITA shared that in Pakistan private sector fills up critical gaps in education service provision in both urban and rural areas not just through pre-schools, schools, colleges and universities but also in the vital areas of disability services, teacher preparation, EdTech, textbooks and assessments.