Daily Times

The Pakistani economy under the current government has taken up a challenge to embrace digital transformation across various disciplines. The ‘Digital Pakistan Initiative’ aims to improve digital infrastructures, enhance connectivity through facilitation with the latest technologies, increase digital skill investments and to promote innovations through modern tools across the country.

Ever since Covid-19 began, education is one of the sectors to has witnessed the most drastic changes in Pakistan. Schools, colleges and universities had just a few months to plan, develop and implement digital teaching models in order to keep students, faculty and families safe. This was an uphill challenge that saw numerous issues but at the end of the day, things began to settle down. However, one issue that remained critical was fee collection.

In Pakistan, the average private school fees range from Rs 5,000 to Rs 30,000. This does not include any additional ad-hoc charges that a school might charge for instance, campus development, school picnics, books, stationary, annual events, sports, transportation, nutrition, and extracurricular activities, all of which makes up the education ecosystem. With over 50,000 schools, the country also has 154 registered universities where the average course fee lands around Rs 15,000 and might go up to Rs 300,000 for a full semester. This again doesn’t include other overhead charges.

For several decades, the only way to pay education fee for parents and students has been to carry large amounts in cash, get pay orders made from their banks and visit the schools specified bank’s branches. This has been an inconvenience for not just parents but students as well as a few banks that have resorted to open branches within the universities’ campus. Thankfully, as tension grew in the new normal, emerging digital solutions became available to streamline the conventional processes in light of recent events.

One such service is PayPro, which offers a relief for schools in today’s need of the hour. PayPro has managed to reshape financial management for the education sector in general that has for years struggled to develop an effective solution for fee collection. The benefits it offers to customers are countless and hosts a handful of advantages for the schools’ management and its staff. Features like smart invoice management and digital bill presentment enable schools to maintain proper records of their finances while automating manual reconciliation processes, creating an effective bridge to fill a gap that exists within the financial services landscape.