Punjab approves outsourcing of 6,460 more government schools

Punjab's School Education Department has approved a fourth phase of its programme to outsource government schools, covering 6,460 institutions, ProPakistani reported. The round includes 5,860 primary and middle schools and, for the first time, 600 high schools.

The department has already outsourced 13,600 schools across the first three phases. Combined with the new approval, the programme would cover more than 20,000 government schools in the province.

Alongside the outsourcing, the department has decided to close government schools with enrolment of up to 100 students. It has also directed schools to keep admissions open until October 31 and to stop accepting new students from November 1, instructing school heads to complete the process before that deadline.

Teachers' organisations and parents have opposed the decision. Their representatives warned that handing schools to private operators could raise dropout rates, particularly among girls in rural areas, and urged the government to keep high schools out of the programme. They further warned that a coming phase could see regular teachers declared surplus and replaced with daily-wage staff. The teachers' groups said they would launch protests together with organisations representing non-teaching staff.

The report did not name the districts where the 6,460 schools are located, identify the private operators due to run them, or say how many teaching posts would be affected. No statement from a named departmental official was carried in the account, and no notification number or date for the approval was given.

Punjab has expanded outsourcing steadily over successive phases, with each round drawing objections from employee associations over job security and from parents over fees and access. The latest decision extends the model to the secondary level, where the earlier phases had not reached.

The department's admissions instruction gives families roughly the remainder of October to complete enrolment under existing arrangements before the November 1 cut-off applies.