LAHORE: The owners of some 3,000 schools being funded by the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) have been left in the lurch by the provincial government that has failed to release additional funds pledged to them in return for increasing the enrollment in their institutions.

There are some 12,000 PEF-funded schools which were established in the province under private-public partnership where, according to official data, some 2.5million students are getting education.

The PEF pays the administrations of these schools Rs550 for each student enrolled in primary section, Rs600 for every student in elementary section and 900 per student in secondary section.

Under its ‘De-capping policy’ some 3,000 schools entered an agreement with the PEF on April 20, 2017 that pledged additional funds against increased enrollment and improved infrastructure. Under the new scheme, the PEF was to pay Rs650 for each student in primary section and up to Rs1200 for every student enrolled in the higher section.

However, the PEF has failed to release these additional funds so far, despite the increased enrollment and improved infrastructure at these schools, leaving their administrations without the resources required to meet their enhanced costs.

Owner of the PEF-funded Yousif Public School at Jahaniyan, Muhammad Yousif, told Dawn that he had been facing financial constraints after going into agreement with the PEF under the new policy.

He said that he had set up school for the children from poor families by renting a building and arranging furniture and other infrastructure. Besides, he recruited teachers and other staff which obviously required funds, he said.

But, he lamented, the PEF was not fulfilling the pledge of providing additional funds, pushing his school on the verge of collapse.

“I simply can’t run the school anymore without extra funding as pledged by the foundation,” Mr Yousif said.

Similarly, owner of a PEF-funded school in Lahore, who wished not be named, said it was hard for him to pay the monthly rent of the school building because of non-issuance of funds.

“It is very embarrassing for me to face the landlord when there is a delay in the payment of the building’s rent. I have been told by him to vacate the building and I don’t know what to do,” he said.

He said most of the teachers he had hired were leaving because of delay in the salaries that was also affecting the quality of education being imparted to the students.

He said he and some other owners had time and again talked to the PEF high-ups to get the issue resolved but to no avail.

“We have decide to end our agreement with the PEF if there is further delay in the funding,” he said.

PEF Director Tariq Mehmood told Dawn that his office had discussed the issue with the concerned quarters in the Punjab government, claiming the issue would be resolved soon.

He said the PEF would release funds under the decapping policy as soon as it got budget from the provincial government.

Sources said PEF chairman had personally taken up the funds issue with the chief minister, requesting him to intervene to resolve the problem that was affecting education of the children from poor families.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2017