RAWALPINDI: Out of total 1,809 government schools in Rawalpindi district, 323 schools will be outsourced from Sept 1 to the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF), which will assign them to individuals, NGOs and other organisations to run.

PEF is an autonomous organisation established in 1991 by the Punjab government to promote education through public-private partnerships. The foundation provides financial assistance to private schools, enabling them to offer free education to deserving children.

On the other hand, Punjab Teachers Association expressed strong resentment over the move and said that they would stage protests agaisnt the provincial government’s decision to hand over government schools to the PEF and Punjab Education Initiatives Management Authority (PEIMA) in the name of reorganisation.

A total 13,219 schools across the province will be outsourced to the Punjab Education Foundation which will hand them over to individuals, NGOs and other organisations to run.

However, the utility bills of the schools will be paid by PEF and the private organisations will hire teachers on daily wages. The Punjab government will give a Rs700 fee of per student to PEF and it will be paid to teachers on the basis of strength.

When contacted, District Education Authority Rawalpindi Chief Executive Officer Yaseen Khan Baloch confirmed that the list of 323 schools had been finalised and it will be handed over to PEF by Sept 1.

He said that mostly schools enlisted had less strength of students, which was between 50 to 100.

He said that all these schools are located in far flung areas where teachers shortage has been reported.

He said the basic aim of the new system was to enhance the quality of education and address the issue of out-of-school children. He said that there were 1,809 schools in district Rawalpindi including Murree and Kotli Sattian.

“The outsourcing plan will be executed in three phases. In the first phase, 323 schools with substandard educational conditions will be outsourced,” he said. He said that the primary goal of this project was to attract out-of-school children back into the education system and to elevate the quality of education to match the private schools education.

However, he said that he was not aware of the further plan of PEF.

On the other hand, Punjab Teacher Association General Secretary Raja Shahid Mubarrak said that the previous government and the caretaker government did not recruit a single teacher in the last six years, leaving 120,000 teacher posts vacant.

He said the Punjab government’s decision to hand over schools to the PEF is wrong, especially when a couple of teachers could handle 100 students easily if they are not engaged in dengue and polio drives.

He said that from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, mostly school teachers remained busy in dengue duties. They have clear instructionsto take pictures of their areas and upload them in dashboard.

He said that in previous years, as many as 76 schools were handed over to PEF but later, the management of schools left due to non-receipt of timely funds. He said that the protests would be started against the decision.

He said that on Sunday, teachers staged protest in Murree and we planned protests in Rawalpindi and Lahore in coming days.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2024