PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elementary and secondary education department has initiated work to outsource 1,500 government primary schools in the province to private organisations over low enrolment and poor academic performance, say officials.
They told Dawn that the schools would be outsourced to the private organisations working in the education sector, preferably non-profit organisations.
“The education department has declared government primary schools with 40 and below enrolment as under-utilised,” an official said.
He said the education department had taken the initiative on the orders of Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur.
Officials cite low enrolment, poor academic performance as reasons for the move
The official date shows that of the schools to be outsourced, 500 are located in merged districts and 1,000 in the rest of the province.
Currently, 4,147 government primary schools in the province have less than 40 students. They include 2,313 schools for girls and 1,834 for boys.
The data reveals that 1,443 under-enrolled and low-performing schools are located in Hazara Division including 735 for girls and 708 for boys, 679 in Bannu Division including 452 for girls and 225 for boys and 574 in Kohat Division including 337 for girls and 237 for boys.
Under-enrolled schools in Dera Ismail Khan Division total 509 including 239 for girls and 270 boys, while Malakand Division has 475 such schools including 306 for girls and 169 for boys, Peshawar Division 274 including 138 for girls and 136 for boys and Mardan Division 193including 106 are for girls and 87 for boys.
“Now the education department will select 1,500 from 4,147 schools for outsourcing,” an official said.
He said the education department had formed committees at every district to select the “most feasible schools” for enrolment increase.
“Every committee consists of the respective deputy commissioner, district monitoring officer of the elementary and secondary education monitoring authority and additional district education officer. It will recommend to the education department the most feasible schools for outsourcing,” he said.
When contacted, secretary for the elementary and secondary education department Mohammad Khalid said that the government would provide buildings, bear tuition fees of students, provide them with free textbooks, and appoint watchmen to schools.
“With the outsourcing of government schools, the service of their teachers will remain unaffected. They will rather be posted to other government schools,” he said.
Official documents show that key performance indicators will be framed for the private organisations to effectively run the affairs of outsourced schools.
According to them, it will be binding on those organisations to increase student enrolments to at least 180 by the end of the year. The department will also formulate mechanisms to ensure accountability, periodical assessment of performance through third parties and the best teaching and learning practices.
Currently, 5.9 million children are enrolled in 34,784 government schools across the province. Of them, 2.63 million are girls and 3.31 million boys.
A total of 4.9 million children in the age group of 5-16 are out of school in the province, officials said.
They add that the overall monthly cost of every student enrolled in the government schools is Rs4,155, while the cost totals Rs3,517 at primary level.
The officials said a project management unit would be established to run the affairs of outsourced schools.
Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2025
