Private school quota for deserving students: the real challenge

EDITORIAL: The Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training meeting recently rightfully insisted that private schools comply with the legal requirement of reserving 10 percent of their seats for deserving students.

A statutory obligation cannot be treated as optional, and if reports that many institutions have failed to implement the mandatory quota are accurate, the regulatory authorities must ensure that the law is enforced without exception.

The Islamabad High Court’s recent intervention has also underscored the need for effective oversight by the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority. Where schools have circumvented their obligations, accountability is essential.

Yet, while the committee’s concerns are understandable, the larger discourse appears to have lost sight of a more fundamental issue. The responsibility for ensuring that every Pakistani child has access to education rests first and foremost with the state, not with private educational institutions.

The constitutional promise of free and compulsory education has remained largely unfulfilled for decades. Although Article 25-A, introduced through the 18th Amendment, explicitly guarantees free and compulsory education for all children between the ages of five and 16, this commitment traces its origins to the aspirations embodied in the 1973 Constitution.

More than half a century later, Pakistan continues to have one of the largest populations of out-of-school children in the world and the weakest educational outcomes in South Asia.

Against this backdrop, the emphasis on the 10 percent scholarship quota appears somewhat misplaced. Compliance with the law is undoubtedly necessary, but it cannot substitute for a robust public education system.

Even if every private school were to implement the quota in letter and spirit, only a small proportion of disadvantaged children would benefit. The overwhelming majority of those excluded from education rely not on private-sector initiatives but on the availability of accessible, adequately funded and well-managed public schools.

Over the years, successive governments have increasingly relied on outsourcing the management of public sector schools to NGOs and private operators instead of investing in the expansion and improvement of the public education system.

While public-private partnerships may have a place in addressing specific challenges, they cannot become a substitute for the state’s constitutional obligations. Delegating service delivery does not absolve the government of responsibility for guaranteeing universal access to quality education.

Private schools must honour both their legal obligations and broader social responsibilities.

However, the country’s education crisis cannot be addressed by shifting the focus towards the private sector alone. The central challenge remains the persistent failure of the state to fulfill its constitutional duty to provide free and compulsory education to every child.

Until the federal and provincial governments accord education the political priority and financial commitment it deserves, measures such as the 10 percent quota, though important, will remain limited interventions, rather than lasting solutions to Pakistan’s deep-rooted educational crisis.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026