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government school teachers. As most low-fee private schools operate as informal enterprises,
the viability of their business model necessitates keeping operating costs low. This translates
into paying very low wages, sometimes a pittance, to their employees (Andrabi et al. 2008,
Fennell, 2013). In many instances, low-fee private schools are small-scale operations owned by
private individuals. For example, ILM IDEAS (2014) in their study of 305 (what they term low
cost) private schools across primary, middle and secondary levels in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (with fees ranging fromRs.300-Rs. 2000/month) found that 63%of these schools
were unregistered and owned by sole-proprietors. These small enterprises typically also charge
low fees. Andrabi et al. (2008) show that the median annual fee in a rural private school in
Pakistan in 2000 was Rs.600 and this, they argue, suggests that the monthly fee was typically
less than the daily wage of an unskilled wage worker. Moreover, their study shows that the fixed
costs of running low-fee schools are typically low, with the largest share (up to 90%) of the
schools’ operational costs constituting teacher wages. A typical low-fee school in rural Pakistan
employed 4 teachers, mostly locally resident women with at least a secondary education and
enrolled about 100 children (cited in Andrabi et al. 2013). Nevertheless, many parents may still
struggle to meet the expenses of private schooling with ILM IDEAS (2014) reporting that
parental affordability and lack of interest as two main determinants of student dropouts in the
study sample in Pakistan (Aslam 2016). Therefore, by paying a market-clearing wage which is
typically below the mandated minimum wage but which is often competitive, a viable business
model flourishes within the country (Aslam, 2016).
Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) specifically in Punjab and Sindh as key educational
delivery mechanismwithin this changed education landscape
A push for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in education policy, sector plans and
implementation in Pakistan has emerged over time as a counter narrative to inadequate
financing and to a sub-optimal provision of education services by the government. PPPs in
education as in other sectors are viewed as a value for money proposition for meeting education
strategic targets nationally (25 A or RTE) and globally (MDGs/SDGs/EFA). Whilst dating back
to the 1800s, the formal embracement of PPPs in Pakistan as a public policy strategy occurred
under the Education Sector Reforms (ESR) Action Plan 2001-2005 aimed at addressing resource
and management constraints. In this regard, 2010 was a landmark year for PPPs in education
where the provinces of Punjab and Sindh passed their provincial PPP Acts in 2010 which were
largely infrastructure focused. Subsequently both provinces issued new acts/amendments
called the Punjab PPP Partnership Act 2014 and the Sindh PPP (Amendment) Act 2015 to
include services beyond infrastructure across all sectors providing a cover to public financing of
services through transparently procured partnerships. A large variety of education PPPs have
since emerged within the country with differing owners, managers and financiers and with
varying models focusing on learning outcomes, quality, access and equity.
Aslam, Rawal and Saeed (2017) have reviewed some of the evidence on PPPs overall (and some
PPPs in Pakistan) to date. Their review finds mixed evidence of the extent to which the evaluated
PPP models in the country36 have improved educational quality and learning outcomes but
more positive evidence of improved enrolments through some PPP initiatives. Barrera-Osorio
et al.’s 2015 evaluation of the Promoting Low-Cost Private Schooling in Rural Sindh (PPRS)
programme, a PPP that aims to improve access to primary education, for example uses a
Randomised Control Trial (RCT) design and finds that the introduction of this intervention into
36 including the Partnerships for Management, PfM including the adopt-a-school model in Punjab and Sindh)
and the Foundation Assisted Schools (FAS) under the Punjab Education Foundation