Commercialization of School Education in Pakistan: Community Perceptions of Public and Private Schools in District Lakki Marwat

Abstract

The expansion of private educational institutions has significantly reshaped Pakistan’s education system, while raising important concerns about the commercialization of education and its implications for educational quality, equity, and access. This study examines community perceptions of educational commercialization using a comparative case study of public and private schools in District Lakki Marwat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Using a quantitative case study design, primary data were collected through a structured questionnaire that was administered to 100 participants representing stakeholders from both public and private schools during the study period (2009–2012). Frequencies and percentages were used as descriptive methods to examine the perceptions of respondents on the quality of education, competence of teachers, administrative effectiveness, infrastructure, and quality of curriculum, language of instruction, parental participation, extra-curricular facilities, and cost-effectiveness. The results show that private schools were generally perceived to provide higher-quality education, better administration, better infrastructure, English as the medium of instruction, and greater institutional accountability than public schools.

Nevertheless, respondents also expressed concerns that the increasing commercialization of education has contributed to socioeconomic differences by limiting low-income families' access to quality education because of higher tuition fees and related educational costs. By comparison, despite being cheaper, public schools were also perceived to face challenges related to infrastructure, resource availability, teacher motivation, and institutional management, as well as the availability of resources, motivation among teachers, and institutional control. The study concludes that commercialization of education has increased parental choice, competition in the education sector, and at the same time increased the disparities in access to education. It suggests strengthening public education through improved governance in the education sector, investing more in educational facilities, offering effective staff development, and taking effective regulatory oversight of private educational institutions to provide equal access to quality education to everyone.