July 2006: This review of the literature on the growth of private sector schools in Pakistan was adapted from my Master’s thesis at the University of Oxford and published in the Journal of Independent Studies and Research.

Abstract: The education system in Pakistan is languishing in an abysmal condition. In the absence of appropriate and consistent policy, the continued depreciation of facilities and erosion of public credibility in the state system many parents are opting out of the state system and moving to the growing private sector.

The growth of the non-state sector in education has been steady since denationalization in the early 1980s and has exploded in the last fifteen years. This growth of the private sector raises questions about quality and equity. The literature overwhelmingly finds in favour of the private sector when it comes to quality. There is also some qualified support for encouraging this trend from educationists. The literature however fails to deal satisfactorily with the social equality and justice implications of the rising private sector.

The paper can befound here on the JISR website: Journal of Independent Studies and Research (JISR) in July, 2006. The paper can also be downloaded here: Education and class in Pakistan: The growth of the private sector.

I presented an earlier version of this paper at the 2nd Annual Social Science Conference at the Lahore University of Management Sciences in June 2006.