The Peshawar High Court’s Abbottabad Bench has suspended the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government’s decision to privatize public schools, putting the move on hold until further notice.
The court directed the KP Chief Secretary, Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education, and all Deputy Commissioners to provide written explanations regarding the policy.
The ruling came in response to a petition filed by advocates Dr. Muhammad Ishaq Zakariya and Sardar Shuja Ahmad, who argued that transferring school management to private entities violated the constitutional right to free and quality education.
The bench noted that education is a fundamental service and warned that privatization could restrict access for children from underprivileged families. The court ordered the government to cease all privatization steps until the case concludes.
Following the verdict, Dr. Zakariya called it a significant victory for education rights, stating that privatization would have widened inequality. He urged the government to focus on improving public schools through better infrastructure, teacher hiring, and transparent reforms instead of turning education into a profit-driven sector.
During this development, It was announced that Government will Provide Rs650 Monthly per Student to Private Sector for Privatization of 13,000 Schools in Punjab
