Analysis of Primary Education in Pakistan: NGOs, Private, and Government Schools in Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir

Abstract

This research is a comparative study of three types of primary education schools in the Muzaffarabad region. The paper draws comparisons between NGO, private, and government schools based on the quality of education, access, and affordability in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. The factor of quality of education was drawn from the Pakistan National Education Policy of 2009, while access and affordability were added based on the chosen region. The research has been conducted through semi-structured interviews with parents, the principal (School Administrator), and teachers. The results show that NGO schools displayed good results in terms of quality of education in terms of infrastructure and textbooks. The public schools are perceived to have better qualified and trained teachers, but our research showed contrasting results at the primary level. The public schools also lacked the most basic facilities and were very low on quality. The private schools struck the middle ground with mediocre facilities, quality, and fee structure.

Keywords: Muzaffarabad; primary education; ngo Schools; private schools; government/public schools; national education policy Pakistan

Introduction

Free and quality primary education is the basic right of every citizen as cited in the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Musarrat et al., 2012). In this regard, public schools are, and will continue to be, the most important providers of basic primary education in the country. However, the deteriorating quality of public schools has given rise to other schools run by private institutions and NGOs. The number of private schools (including NGO Schools) in Pakistan has increased by 69% as compared to an 8% increase in public schools between 1999 and 2008 (I-SAPS, 2010). This paper has drawn comparisons between three types of schools in Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. The comparisons have been drawn for Quality (as per the recommended reforms in Pakistan’s National Education Policy of 2009), Access, and Affordability.

Pakistan has gone through different education policy creations and implementation since its inception in 1947. Arif and Saqib (2003) suggested that the first education policy conference held in 1947 laid down the target of free and compulsory primary education within the decade. In 1952, the National Commission on Education formed, which resulted in an education policy. The education policy introduced in 1959 focused on character building through religious education, revision of curricula, and primary education for all within 15 years.

The country continued to see a shift in education policies in the years to come. 1972 saw a dramatic shift in policy with an emphasis on nationalization. Barber (2010) noted that in 1972, more than 3,000 schools were nationalized during Bhutto’s regime, which resulted in a decline in the quality of education due to resource scarcity and management issues. After the nationalization died due to a huge increase in government expenditures, policymakers finally came up with the first National Education Policy in 1979, which was revised in 1992. However, both policies failed to achieve their desired outcomes (Khan and Mahmood, 1997).

The policy makers started the review of the previous education policies in 2005, which resulted in the first white paper being published in 2007. This working paper laid the foundation of the National Education Policy (NEP) of 2009. The new NEP described the challenges and identified causes of performance decencies with suggestions for a way forward and provision of Islamic education. Reforms and policy actions to be taken at the sub-sector level, and framework for Implementation of the Action Plan (GOP, 2009). The policy recommended several reforms and policy actions to be taken at the sub-sector level. This research has selected a few of those reforms and applied them to three types of schools in the education system of the region of Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir.

Education Programs in Pakistan

It is important to distinguish between the three types of educational institutes currently working in Pakistan.

1. Government Schools Program

The first type, government schools, commonly known as public schools, are state-owned schools that charge minimal fees and provide free books to students. 

2. Private School Program

The second type, private schools, are independent schools that are run by individuals or organizations and mainly operate on a for-profit basis. These schools charge higher fees for enrollment as compared to public schools and provide better facilities and infrastructure. 

3. NGOs

The third type, NGO Schools, are operated by not-for-profit organizations. These schools also have better facilities and infrastructure as compared to public schools. The fee structure of these schools varies; some charge higher fees while others charge a medium-range fee. There are also examples of schools that charge students who can afford to pay and waive the fee for poor students. These schools collect donations and also raise funds for their infrastructure, facilities, and student’ fees (Khan et al., 2005; Arif and Saqib, 2003).

This particular research has focused on basic primary schools and measured their performance as per NEP 2009 recommended reforms. I-SAPS (2010) noted that there are 17,250 private and 149,342 public primary schools in Pakistan as of 2008. I-SAPS’s research has considered only two categories of schools, public and private. The NGO schools have been considered private schools so it is hard to point an exact number of them.

Primary school enrolment is the largest in Pakistan representing 49% as compared to 15% middle elementary and 7% secondary school enrolment (Lynd, 2007). In Pakistan there are a total of 177,724 primary educational institutions, 75% of these are public,10 % are private and the remaining are divided between informal basic education schools and religious schools known as “Madaris” (GOP, 2013). Alderman et al. (2001) noted that poverty is a major issue in developing countries, and primary education is considered the first step in alleviating it. However, these developing countries face the problem of population surges with limited government resources, which leads to inadequate facilities at the primary level of schooling.

The number of private schools and the enrollment rate have increased in the past few decades due to poor public school performance. In Pakistan, more than 30% of all children now attend private schools (Amjad and MacLeod, 2014). In 2008, 71% of primary students were enrolled in public primary schools. However, the overall enrolment declined by 2.6% from 2000 to 2008. On the other hand, the private primary schools had a low share in total enrolment with 29% but the enrolment had increased by 11% from 2000 to 2008 (I-SAPS, 2010). There are several reasons for the decline of enrolment rate in primary schools. Stern (2000) argued that one of the reasons for this is either the absence of public schools or inadequate facilities at the schools in rural areas. On the other hand, Islamic religious schools, commonly known as Madaris, are present in rural areas offering free education, accommodation, and food, representing a much more lucrative choice as compared to public schools.

Lynd’s (2007) research concluded that quality is a major concern in all primary schools in Pakistan. The research showed that 9% of primary schools did not have a blackboard, 24% suffered from the absence of textbooks for the children, and 46% did not have desks. Private schools were better equipped with facilities in comparison to public schools. Public schools in some cases suffered from the most basic facilities, only 36% of the public primary schools in the country have electricity.

The three types of schools differ from each other in several other aspects too. These aspects include fees, infrastructure, quality of education, and teachers. Khan et al. (2005) research on three types of schools showed interesting findings. The public schools did quite poorly on the quality of education in tested performance. These schools were selected by parents who were unable to afford the higher fees of private and NGO schools.

Contrary to the common belief, it was found that government school teachers were paid higher salaries than other types of schools. The private schools showed different results, as some were poorly run family businesses with low-quality education while others had high-quality libraries with well-stocked libraries. In comparison to public schools, the students did well on regular homework and confidence levels. The teachers of these schools were poorly paid as compared to public schools. The NGO schools showed the best results regarding tested performance, teacher-student absent rate, school facilities, and teacher-parent interaction. It was noted that sending the children to NGO schools was considered a status symbol. The fees of the NGO schools were similar to those of private schools, but 77% of NGO schools did not charge fees from the poor students. Batley and Rose (2010) argued that the existence of NGOs in countries like Pakistan is very important because the post-colonial ideal of universal state provision of basic services has not been realized. Due to this, many non-profit schools have emerged, providing better quality education to children at minimum or no fee.

There are some misconceptions about some aspects of these schools. As Andrabi et al. (2006) noted, the Pakistani government recognized private schools as institutions that cater to the elite class, charge high fees, and are mostly located in the urban areas. However, his research concluded that private schools were also widespread in rural areas and were catering lower lower-income groups with low fees. They were able to charge lower fees because they paid very little to their teachers. The average salary of public school teachers was Rs. 5,62,0 and the average salary of private school teachers was Rs. 1,084. Despite low salaries, the number of teachers in private primary schools increased from 75,924 to 88,195 from 2000 to 2008 (I-SAPS, 2010). Khan et al. (1999) suggested that, in general, public school teachers are paid more than non-government teachers, which shows that the problem is more of bad management and administration rather than financial as far as teacher pays and training is concerned.

Parents made the choice of type of school based on several factors. Alderman et al. (2001) argued that the government’s inability to provide quality education at public schools is leading parents to enroll their children in private schools. His research on 1650 different households in 50 different sampling clusters in Lahore concluded that poor households make school choices based on affordability (fees), access (distance), and school quality.

Khan et al. (1999) noted that the students studying in public schools were generally from poor and illiterate families. The richer parents have been steadily leaving government schools and opting for private schools. Between 1991 and 1997, enrolment rates in non-government schools rose 61% for boys and 131% for girls. Although it is an accepted fact that the performance of children studying in private primary schools is better than public schools in developing countries, it is also accompanied by the fact of higher fees which are difficult to afford for lower income class of developing countries (Alderman et al., 2001, Cox and Jimenez, 1990).

Lloyd et al. (2005), who conducted research on private versus public primary schools in rural areas of Punjab and KPK (NWFP), showed interesting findings. The data showed that in 3 villages out of the 12, there were no girl’s public primary schools. The research also concluded that parents preferred private schools because of better infrastructure, greater amenities, and teachers from the local community. However, parents also felt that private school teachers were less experienced compared to public schools. So there existed a trade-off for the parents, if they chose the public primary schools they get more experienced teachers coupled with segregated schools. On the other hand, by choosing a private primary school, they could get teachers with less teaching load, better infrastructure, and better English teaching.

Despite many international and national efforts, Pakistan also lags behind the targets of primary education. However, our area of focus (Azad Kashmir) has shown better results over the years. National Plan of Action research suggested that in Azad Kashmir there are 2,259 public schools for girls as compared to 2,027 boys’ schools (GOP, 2013). AEPM (2014)statistics also show several good indicators for the region, the female-to-male enrolment ratio at the primary level is highest in Gilgit Baltistan province while FATA observes the lowest ratios.

Azad Kashmir has a female to male ratio of 0.95, which is close to 1, indicating there is not much difference between them. Within Azad Kashmir, the highest ratio can be seen in Muzaffarabad is 1.17 while the least can be seen in Neelum Valley. Now, we move to the net intake rate (NIR), which shows “the total number of new entrants in the first grade of a given education level.” The other provinces observe differences in this ratio, whereas Azad Kashmir has an equal NIR for girls and boys. The female-to-male enrolment ratio at primary-stage public schools in Azad Kashmir is 1.02, with males at 163,687, as compared to 167,774 females. AEPM research also concluded that 54% of primary school children go to public schools in Azad Kashmir, whereas the rest go to Private schools (42%).

Literature Review

National Education Policy

This major part of this research is based on reforms and policy actions duly recommended in Pakistan’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2009. Following is the summary of the NEP’s main document followed by the chosen reforms for this research.

National Education Policy (NEP) is a comprehensive document issued by the Ministry of Education (MoE) in Pakistan. NEP 2009 document is a review of the previous education policies with recommended reforms and policy actions at the sub-sector level of education. The new policy was introduced due to the failure of previous policies and the inability to achieve the desired outcome. The main document discusses the challenges and fundamental causes behind the deficiencies in achieving desired outcomes, provisions of an Islamic field of education, and reforms and policy actions to be taken at the sub-sector level. The reforms and policy actions majorly deal with raising the quality of education, focusing on improving teachers, curriculum reforms, quality of textbooks and learning material, student assessment, learning environment, extra circular activities, and matching with the employment market.

Due to the limitations of time and resources, we have selected some reforms of quality (improving teacher qualifications and technical training, improving the quality of the learning environment, including infrastructure, and improving the quality of books and learning materials) (GOP, 2009). We have also added two factors of our own: Access and Affordability. Access and affordability are considered very important factors in achieving high enrolment at the primary level (Chaudhury and Parajuli, 2006; Gulbaz Ali Khan and Shah, 2011). The factors have also been selected based on the region we have chosen (Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir), in which access is an important issue due to its difficult terrain. The affordability factor plays a considerable role in primary enrolment in Pakistan as the finances required to support the children define the choice of school. The selected factors are discussed in detail in the following section,

Quality

The quality of education has been given immense importance in recommended reforms and policy actions in the NEP document. It has been accepted that Pakistan’s system of education is perceived as a low-quality education. The basic pillars for improving quality have been identified as curriculum, textbooks, assessment, teachers, learning environment, and relevance of education to practical life. The details of the selected reforms are as follows:

Teachers’ Qualification and Training

The policy entails that the quality of the teachers in the public schools is unsatisfactory. To improve the quality of the teachers, it is recommended that a Bachelor’s degree with a B.Ed. shall be required at the elementary level. Arrangements should be made by the school for training, accreditation, and certification of teachers. All teachers should be given access to professional development opportunities. The teachers’ training shall include context knowledge, subject knowledge, testing and assessment practices, multigrade teaching, and evaluation. Incentives should be offered to teachers opting for training and professional development.

Pakistan Education Atlas 2013 suggested that 45% of teachers in public and private schools hold a BA (Bachelor of Arts) degree. As for the teachers’ training, 49% of public school teachers and 44% of private school teachers held B-ED certificates (AEPM, 2014). While the NEP document recommends good reforms and actions to improve teachers’ qualifications and training with offered incentives in government schools, it ignores several aspects such as the disparity among the salaries in public schools vs. private schools.

Arif and Saqib (2003) noted that teachers of public schools earn more as compared to private schools because of the pay scale system. The disparity exists among the trained teachers in different types of schools as well. Public school teachers with a Primary Teaching Certificate (PTC) earned 75% more than those without it. In the private sector teachers holding PTC earned only 3% more than those not having the certificate.

Quality of Learning Environment and Infrastructure

NEP recognizes that the quality of the learning environment is very poor in most of the public schools. The learning environment includes toilets, a library, teaching aid material, extra circular activities, and the school’s infrastructure. The document states that 61% of the public schools have no electricity, while 40% have no boundary walls, and 26% have no drinking facilities.

A study surveyed the infrastructure facilities of the public and private primary schools in Azad Kashmir and showed that only 52.5% of public schools had basic useable drinking water facilities. The toilet facility was only available in 30% of public schools while 56% of private schools enjoyed this luxury. The playground and boundary wall were available to barely 25% of public schools. The important component of infrastructure, the library, was available to merely 6% of public and 11% of private schools. The computer lab was not available in any government school only 1% of private schools had it (AEPM, 2014).

Quality Of Books And Learning Materials

NEP discusses that with the involvement of all stakeholders ‘The National Textbook and Learning Materials Policy and Plan of Action’ was issued in June 2007. The objective was to improve the quality of textbooks and learning materials while maintaining them at an affordable price. The policy action recommended a well-regulated system for the publication of textbooks, increased investment in school libraries, and curriculum improvement.

The quality of curriculum varies in different types of schools. Private and NGO schools follow a mix of national and foreign curricula while Public schools follow the national curriculum (Arif and Saqib, 2003). It was tough to judge the quality of the books and learning material through this research so we focused on finding out the type of curriculum that different types of schools follow.

Access

Our second selected factor for this research is access. According to the Ministry of Education National Plan of Action 2013-16, the problems regarding access to education comprised of “in school” and “out school” factors. The In-school factors include a shortage of teachers, absenteeism, missing basic facilities, lack of a friendly environment, and teachers’ harsh attitudes. Whereas the out-of-school factors include shortage of schools, distance, insecurity, poverty, and cultural norms (GOP, 2013). We have selected this factor because the terrain of Azad Kashmir and Muzaffarabad is difficult and not many households own their own transport. That is why it is important that schools are within walking distance for children.

Affordability

Our third selected factor for this research is affordability. Household Economic Survey of Pakistan showed that the average expenditure of income spent on education in homes has steadily increased from 2.97% in 2004-5 to 3.92% in 2007-8 and to 4.81% in 2011-12. (PBS, 2013 ). However, the spending is still quite low which means affordability becomes an important factor when selecting children’s schools.

A common perception is that public schools charge a minimal fee catering to lower and lower-middle-class households, while private schools charge a higher fee catering to the elite class. However, Amjad (2012) noted that a survey, by the Learning and Education Achievements in Punjab Schools (LEAPS), showed a rise in the low-fee private schools including the rural areas of Pakistan. The report showed that initially, private schools were only catering for the elite class who could receive all the facilities by paying higher fees for their children. However, in recent times private schools are also providing opportunities for the middle and lower class by lowering their fee structure and by locating schools at accessible locations.

Andrabi et al. (2008) confirmed that until the late 1990s, the perception was that the private schools were largely serving the elite segments of the Pakistani population. However, in the past decade, Pakistan has seen massive growth in private schooling with low tuition fees. Private schools are increasing in number especially in rural areas due to comparatively better education provision in affordable fees. Children studying in private schools mostly belong to the middle class.

Methodology

The research was carried out for the following research statement

“To draw a comparison between primary public, private, and NGO schools in Azad Kashmir on the basis of Quality, Access, and Affordability”

In summary, quality of education refers to a number of factors including the quality of textbooks and learning materials, teachers’ qualifications and training, and infrastructure. Access to schools refers to the ability of people (primary school children in this case) to have easy access to the school in terms of transport and distance. Last but not least, Affordability refers to factors such as the inability to pay school fees and, the costs of uniforms, shoes, and transport.

A sample of ten schools was taken from Muzaffarabad region for this research, 4 schools were operated by NGOs, 3 schools were public, and 3 schools were run privately. All schools were coeducation schools with a minimum of 100 students at the primary level. The schools were located within the vicinity of Muzaffarabad. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data from parents, school in-charge, and teachers. All interviews were then transcribed and coded according to pre-described themes. Details of the interviews are as follows:

School Type	Number of Schools	Type of Data Collected	Number of Interviews
NGO Schools	4	Focus Group (Teachers)	4
		Individual Teachers Interviews	11
		Parents Interviews	17
		School Principal / Incharge Interviews	4
Government Schools	3	Focus Group (Teachers)	3
		Individual Teachers Interviews	7
		Parents Interviews	19
		School Principal / Incharge Interviews	3
Private Schools	3	Focus Group (Teachers)	3
		Individual Teachers Interviews	9
		Parents Interviews	17
		School Principal / Incharge Interviews	3

Data Analysis and Results:

The following are the results obtained from the comparative analysis:

Quality

As mentioned earlier, quality of education is one of the most important factors in education delivery. The common generalization in Pakistan is that private and NGO schools provide better quality education as compared to public schools (Arif and Saqib, 2003).

“It is a bit expensive but there is no harm in spending some extra money and traveling a bit far away as compared to public school nearby if my children are getting better quality education. So spending more money is justified, after all, we earn for them.”

– Mr. Afzal, a parent, sending his children to a NGO school

Mr. Afzal belonged to a lower-middle-class family and was sending his children to a better-quality school (NGO). The school was expensive and was at a distance as compared to public school but he was willing to pay more money and travel more if the children were getting better quality education.

“Public schools have many problems, their teachers are not good and there are too many children. How can they pay attention to every child when there are 70-80 children in every class and only one teacher? I send my daughter to private school because their quality is better, I am sure she gets individual attention in class because there are 20-30 kids in each class.”

– A mother, RaziaKhatoon, sending her daughter to a private school

Again the quality of education comes out as a major concern for parents. Another parent, sending his child to the NGO school, said,

“Yes, I walk my kids to school. If the NGO school is 3 kilometers away and provides good quality, I will send her to that school and not to a government school which may be near, even if I have to walk daily to that school.”

– Imtiaz Khan

The statements show that parents are willing to walk every day to drop children due to perceived good quality education. It is very clear that parents consider the distance from school a minor problem and give importance to the quality education their children might be getting at an NGO and private school. The question now arises is what exactly is quality and do parents understand it?

Teacher’s Qualification and Training

One aspect of “quality” defined in NEP 2009 is the teachers’ qualifications and training. Arif and Saqib (2003) argued that there is a positive correlation between the qualification/education of teachers and the learning achievements of students.

The interviews with the parents showed that they considered NGOs and private schools to be of better quality as compared to public schools. The literature suggested that more qualified and trained teachers were present in the public schools and not in NGO and private schools. The reason may be that public schools compensate better than the other types of schools (AEPM, 2014). However, our research showed different findings. Results from the NGO schools showed that the primary teacher’s qualification in the NGOs was a bachelor’s degree while masters qualified teachers taught higher classes. On the other hand, data collected through focus groups from public schools suggested that primary school teachers were less qualified as compared to other schools.

“Matriculation is the minimum required qualification at the primary level. Most of our teachers at the primary level are matriculate. However, B.A. is the average in our high school.”

– Principal of a government school

Matric is the 10th-grade education in Pakistan. Considering that NGO school teachers on average had 16 years of education, 10th-grade education seems quite low for primary school teachers in public schools. The private schools’ research showed that the minimum required qualification for primary school teachers was a bachelor’s; the average qualification of the teachers was also a bachelor’s degree as explained below.

“We do not hire anyone who has less than a bachelor’s degree. If the teacher also has a training certificate it’s an extra advantage but it’s not an essential requirement. Most of our primary school teachers do not have any training certificates or qualifications.”

– Principal of a private school

Contrary to the literature review our research showed that at primary level public school teachers were far less qualified as compared to other types of schools in Muzaffarabad. NGOs and Private schools had better-qualified teachers.

Next, we tried to evaluate the training opportunities available in these schools for primary teachers. We asked two main questions related to training, the first was whether they offered any training and development programs to their teachers and the second question was what their selection criteria for choosing teachers for the training programs were. One public school Principal said, “No we do not and cannot offer training; the education ministry is in charge of training and development of the teachers.”

The results from the NGO schools were different. One Principal of the school, during a focus group with 6 other teachers, responded, “Yes, we provide workshops. AFAQ, the CTC office, and Oxford books provide the training and workshops too. Usually, new teachers are selected for these training programs, other than the teachers who are performing well are also selected.”

The principal of a private school responded, “Well it’s not very regular but we have annual training sessions for our teachers. We selected the most hardworking and punctual teachers for these sessions.”

If we judge these results as per NEP policy we will mark the quality of teachers’ qualification very low at public schools and teachers training low in all types of schools. The teachers’ training aspect is completely missing from the public schools. NGO schools seemed far more organized as compared to public and private schools in providing training and development opportunities to their teacher. However, it’s important to see if parents, the decision makers for the choice of school, understand the issue of quality.

“I do not know how qualified are the teachers. If they are hired in a public school they must be very qualified.”

– Mr. Asad Hussain, a parent sending his child to public school

Another parent commented,

“I am sure they are very well qualified and trained. These schools do not hire people with fewer qualifications and training. And everyone knows it.”

– Ms. Shafiqa Haider, sending her son to an NGO school

“They teach very well you know. My daughter was first in the public school and she did not learn anything. But I put her here and she is learning a lot in no time. The teachers must have been better qualified and trained as compared to public school, otherwise, she would not produce good results.”

– Mr. Amin Balti, sending his daughter to a private school

Our research showed that most of the parents showed satisfaction with the teacher’s qualifications and training in all three types of schools, however, this satisfaction was based on perception as parents had no idea about the actual qualifications and certificates that teachers had.

Quality of Textbooks and Learning Materials

The quality of textbooks and learning materials is an integral part of good education provision. Education in Pakistan used to be a federal provision which meant that the Ministry of Education working under the federal government would design the curriculum and choose textbooks and learning materials for public schools. Private and NGO schools were free to choose the curriculum subject to the approval of the Ministry of Education (Barber, 2010).

After the 18th Amendment, education has become a provincial provision giving more autonomy to the provinces to cater to their own needs. Now the provinces’ Ministries of Education are in charge of the curriculum, textbooks, and learning material. The public schools are not allowed to use any other texts books and learning material than the ones the Ministry of Education recommends. It was confirmed with our research as well. The principal of one government school said, “We do not get to decide which books to teach and which do not. AJK MOE (Ministry of Education) designs the curriculum for all the public schools and also decides on the textbooks. Yes, some of the books’ content and quality can be questioned but we don’t have an option do we?”

While for the NGO schools, almost all of them used the curriculum of AFAQ and Oxford books. The principal of an NGO school said during a focus group, “We work under a larger umbrella organization and it designs our curriculum with a mix of AFAQ series and Oxford book. Everyone knows that these two names are of quality in the world. We are making sure our children get the best books and learning material available in the market.”

The research from private schools showed that they all used the Oxford curriculum available in the market off the shelf. The findings of this factor of quality are quite interesting. The curriculum used in the three types of schools varies. It is also very difficult to judge the quality of the curriculum being taught without the performance test of the children. However, policymakers probably need to consider the implications of having different types of textbooks and learning materials in diverse types of schools and how it impacts children’s future studies and other decisions.

Infrastructure

Andrabi et al. (2008)stated that inadequate infrastructure and lack of teachers affected the quality of education. Infrastructure included boundary walls, a library, a playground, computer labs, and toilets. Unfortunately, most public schools in Pakistan still suffer from a lack of basic facilities. To assess the quality of infrastructure, we asked the school Principal and teachers if they were satisfied with the

level of infrastructure in the school. We also asked if the school had a playground, proper toilets, a library, a faculty room, an assembly area, and an auditorium.

“Not satisfied because there is not a single bathroom, no ground, and no library. We have only two washrooms and their condition is very bad. Our library is not in good condition either. Our assembly area is okay. We can’t build these ourselves, these have to come from the government. It’s not in our power to build such facilities.”

– The principal of a public boys school

A parent sending his son to a public school responded,

“I am not at all happy with the school’s facilities but what option do I have? They don’t even have water and toilets which is the most basic facility every school should have.”

– Akhtar Rasool, parent

The NGO schools, on the other hand, had the better overall infrastructure in all schools. All NGO schools had pre-fabricated structures, which meant that they were earthquake-proof. The classrooms had projectors along with other multimedia. The principal of one NGO school said, “We do not have an auditorium but the rest of the facilities are present. After the earthquake, we built earthquake-proof schools so children can study in a safe environment and parents are not worried while sending their kid to school.”

The 2005 devastating earthquake in Azad Kashmir caused nearly 0.2 million casualties, most of them being schoolchildren. The schools were wrecked as a result of the earthquake ,and many children died. In the rebuilding process, the government emphasized to build the earthquake-proof schools (Shaheen, 2008). However, the rule seemed to have been followed by only NGO schools, as the public and private schools of our research had the same building structure that they had prior to the earthquake.

A parent sending his daughters to NGO School said, “Maybe the building should be more spacious but the overall facility is well constructed, maintained, and decorated. It’s much better than other schools in the same vicinity.”

The private schools also had better infrastructure facilities as compared to public schools. The principal of a private school said, “I guess we have satisfactory level infrastructure. We do not have a playground and an auditorium but classrooms are well equipped. We are trying to raise funds to build a playground however it will be a few years from now that this can be achieved.”

The major difference in these schools was not only the existing infrastructure facilities but also the future approach towards building better infrastructure. Public schools seemed aware of the lack of facilities at school yet they also seemed helpless in doing something about it. NGO schools showed the best infrastructure facilities in all types of schools. Private schools also had good facilities and showed interest in building more in the future.

Access

The factor of Access has been selected based on the distance of a school and accessibility for the students. In Azad Kashmir, most households do not have the luxury of transport, so they prefer a school that is within walking distance or one which is near enough, where they can utilize cheap sources of transportation (local transport).

Lloyd et al. (2005) noted that access is not only limited to male children; in developing countries like Pakistan, access is a major factor in female education. In most rural areas, because of cultural norms, parents do not send their girls to school. However, the region of Azad Kashmir seems to be beyond this issue. The male-female enrolment ratio at the primary level is astonishingly at 0.95 ( 1 means equal enrolment, greater than 1 means girls have higher enrolment, less than 1 means girls have lower enrolment). The highest ratio is found in our sample area, which is Muzaffarabad (AEPM, 2014). To evaluate the issue of access, we asked the parents and school staff how important was the Access factor in the choice of a school for students.

Umair Naeem, a parent sending his daughters to a public school, said, “The most important thing is location, the school should be near. I have daughters who go to school I can’t send them to a school that is 5 kilometers away. They usually have to walk to school every day.”

This response depicts that a major decision to send a child to a public school is pivoted on the credentials related to the access. While interviewing the focus group led by the principal of the NGO school, the principal, Syeda Samina Batool, said, “Above 70% of our students walk to school, so yes it is easily accessible. Most of them come from nearby houses. You see the parents don’t have transport so they do consider how near is the school when making a decision to send them here.”

The responses show that access does play a role in places where parents belong to the lower middle class. They find it difficult to spend money on transportation and look for a school that is nearby. However, we also found many parents who were sending their children to a distant school for better education.

Shahida Naqvi, a parent sending her son and daughter to a private school, said, “The school is 6-8 kilometers away from our house I think. I take public transport every day and drop them off and come back to my house. My husband picks them up and comes back home on public transport as well. Yes, it’s a lot of hassle but they are getting a very good education there. The nearby public school has no basic facilities and do not get me started on teachers’ attention to children and the absence rate.”

“Some children come from as far as 20 kilometers from here. It’s quite a distance in this area but their parents make this decision for better education. I will say around 25-30% of children come from faraway places.”

– The principal of a private school

The distance of the school seems a concern in the area but parents were also ignoring this factor so their children can get a better education. However, ignoring does not mean it has no importance. There is a possibility that if the nearby public school had equally good facilities, parents would have sent their children there, as quality education was a major concern for parents.

Affordability

Affordability can be defined as the ratio of a person’s monthly income to the cost of providing education to children. Affordability is one of the most important considerations and a determining factor that a person pays heed to before enrolment of a child. In Muzaffarabad, three types of schools are the major players in education i.e. NGO, public and private. Starting with the public schools, the fee for primary education was only Rs. 30 ($0.3) per month. This was the standardized fee for all the government schools in Muzaffarabad as prescribed by the government of AJK.

The private school fees varied between 1000 to 1500 Rs. One important distinction should be made here about the private schools; there are two types of private schools, one is the large branded school chains (In hundreds spanned all over Pakistan), and the other is small chains amounting to only 2 or 3 schools. Our research focused on small private schools in Muzaffarabad. The fee structure of these schools was, on average, around Rs. 1000. NGO schools fee structure for primary schools started from Rs.1650 to Rs.1875 ($16-$18) per month and went further lower for remote area campuses.

A parent, sending his children to an NGO school, said

“I think it is not too expensive and not too cheap. The school facilities are good, it’s nearby, and they also offer scholarships if kids perform well. So I think a higher fee is alright to give if your kids get good quality”

Another parent commented on the affordability,

“Of course, private school is more expensive but I am sure my kid is getting the best education. After all, we earn for them.”

– Waqar Ahmed, parent

Parents sending their children to public school said

“Fee is the reason I send my son here. It’s very cheap and it’s nearby. I think he is getting a good education. Maybe they don’t have many facilities but I also studied in a public school so can my kid.”

“Who does not want to give a good education to their children? But look at the fees of private schools. I do not earn enough to send my daughter there. Well at least she is not staying at home, she is getting some education right?”

General opinion showed that choice of the public school was majorly based on low fees. Some parents wanted to send their children to better schools but avoided due to financial constraints. On the other hand, the parents sending their children to private and NGO schools were well aware of the high fees, but at the same time, they were willing to pay it so their children could get a better education.

Discussion

The data analysis showed results that were most favourable for NGO-run schools, followed by private schools. The data from Muzaffarabad showed that public schools do not perform well, especially in terms of quality and infrastructure. Data collected compared to the literature suggested that the results of this paper were in line with the previous research. NGO-run schools were seen to be the best when it comes to quality which included teacher’s qualification/training, learning environment/infrastructure, and learning materials/books. Their school teachers had an average of 16 years of education and usually a bachelor’s degree. Their infrastructure was also the best compared to private and public schools.

The NGO-run schools also had the best books (along with the private schools), usually from Oxford Press, and followed a more up-to-date curriculum compared to the public schools. They had playgrounds, toilets, earthquake-proof buildings, multimedia projectors, proper desks and chairs. The downside of the NGO schools was that they were the most expensive among the other 2 types of school, and because they were fewer in number, the parents and students could face an accessibility issue. Even then some parents were willing to send their children to NGO-run schools as they preferred quality of education on all other factors.

Data showed that NGOs had the best quality schools but also charged the highest in the Muzaffarabad region. This is in agreement with Khan et al. (1999), who found that the NGO schools had the best results with respect to tested performance, teacher-student absent rate, infrastructure/facilities, etc. and sending children to NGO run schools was seen as a status symbol due to the high fees charged

The primary schools found a middle ground; they provided better quality education than public schools. I- SAPS (2010) found that primary school enrolment had increased by 11% from 2000 to 2008 one of the reasons being that private institutions provided better education. This research has found the same i.e. due to better quality education more parents are sending their children to private schools even though they cost more than public ones.

Other than the above, private schools only hired teachers who had a bachelor’s degree; their books were from Oxford Press, and the curriculum was similar to the NGOs. Their infrastructure was not as good as the NGO-run schools but was better than public schools. They usually had all the basic facilities but sometimes could lack a playground or an auditorium. The fees were also in the middle range, i.e. Rs.1000-1500 lower than NGOs (Rs.1650-1875) but higher than public schools (lowest of Rs.30), accessibility was found to be more or less the same with the NGOs but worse than public schools.

The literature review showed little positive about the public schools, the research concluded the same. The higher enrollment ratio in public schools is due to the low fees (Rs.30). Majority of the enrollment in these schools came from poorer households. The curriculum and books were set by the province’s Ministry of Education and usually did not contain quality books from the recognized Oxford Press.

In line with what was found by AEPM (2014), the paper also found that the infrastructure facilities of the public schools were appalling. In some schools there were no proper toilets or playgrounds, some schools did not even have adequate roofing and many of them had a poor learning environment (broken desks and too many students). Contrary to research done in other parts of Pakistan, public teachers in the Muzaffarabad region were seen to be less qualified than NGOs and private schools.

Some public schools in the region set a minimum education level for matriculation while private and NGO schools usually had a minimum level of bachelor’s. Teachers of public schools did get paid more compared to the other two types, this result agrees with Arif and Saqib (2003) who stated that due to the pay scale system, public teachers get paid more. Public schools were also the most accessible compared to NGO and private schools because they were present in huge numbers, this is accurate for Muzaffarabad and for most other areas in Pakistan as well. All three types of schools were found to be lacking in the teachers’ training department, and this should be looked at and improved upon by private, public, and NGO-run schools.

Conclusion

Primary school education is considered the first and major step towards educating a country. Pakistan’s education, unfortunately, lags behind in the list of developing countries in this indicator. Our research concentrated on primary education providers in the Muzaffarabad region while focusing on the differences in quality of education, access, and affordability.

The research in the area of Muzaffarabad showed that NGO schools were leading the way in the quality of education. The private schools followed them, while the government schools lacked the most basic quality indicators. Access did not turn out to be a major factor in selecting a school. Government schools were selected based on the affordability factor. The research indicated that the government needs to do a lot of work in primary education. The school fees, curriculum, teachers’ quality, salaries, and infrastructure varied to a great extent. The differences can cause children to get different education based on their parent’s income and may also cause a societal disparity.

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