Private schooling in the Northern Areas of Pakistan: A decade of rapid expansion

This article investigates the rapid expansion of private schooling in the Northern Areas of Pakistan during the period 1993-2003. Our observations are mainly based on a survey of about 40% of the total number of private schools in the Northern Areas in which we attested trends that are characteristic of many private schools elsewhere, both nationally and internationally. For instance, most of the parents are by no means wealthy, most think that private schools provide better quality than government schools, English-medium instruction is a key requirement, and all have pragmatic expectations of the benefits for their children both from private schooling and from English-medium education.