Tuition boom adds to education burden for families

For Rozina Bibi, a resident of University Town, Peshawar, sending her two daughters to school is only the beginning of their monthly education expenses. Both girls attend private tuition academies because Rozina says she is dissatisfied with the level of academic preparation available at government schools. She pays around Rs7,000 per subject for each child, with tuition for four subjects costing about Rs28,000. "For a family with limited resources, Rs28,000 is a huge amount," Rozina told The Express Tribune. "We cannot easily afford it, but we are sacrificing other needs because we want our daughters to prepare well and secure good marks." Rozina's experience reflects a growing dependence on private tuition among families in Peshawar, where parents say school education is increasingly being supplemented by costly coaching as competition for higher marks intensifies. The mushrooming of tuition academies has created a parallel education market, with fees varying sharply between institutions. Some reputed academies charge as much as Rs10,000 for a single subject. For middle- and lower-income families, the additional expense can consume a significant portion of their monthly household income. "Parents are caught in a race for marks," said 40-year-old Peshawar resident Mashal Khan, whose daughter studies at a government school. Khan said his daughter was preparing for her ninth- and tenth-grade examinations but was also attending a private academy because the family believed additional coaching was necessary to secure good marks. He said he paid around Rs5,000 per subject, while reputed academies could charge up to Rs10,000. "What is worrying is that there appears to be no effective system determining how much an academy can charge for teaching a particular subject or course," Khan said. "Parents are left with little choice because they do not want their children to suffer academically." The trend has also raised concerns about educational inequality, as families able to afford private coaching can provide children with additional academic support while others may be left behind. Parents question why students attending school for several hours still require expensive coaching to prepare for examinations. The expansion of tuition academies has further raised questions about regulation. Parents argue that while private schools face regulatory oversight, tuition centres often operate with comparatively little scrutiny despite charging substantial fees. According to the Private Schools Regulatory Authority (PSRA), there are around 12,000 private schools in Peshawar, while thousands of private academies also operate across the city. However, no comprehensive record of the academies was available with the PSRA or other government departments for effective regulation. PSRA officials reject the impression that academies are entirely outside the authority's regulatory framework. Qudrat Ullah Khattak, litigation officer at the PSRA, told The Express Tribune that the authority's jurisdiction includes private schools as well as education academies and that efforts were being made to regulate fees within available resources. He said private schools and tuition academies could increase fees by 10 per cent annually, while institutions demanding increases beyond the permitted limit could face action. According to Khattak, only a limited number of tuition academies have so far been registered with the authority, highlighting the need for stronger regulation. The growing reliance on private coaching also raises questions about the effectiveness of classroom education and whether schools are adequately preparing students for examinations. While the PSRA says it is working within its resources to regulate registration and fees, parents say stronger oversight is needed to ensure academies are registered, fees are transparent and families are not subjected to excessive financial demands.