Disaggregating Pakistan’s low-fee private schooling system

The LFPS sector is highly contested in the academic and policy spheres. Yet, debates are constrained by a rather simplistic grouping of LFPS in one category distinct only from elite private schools and public schools. Through a multiple, holistic case study approach that employed a multi-tiered sampling strategy, the LFPS sector in urban low-income and mixed-income neighborhoods in Rawalpindi, Pakistan was examined. This effort elicited six distinct types of LFPS: Cheap, Medium-range, and Costly Independent LFPS and Cheap, Medium-range, and Costly Chain LFPS. These LFPS vary in terms of structure—whether part of nationwide chains or independent entities that have a legacy rooted in the country’s colonial history—and fee range. This typology bears important implications for existing debates as it exemplifies the limitations of generalizing findings from one type of LFPS to other types. It further confirms the rise of LFPS Chains in Pakistan. Finally, it documents the presence of LFPS with philanthropic orientations by locating family and formal philanthropies in the sector.