The federal education allocation for 2026 is larger than last year's in absolute terms. For most private school owners, that headline is misleading.
The increase is concentrated in public-sector salaries and a school construction programme. Neither touches the private sector, which educates roughly two in five Pakistani children. What does touch it is the regulatory line in the same document — and that has changed more than the money has.
Three things that actually changed
Registration renewals move to a three-year cycle. Schools currently renewing annually will file less often, but the evidence required at each renewal is broader. Keep your enrolment records in a form you can export.
Fee revision notification becomes mandatory above a threshold. The threshold is set provincially and has not yet been published everywhere. Where it has, it sits well below what most urban schools charge.
Teacher qualification audits are being funded for the first time. This is the line item with the longest tail. Schools that have not documented their teachers' qualifications centrally should start now, not when the notice arrives.
What we are asking for
The Chamber has written to the provincial secretariats on two points: a realistic transition period for the qualification audit, and publication of the fee thresholds before they take effect rather than after.
We will publish the responses here as they arrive.