But how do you decide which specific input to pick? What if it works differently in different contexts? Traditionally, we have seen an ‘input augmentation’ approach to improve education: pick one input that seems important for the education production function, such as teacher training or textbooks or infrastructure, test to see if it helps improve learning outcomes, and scale if successful. We also theorize that the dominant approach to education reform interventions has not been holistic. We hypothesize that one of the reasons for this is that each reform has unintended consequences, and the effects of one may actually neutralize the effects of another, resulting in net zero impact on learning outcomes. However, student learning outcomes did not budge. Between 20, 69 education policy reforms were passed nationally and in Punjab, far more than in most low-income countries. While public spending on education still lags other emerging markets, it has still been on the rise since the passing of the 18 th Amendment. The government of Pakistan has been cognizant of the learning crisis and has actively tried to tackle it. This does not mean that every private school outperforms every public school, but, on average, private schools are outperforming public schools by significant margins. The gap in learning outcomes between students in private and public schools is between 8 and 18 times larger than the gap between students from rich and poor socioeconomic backgrounds. For private school children the range of median scores for the same subjects is between 40 and 50%. The median percentage of correct answers given by public school children in Math, English and Urdu range between 25 and 35%. Source: Learning and Educational Achievements in Pakistan Schools (LEAPS) and ASERĭespite poor results overall, LEAPS data shows that private school children perform better than their public-school peers. Learning outcomes in Math, English and Urdu for 3 rd grade test scores Both tests indicate that a student who drops out in Grade 3 is very likely to be functionally illiterate. When data on third grade test scores in Urdu, English, and Math from the LEAPS study in 2008 is compared to the nationwide ASER survey conducted in 2016, it becomes evident that student performance has not budged in nearly a decade. While research shows that private schools have consistently out-performed public schools in terms of student test scores, absolute learning levels in Pakistan remain shockingly low. They are also the single largest employer of women across Pakistan, as an estimated 900,000 women work there as teachers. Private schools are not only providing access to schooling but, going by average student performance, are doing a better job at it, too. These figures should put the myth that private schools in Pakistan are for the elite to rest. If the line for low-cost is drawn at a tuition fee of PKR 800 per month, that means 89% of private schools are extremely low-cost, catering to the bottom of the pyramid. In 2008, the Learning and Educational Achievements in Pakistan Schools ( LEAPS) research program reported that 40% of the private schools they surveyed in Punjab charged a monthly tuition fee of less than PKR 400, 34% charged between PKR 400-600, 15% between PKR 600- 800 and only 11% more than PKR 800. Source: Programme Monitoring & Implementation Unit In the last 25 years, private schools in Punjab have increased three-fold Interestingly, the majority of new private schools opened up in rural areas. From 1990 to 2016, the number of low-cost private schools in Punjab alone increased dramatically from 32,000 to 66,000. Of the 317,323 schools in the country, 38% are private. Consider that of the 47.5 million school going children in Pakistan, 42% attend private schools.

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