Between a rock and a hard place: the emerging educational market for the poor in Pakistan

This paper examines the manner in which consumers and providers of education operate within, and how they withdraw from, the educational marketplace in Pakistan. It focuses on the use of exit and voice mechanisms used by households in response to the range of educational provision available from state and non-state providers. The conceptual framework is drawn from the original model of exit, voice and loyalty created by Hirschman in 1970. The paper uses a range of exit, voice and loyalty types to map how households of different socio-economic status make schooling choices when they are faced with a range of educational providers. The evidence shows that the better-off households are benefiting more than the poorer households from the higher quality education provided by low-fee private schools. The poorer households face economic, social and political hierarchies that work against equal access. The implication of our findings regarding the diminished exit and voice mechanisms exercised by poorer households is that these are unlikely to halt further deterioration in the quality of education currently experienced in local government schools.