The Fellowship Schools Program (FSP) was initiated by the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) to encourage communities to open and operate their own schools with an initial 4-year subsidy provided by the government at a diminishing rate. The schools were planned to self sustain through local resources once the project period ended. Before the end of the term, SEF initiated a baseline study to see the preparedness and willingness of the community in assuming the responsibility and prioritize areas for future involvement that would ensure school sustainability.

The case study involved in-depth interviews with the FSP’s technical advisors, partner NGO representatives, school staff and members of Parent Education Committees (PECs) in five urban schools selected through purposive random sampling. Four focus areas of the schools including quality education, school management, community participation and financial management (FM), were discussed with the stakeholders. With regards to the quality of education, it was found that while both the parents and teachers were satisfied with the present standards, parents expressed reservations on the fee structure and towards its likely increment in future for school sustainability. Recommendations suggest that policy interventions should be used with integrated community interventions. Restrictive parental involvement in only dealing with dropouts, absenteeism, and non payment of fee problems, must extend and involve their active participation in school affairs. Vital need for enhancement of technical skills in the community for managing and generating local resources geared at schools’ stability was identified since the continuity of the schools relies heavily on proper and effective handling of financial matters. Research suggests for the community mobilization concept to be revisited to extend it beyond the function of PECs and involve all stakeholders in such a way so that community as a whole takes responsibility for smooth functioning of the school.