Dr Muhammad Nouman Atif

Do the maths on an average Pakistani household with three school-going children, and the numbers stop being abstract fast. Home tuition and coaching classes in Pakistan typically run between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000 a month per child, depending on the subject, grade level and city, according to tutor rate data compiled by tuition platforms. For three children, that is commonly Rs 15,000 to Rs 45,000 a month, on top of school fees, books, and transport. Against an average household income of roughly Rs 82,000 a month, reported by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics for 2025, coaching alone can eat up a fifth to more than half of what a family brings home. That single calculation is why a quiet, largely unplanned shift deserves attention: parents and students turning to free AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and DeepSeek to do at home, for free, what coaching centres charge thousands of rupees a month to do.

Pakistan’s average household income has doubled in nominal terms since 2019, from about Rs 41,545 to Rs 82,000 a month, but inflation has eaten most of that gain; economists estimate that today’s average salary buys roughly what Rs 55,000 could a few years ago. The minimum wage, meanwhile, was set at just Rs 37,000 a month in July 2024, less than half the national average. For families near that line, a coaching bill of even Rs 15,000 a month is not a small household expense. As families struggle to meet essential expense such as food, housing, transport and utilities, spending on private tuition often becomes a difficult financial decision rather than an educational choice. This........

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