Education in Pakistan: Problems and its solutions

Education the basic need

Education is the light of the life. Education proves to one of the most important

factors for the development of human civilization. Education enhances human status

and leads everyone to propriety. it is a continuous and lifelong process. It attributes

most important, precious and permanent property of an individual. Education

provides manpower, strengthens national unity and uplifts public awareness. It

invites positive and constructive change in life. It makes our life really prosperous

and meaningful. Everyone wants to be well educated. Life can be successful by the

help of appropriate education. Educated person can only judge what is correct and

what is wrong?? And takes the appropriate and right decision but uneducated person

fails to do so.

Object of Education:

Robert Maynard Hutchins describes it as “The object of education is to prepare the

young to educate themselves throughout their lives.” We should give our youth the

way to educate themselves. Edward Everett said that “Education is a better

safeguard of liberty than a standing army.”

Importance of Education:

We all know the importance of education. It is the most important aspect of any

nation’s survival today. Education builds the nations; it determines the future of a

nation. ISLAM also tells us about Education and its importance. The real essence of

Education according to ISLAM is “to know ALLAH” but I think in our country we truly

lost. Neither our schools nor our madrassa’s (Islamic Education Centres) are truly

educating our youth in this regard. In schools, we are just preparing them for

“Money”. We aren’t educating them we are just preparing “Money Machines”. We are

only increasing the burden of the books for our children and just enrolling them in a

reputed, big school for what, just for social status??? On the other hand in our

madrassas we are preparing people who finds very difficult to adjust in the modern

society. Sometimes it seems that they are from another planet. A madrassa student

can’t compete even in our country then the World is so far from him. He finds very

difficult to even speak to a school boy. It is crystal clear that Islamic Education is

necessary for Muslims but it is also a fact that without modern education no one can

compete in this world. There are many examples of Muslim Scholars who not only

study the Holy Quraan but also mastered the other subjects like Physics, Chemistry,

Biology, Astronomy and many more, with the help of Holy Quraan. I think with the

current education system we are narrowing the way for our children instead of

widening it. There is no doubt that our children are very talented, both in schools

and in madrassas, we just need to give them proper ways to groom, give them the

space to become Quaid-E-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Allama Iqbal, Sir Syed

Ahmed Khan, Alberoni, Abnalhasam, or Einstein, Newton, Thomas Edison. The

education system we are running with is not working anymore. We have to find a

way to bridge this gap between school and madrassa.

Background of Pakistan’s Educational System

Numerous international assessments could explore that Pakistan is lagging behind

many countries in achieving the Education for All goal (EFA). We were the signatory

to the treaty under Dakar Framework where it was decided by all the developing

countries that they will be trying to achieve the target of EFI in the meeting held in

Senegal in 2000. UNESCO rates in Pakistan are at a lower EFA development Index

(EDI) because of low; enrolment at primary school, adult literacy, gender equity and

equality, equalities in education and quality of education. The adult literacy in

Pakistan, in spite of concerted efforts, fail to go beyond the border line of 50 percent.

The women literacy is much more belittling as thirty three percent of the adult

women cannot even read. The more embracing would be that we would not be

catching the target to achieve the adult literacy by 2015. Progress towards the

achievement of the targets is exceptionally slow, while gender parity goal is at risk of

not being achieved by 2015. Moreover, more than 6 million children are out of

school.

Educational System in Pakistan:

Education system in Pakistan is really having a bad configuration at the moment.

There is no doubt in accepting the fact that education stands the backbone for the

development of nations. Looking at the history of nations, we may safely reach the

conclusion that the advanced nations of the world could reach the zenith of prestige

and power taking support from education. The allocations for education are too

meager, and in spite of allocation, the amount is not spent for what it was meant for

as the corruption is found in all the tiers of education and also because of the same

delivery from the government institutions that is much below the desired and aspired

levels. Private education in Pakistan is far reaching for the poor and the turnover of

this quality education does not serve the country the way they are supposed to.

Planning for education does not go in congruence with the needs and implement

remains ever ignored, so by this way the system is getting more spoiled rather than

flourishing. Our universities have failed to produce the planners, developers,

implementers, and decision makers. Rather the turnover is a mismatch with the

ground realities, the half backed persons we are producing are of no use to us. The

students we come across are degree seekers rather than the knowledge. The

increase in number of colleges and universities does not mean that we are going by

the standards rather these are worsening, a simple evidence of which is that no

Pakistani university could find a space among the top 1000 universities of the world.

The socio-economic scenario is directly attached with the status of Education in the

country. The developed world managed to scale up their education in line with the

needs and market requirements. Despite the recent achievements, a lot more is

needed to be done as the country still faces numerous challenges which cause

deterrence. We are under obligation to raise the education of our population to the

level of our South Asian neighbors, to combat our own social and economic wants to

the satisfactory level.

The very scale of Pakistan’s education sector -- more than 150,000 public education

institutions serving over 21 million students and a huge private sector that serves

another 12 million – presents formidable challenges.

Education is found to be the cheapest and tangible defense mechanism for a nation

on the social, political, and economic fronts. But the down trodden condition of

education in Pakistan bears an ample testimony of the fact that it is unable to defend

its own sector. Over the span of 64 years, the nation has been given the 23 policies

and action plans but we could not start the march towards success and are waiting

for a savior who could take the system out of turmoil. There were ample spending in

the government of Pervaiz Musharraf on education and due to which, we could see

the visible positive educational change in Pakistani society. Currently the economic

situation in Pakistan is under severe stress and education sector has received the

highest impact in Pakistan. The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan has led

to the fact in the following words,

“The state of Pakistan shall remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory

secondary education within minimum possible period.”

In Human development Report, Pakistan is placed at 136th position because its

49.9% population comes under the definition of education. The dropout rate is

alarmingly high at the primary level; consequently, it is revealed by the Data Center

of UNESCO, that 33.8% females and 47.18% in males could pass through the most

initial level of education. We may be conclusive about the ground reality that people

in the 6th largest country of the world have no access to the basic education even.

Key Performance Indicators for Education Systems

The frequently used indicators for assessing education and its systems are adult

literacy rates, male and female enrollment at different levels of education,

participation rate in the different areas of the country; the dropout rates, the amount

of resources allocated to education as a proportion of the GDP and some measures of

the quality of education being pursued. At the moment, the workability of these

indicators rests on the footing of authenticated and recent data so that the planning

details may be worked out with confidence. Irony of fate, the indicators, their

footings and the quality of data all want more authenticity, but unfortunately,

Pakistan's record lacks objectivity and rationality on all counts.

PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN

Medium of Education:

The system of education in Pakistan is operative in match with the local needs and

ground realities. It is almost a decisive factor that the education in the mother

tongue surrenders more dividends but we have the system more segregated and

diversified just contrary to our requirements. A good example of it is that we fail to

decide about the Medium of education over the span of 64 years. Different mediums

are operational in both, public and private sector. This creates a sort of disparity

among people, dividing them into two segments.

Disparity of System at Provincial Level::

The Regions of Pakistan in the name of provinces are not at par as regards the

infrastructure, availability of staff, their training, content mastery allocation of

resources and their utilization. This develops a disparity not only in the system but in

the turnover too. There is a need to revisit the schools in Baluchistan (The Largest

Province of Pakistan by area) because these are not that much groomed as that of

Punjab (The Largest Province of Pakistan by Population). In FATA, the literacy rate is

deplorable constituting 29.5% in males and 3% in females. The conditions are to be

made more congenial about teaching and learning in all parts of the country without

any discretion.

Gender Discrimination:

We should have know how of the population comprising females, unfortunately their

education is not attended to the way it was deemed fit. The gender discrimination is

a cause that is contributing towards the low participation rate of girls at the basic

level of education. The male and female participation ratio is projected at the

primary school in the shape of ratio of boys & girls as 10:4 respectively. In the

decade passed, government invited private sector to shoulder the responsibility of

education of the youth. The intent was also to provide the education at the doorstep

to the children especially the female students. The private sector took up the

challenge and there was an increase in the growth of private schools but this step

didn’t cause the increase in the students or the quality. The masses could not be

attracted because of precious education. It created clear cut tiers of society and

created a gap among those with the haves and have not’s.

Lack of Technical Education:

There is a craze for the white collar jobs for the same pupils. Select the general rut

of education, though they have the least tilt or the capacity to cope with the

demands. China, Japan and Germany have the ruts for those who have a taste for

and do not achieve the excellence in the general rut of education. We have kept the

opportunities open for all to participate in general education at all levels especially

the university level. We could not attract the general masses towards technical

education making them to earn of their own act as the entrepreneurs and make their

living without being the burden on the government. Education system is needed to

be revamped making a space for the science, IT, management, and pupil with the

excellence to go to the higher education pursuing the education of their own choice.

Lesser emphasis on technical education means the lesser manpower for industry and

hence the lesser finance generation.

Low allocation of funds:

The allocation of funds for education is very low as it never went beyond 1.5 to 2.0

percent of the total GDP. Even this amount was not utilized and had to be

surrendered back to the government because of want of expertise and the

knowledge of codal formalities and in time release of funds. There is a need to

increase it around 7% of the total GDP keeping in view the allocations by the

neighboring countries, there is also a need to rationalize the share at the different

levels not ignoring any.

Inefficient Teachers:

Government fails to attract the potential candidates for teaching with the zeal vigor

and excellent carrier. Teaching is rated as the lowest among the jobs for the youth,

because of lesser incentives, slow promotions and lesser fringe benefits. The

teachers in government schools are not well groomed and equipped with knowledge

and training. People who do not get job in any other sector, they try their luck in

educational system. There is a need to reorganize pre-service and in-service

trainings making them matched with the requirements rather to keep them ideal,

unique and novel.

Poverty:

Poverty is growing over the years. The average class is vanishing like anything. It

happens to be a curse for the nation that exists without having the average income

group. The escalation of poverty has restricted the parents to send their children to

tasks for child labor or at least to public or private schools. In these schools, the drop

out is very high because schools are not the attractive places, the curriculum is dry

and the teaching does not match the live situations. Poor parents are constrained to

send their children to madressahs where the education is totally free.

Corruption:

Corruption causes the educational policies, plans and projects to fail because of

being the major contributing factor. There is no accountability and transparency in

the system, the salaries are low, the incentives are too less to be accounted and

even those are uneven. An estimated Rs. 2,594 million out of a total of Rs. 7,016

million provided for improvement of school facilities such as buildings, electricity,

drinkable water, etc had gone unaccounted during the fiscal periods 2001-06

(UNESCO Bano, 2007). Similarly, more than 70% literacy centers in Punjab

remained inoperative or exist only on paper (ADBP, 2007). The chances of ghost

schools should be evaded by involving the community in the processes of inspection

and monitoring.

Social imbalance:

The students from the elite class follow the "O" and "A" levels curriculum instead of

Pakistan's routine orthodox and stagnant curriculum. They have little or no

awareness of their religion and culture whereas those passing out from Urdu medium

schools are usually destined to work in clerical and lower level positions. Religious

madrassas churn out yet another class that is usually unaware of the world outside

their own perception.

Mismanagement of System:

Teachers’ absenteeism, poor professional training, sub-standard materials and

obsolete teaching methods act as the major contributive factors towards the low

enrolment in schools. Burki (2005), opines that most of the public schools are either

mismanaged or poorly managed. They are found imparting education of second-rate

quality through substandard textbooks and curricula that do not cater the needs of

the 21st century. The education should be based on learning outcomes through

suggesting multiple books rather than following a single book as an obligation.

Infrastructure Problems:

The dropout rate of those lucky enough to be enrolled goes beyond 45% as has been

divulged by the several reports. Most of the public sector educational institutions

stay in a status of poor condition lacking even basic facilities, resultantly shaking the

presupposed standards of education. There are four areas that snivel for pressing

concentration which are curriculum, textbooks, examinations, and teacher training

(Hoodbhoy, 2001). The textbooks need be made more facilitating, student and

learning friendly.

Private school system:

Private Schools in Pakistan enroll more students than in other countries of the

region. They least bother about the capacity and facilities available, they rather over

burden the teaching staff. The rapid mushroom growth of private schools and

academies of teaching reflect the people's lack of trust in the public sector schools

coupled with a deficiency of sufficient educational institutions to cater to the needs of

the fast growing population. However, there are certain private schools which are

slightly better than the public ones. In the elite schools where the quality education

is offered, heavy fees is charged that continues to be a problem. These private

sectors schools are meant only for a special sector of the population and are out of

the reach of general masses. The private sector schools should be brought under the

control of rules making these somewhat accessible for the common population.

Lack of educational policies:

The National Education Policy (1998-2010) was developed prior to Dakar. It has a

clear cut vision and direction to support the education department. Since the 2001,

the Ministry of Education has developed a number of policy documents including that

of National Education policy (2009) but the endeavors remain focused on paper work

more rather than the operationalization, though the involvement of NGOs and

international development agencies is very much there. The simple reason is that the

plans are vicious and not the ground reality based. The policies should be

environment friendly.

Increase in population:

Literacy in Pakistan has risen from 45 to 54 percent within the span of 2002 to 2006,

simultaneously primary enrollment rates have also increased from 42 to 52 percent.

The population explosion could not enable to catch the targets. In spite of the

increase in the certain parameters, the participation rate in Pakistan remains the

lowest in South Asia. Alongside it, there are marked male-female, inter-regional and

rural-urban disparities: Only 22 percent of girls, compared to 47 percent boys,

complete primary schooling. Female literacy in rural Baluchistan is only 32 percent

compared to high urban male literacy rates (and 80 percent among the urban male

in Sindh)

Lack of attention of the authorities:

Most of the criticisms leveled against the education procedures and practices may be

rationalized through improving governance and accountability. It would be tangible

and workable if we could go for considering the merit, enabling capacity building,

increasing investments in education as an industry and finally giving the heir and fire

powers to the administrative heads. The private sector and the banks should finance

the educational milieu with confidence, as at the moment, we are spending 2.3

percent of GDP which is the lowest in South Asia.

Lack of uniform educational system:

There is a crying need for quality which calls for homogeneity among the procedural

formalities like the observance of the curriculum. Had it been uniform the working for

it, further extension becomes easier and getting the intellect skimmed out of masses

becomes possible. Currently, the poor are deprived of education in the elite

institutions which are causing the development of a special class. This class doesn’t

work for the nation; they work elsewhere but are fed through the national resources.

Medium of Instruction:

We took a long period in deciding that what our medium of instruction would be, till

now we don’t have a clear picture before us. It is good to have the National language

as the medium of communication provided; we have a rich treasure of knowledge. In

our case, we do not fail to develop Urdu to cope with the intellectual needs nor do we

translate the treasure of knowledge available for our national use.

Education as a business:

Education has been pursued by some of the people as an industry but because of

being illiterates, they fail to cope up with the stipulated standards. The leader with

vision spoils the mission as well as the projects undertaken. Their only intent is

money making that has caused the decay in the standards, induction of sub-standard

staff, and depriving the deserving to grow. They don’t want to catch with the move

of success but they try to be good entrepreneurs.

Delay in renewal of policies and syllabus/Political Interference:

There is a need to continuously update the curriculum because if it goes stale, it

does not equip the beneficiaries with the saleable skills and expertise. At the first

place, the problems cited have arisen due to lack of commitment and inefficient

management on the part of state. The policies lack long term vision and its

implementation strategies are being affected by undue political interference. In

addition to it, the measures taken are not evidence based and geared by the vested

interests of the authorities. Whatever strategies have been applied failed to promote

the rational and critical thinking skills amongst the students.

At the second place, we find lack of resource commitment and realistic

implementation alongside poor allocated resource utilization. As relevant statistics

are not available, implementation of the education policy has not been successfully

executed.

At the third place, we come across weak budgetary planning because of staggered

data and least coordination among the data maintaining units (USAID, 2006). The

coordination, match with the assessment, project design and implementation are not

to the desired level within the government and with the donor agencies. The

harmonization is missing too between the federal and provincial governments which

cause drastic problems in the policy implementation.

The policy formulating, planning and implementing bodies work in isolation as the

water tight compartments. The government's consultation is very much restricted

and does not go beyond its specific quarters. It should have to be extended to nonstate sectors to initiate and mobilize the action. Teachers does not normally form the

part of policy making process, hence the process of sharing and consultation remains

missing. It leads to implementation of educational policies without consultation, thus

the efforts go in vain (UNESCO, 2007).

Over the span of time, what we have learnt is to go for dialogue, and keeping the

private and public sector on board. The matter of access to education and challenges

to quality remain at stake as being unresolved despite much policy deliberation.

Recently, Minister of Education announced a new Education policy for that next 10

years ignoring the fact that the previous educational policy span still persists that

was from 1998 to 2010. The policy has projected new plans and promises to the

nation pointing to the fact that all the public schools will be raised to the level of

private schools within the shortest period of time. In the absence of a plan of action,

the suggested plan of action would not work. The schools have been put under

obligation to use the national curriculum and encourage the students of 5th and 8th

class to take board exams. This has disturbed the students of private sector also.

It is urged that the Universities should be the research centre’s and must not be

allowed to act as the examining bodies for graduate or post-graduate examinations.

Allocations are supposed to be made to the aspired levels as UNO suggests a country

to allocate at least four percent of its GDP towards education but here in Pakistan we

are just allocating less than two percents of GDP. Even that is not fully utilized

because of procedural formalities.

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Education in Pakistan: Problems and its solutions