Rai Ahmad Kamal
“Education is a matter of life and death for Pakistan. The world is progressing so rapidly that without requisite advancements in education not only shall we lag behind others but may be wiped altogether”. (Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah) This is an undeniable fact that education determines the fate of nations. The nations which make education their top-notch agenda surpass the other nations in every field. On the other hand, the nations which don’t consider education as their key priority by allocating a low budget, and overlooking the other prerequisites of quality education are left behind in the comity of nations. Such nations become handicapped in every field as they rely on other nations for their needs. Ultimately such countries become third-world countries and they suffer in every field leading from a deteriorated economy to the crippling situation of law and order. Their foreign policy also gets compromised and their youth becomes a liability. In short, anarchy becomes the fate of such countries. Unfortunately, the case of Pakistan is not much different from the discussed situation. The Pakistani education system is one of the oldest with an outdated curriculum from primary to university level. The world has shifted to a knowledge-based economy where innovation, pieces of training, research, and development are the prerequisites to progress. However, the Pakistani education system is grappled with a wide range of complex flaws which are deep-rooted and demand out-of-the-box solutions. It’s the 21st century, yet we haven’t come out of the colonial mindset where the purpose of education was to clinch the position of a cleric. In the present scenario, the students get the education that they will get a government job even if they have to clinch a class IV job. This mindset perishes the innate abilities and potential of many talented students. The economy of the country suffers as well because everyone desires to land into the public service but the government due to its financial constraints cannot entertain every individual. Besides this, the industrial sector suffers in a way that it becomes impossible for the industrial sector to recruit the desired candidates having an innovative mindset and desired skill set. Ultimately, the industrial sector doesn’t generate the targeted revenue due to the lack of innovation in products that don’t compete in the international market. This results in low exports of the country and the country is compelled to shift to imports to meet domestic demands which results in a widening of the trade deficit and a vicious cycle of inflation, and loans from the international financial institutions get started and the country falls into the debt trap. For the past 40 years, our public sector education has been on a downward trajectory rather than modernizing, adapting, and improving the quality of education. It’s been 75 years since we’ve got independence but still, our literacy rate is 62.3%, the lowest in South Asia. Maldives(99%) and Sri Lanka(98.1%) have the highest literacy rate in South Asia. Pakistan despite having all the natural resources still lags in education. There are several lacunas in our education system, so our education system demands a complete overhauling of the system to achieve a significant position in the comity of the nations. Article 25(a) of the constitution obligates the state to provide free and compulsory to all children of the age of sixteen years without any discrimination. However, the figures display a very grim picture of the dismal state of affairs where 22.8 million children are out of schools wasting their precious childhood. It is a collective failure on the part of the state and society. On the other hand, quality education should be the top priority of any state. But, in Pakistan, we see that, education has never been a priority of the successive governments keeping aside the factor of quality education. In the fiscal year 2022-23 the government has allocated 90.6 billion for education which is 1.5% of the GDP nullifying the fact that the previous year’s budget was 1.7% of the GDP i.e., 91.77 billion. This decline in the budget displays that the government doesn’t consider education as its top priority. The fact is that our politicians have their vested interests due to which they keep verlooking this sector. In India, Kerala achieved 100% literacy in 2016 through an initiative called “Athulyam” and became the first state to do so. It was the will of the state through which it achieved this milestone. Another problem is financial constraints on the part of students due to which our literacy rate is low. The financial affairs compel the students to give up their desire to get education and employ themselves in the workforce to become the breadwinner for their families. A number of children are seen working in the hotels and tea stalls to earn some money for their families. Furthermore, the state of higher education is also very disappointing. In our universities, less focus is paid to research and development due to which our students are unable to compete in the International market . The laboratories in the university are not equipped with the proper materials. The professors don’t polish their skills and keep transferring the outdated knowledge to the students and when students enter the international market or industry, they come to know that their knowledge is of no use due to the newest research and advancement in science and technology. The higher education commission also doesn’t pay attention towards the revision of the curriculum after every five years. This is the reason that our universities are placed in lower rankings in the world and our students don’t clinch the top positions in top multinationals and tech-giants. Besides this, if we compare India, we come to know that all the tech-giants are headed by Indians. The example of Sundar Pichai is obvious. The reason is that the successive Indian governments have invested a lot in the education sector, especially in the field of IT. Another lacuna in our education system is the lack of collaboration between academia and industry. Due to the lack of coordination students suffer a lot. When they enter into the job market they come to know that they know nothing about the industry and what they have studied is not required in the industry. Another factor which is not present in our education system is that we don’t focus on technical and vocational training. Every year the universities produce 2-3 lacs graduates with zero skill set due to which many of them remain unemployed for years because the public sector can’t entertain every graduate while the industry demands experience and skills. This unemployment creates a sense of deprivation in them and they enter into the hell of crimes. Besides this they can easily be trapped by the Non State Actors so it’s the responsibility of the state to take adequate measures to empower the youth through skills of the modern age. The categorization in the education system has also deteriorated it. Our education system is divided into four categories i.e, Cambridge School, English Private Schools, Madrassah School, and Government Schools. Cambridge and English Private Schools are so expensive that the middle class can’t afford them. Madrassah Schools only pay attention towards the teachings of Quran and Sunnah. They don’t cater to the needs of the modern age due to which many talented students are unable to showcase their abilities. In government schools, the syllabus is taught in Urdu and teachers are employed on the recommendations of the politicians or through a non-meritorious system due to which the students of the government schools don’t acquire the necessary skills to compete with the elite class which results in the creation of class difference in the country. Though the previous government of PTI launched an educational policy and Single National Curriculum was introduced in the country, it faced many impediments in its implementation across the country. It was only implemented in Punjab and KPK. So SNC couldn’t achieve the desired results. After the 18th Amendment, the subject of education is controlled by provinces. Sindh, headed by Pakistan Peoples Party, did not implement it. The other major lacunas are the existence of the ghost schools, ghost teachers, ban on women’s education in the tribal system across the country, and lack of focus on training of teachers. In Sindh, there are 11000 ghost schools with no students. Teachers are getting salaries thus putting a burden on the economy of the country. Women are not allowed to get education due to the stringent tribal values. Women make up 50% of the population. If we keep our women away from work, how can we expect our country to compete in the international Arena when 50% of the population is not working and not contributing to the GDP of the country? Therefore, the education system demands complete overhauling. We need to recognize the importance of literacy. The federal and provincial governments should frame better and uniform policies so that every children might get access to quality education without any discrimination. For this, there are some recommendations which can help improve our education system. Education emergency is the need of the hour to get 22.8 million children enrolled in the schools. Special attention must be paid towards women education by providing scholarships and transport facilities to women. SNC should be implemented across the country by incorporating the recommendations of all provinces. Government must increase the education budget every year. All the provincial governments should upgrade the primary and secondary schools. The higher secondary schools should be equipped with computer labs. Career counseling departments should be built in colleges so that students may get the right guidance in choosing their right career. Child labour should be strictly banned and heavy fines should be imposed on people employing children. The government must engage the NGOs to remove the financial constraints of the students of the remote areas. The universities should sign maximum MOUs with the international universities. Special attention must be paid towards academia-industry linkages. The curriculum of the universities must be revised on the recommendations of the industries. Teacher training programs and assessment criteria should be made compulsory for the promotion. Following these measures, we can provide quality education to our students.
