In recent weeks, protests by a large number of school teachers have surfaced in Pakistan’s media. The demonstrations are being held against Punjab government’s plans to privatize around 5,000 primary and more than 600 secondary schools on pretext of their “poor performance”. It is feared that any such move will adversely impact the students belonging to poorer families and aggravate grievances of teachers. This proposed commercialization of public schools could be the last nail in coffin of an already crippled education system.
There is no doubt that the education system in Pakistan is in a shambles and faces several complex problems. While on paper education remains a fundamental right for all children since 2010 in the country, there has been little progress in implementation of this law. Education remains on the lowest priority of government’s bucket list as a meager 2 percent of GDP, lowest in South Asia, was earmarked for the sector last year.
With such low public financing available, it is no surprise that the country is still way behind the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of primary school enrollment that were to be achieved by the end of 2015. It is estimated that around 24 million children are out-of-school in Pakistan, the second highest figure in the world after Nigeria. A directionless education policy, multiple education systems and lack of transparency in utilization of allocated budgets remain some of the key policy-related challenges confronted by education sector in Pakistan.
Let us privatize whatever we cannot fix — this seems to be the government policy for tackling some of the most profound problems faced by Pakistan. But, privatization is not a panacea of all our socio-economic ills. Unfortunately, the political leaders remain deep in slumber and seem to have little idea of how to salvage the country’s rotten education system that is producing rote learners rather than creative thinkers.
As the majority of students go to public schools, the government must fully own its responsibility to redefine and improve the level of education in these institutions. While increasing access to education by setting up new schools is important, successive governments have failed to deliver on the promise of education reforms by compromising on the standard of existing institutions.
The government should focus on issues of high teacher absenteeism and their poor training, lack of incentives for children to go to school and a weak monitoring and evaluation system of schools. At the same time, it needs to be ensured that the curriculum and method of instruction in classrooms is in line with the needs of industry and modern times. Churning out ill-equipped graduates from mediocre universities will only swell up the unemployment figures. Pakistan needs to establish more technical and vocational training centers to enhance the skill level and market readiness of its workforce.
By prioritizing efforts to tackle these basic problems, the government can achieve better results to uplift the public schooling system. Pakistan cannot progress as a nation unless the quality of education meets the needs of youth and encourages them to participate in sustainable economic development of the country.
There is no doubt that the education system in Pakistan is in a shambles and faces several complex problems. While on paper education remains a fundamental right for all children since 2010 in the country, there has been little progress in implementation of this law. Education remains on the lowest priority of government’s bucket list as a meager 2 percent of GDP, lowest in South Asia, was earmarked for the sector last year.
With such low public financing available, it is no surprise that the country is still way behind the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of primary school enrollment that were to be achieved by the end of 2015. It is estimated that around 24 million children are out-of-school in Pakistan, the second highest figure in the world after Nigeria. A directionless education policy, multiple education systems and lack of transparency in utilization of allocated budgets remain some of the key policy-related challenges confronted by education sector in Pakistan.
Let us privatize whatever we cannot fix — this seems to be the government policy for tackling some of the most profound problems faced by Pakistan. But, privatization is not a panacea of all our socio-economic ills. Unfortunately, the political leaders remain deep in slumber and seem to have little idea of how to salvage the country’s rotten education system that is producing rote learners rather than creative thinkers.
As the majority of students go to public schools, the government must fully own its responsibility to redefine and improve the level of education in these institutions. While increasing access to education by setting up new schools is important, successive governments have failed to deliver on the promise of education reforms by compromising on the standard of existing institutions.
The government should focus on issues of high teacher absenteeism and their poor training, lack of incentives for children to go to school and a weak monitoring and evaluation system of schools. At the same time, it needs to be ensured that the curriculum and method of instruction in classrooms is in line with the needs of industry and modern times. Churning out ill-equipped graduates from mediocre universities will only swell up the unemployment figures. Pakistan needs to establish more technical and vocational training centers to enhance the skill level and market readiness of its workforce.
By prioritizing efforts to tackle these basic problems, the government can achieve better results to uplift the public schooling system. Pakistan cannot progress as a nation unless the quality of education meets the needs of youth and encourages them to participate in sustainable economic development of the country.
