Mentor:

Amjad Riaz Guru

(Essay & Precis)

GC University
Lahore
Education crisis
Nazir A. Jogezai Published January 2, 2023

Education crisis
The writer is an educationist.

PRIMARY grade students at public schools come mostly from the

poor and lower middle classes and speak a range of languages as
their mother tongue. Unfortunately, when the latter is supplanted by
Urdu, English or Arabic, the students find it difficult to communicate,
let alone grasp knowledge.

Students from elite classes are privileged; they use advanced technology,
watch TV at home and speak English with their parents and friends. What do
their disadvantaged peers have to go through? Their schools lack sanitation
facilities and potable water; they are malnourished, which has a negative
impact on their academic growth. Even at that age, many of them have to
supplement the family income. Before any comparisons are made, the public
sector should receive more support as an ‗equity measure‘.

Improving public education is the only answer, rather than worsening it in the
name of privatisation — or selecting the naturally gifted to study at elite
institutions, as some have proposed. How can those institutes maintain their
credibility if only natural talent is chosen? Instead, they must admit average
and below-average students and make them outstanding. It may put their
systems to the ultimate test but it must also be realised that it is not that our
youngsters themselves are below par; rather, it is the badly managed
educational system, which limits their abilities.

Picking up natural talent and turning it into a brand will only intensify social
stratification. Our English monarchs used the same strategy — constructing
certain elite institutes to train students who would carry on their legacy. ―I
know my children are not brilliant and may not count in higher positions, but
they will have powerful acquaintances, since this college has produced all the
prominent people,‖ a father once observed.

What do disadvantaged students have to go through?

Since independence, those in power have represented the same elite-grown

entities. What revolutionary services are available for the common man,
especially in terms of education? We continue to think and act in the same
way, polarising society and using education as a means to do so. Fee tokens
for students in private schools, for example, ‗legalises‘ education as a
commodity, which further strengthens power centres, all the time focusing
more on ‗power as knowledge‘ rather than ‗knowledge as power‘. Education
— quality education — is a fundamental human right that cannot be denied.
More significantly, it is the obligation of the state‘s public schools, and not the
private institutions, to educate our children.

What should change is the key question. A systemic overhaul from the top to
the bottom tier is required. Shouldn‘t it begin with an educationist as the
education minister? On a lighter note, if there is not one in the political lot,
then we‘d better import one….

Let us consider the asymmetries in competence at the highest level, when an

officer has sole control of everything — from transfer/posting to policy
formation. The officer may not be incompetent, but poor systemic
arrangements will cut his talent down to size.

Is it logical to push a person to serve in completely different disciplines for

varying lengths of times — from Customs and narcotics, to education,
followed by agriculture? How can we make sustainable plans and policies if an
officer cannot be retained in a single sector for a longer term? Can‘t we have
specialised authorities in charge of education for the duration of their service?

Similarly, there is a need to revisit teachers‘ appointments, promotions, and

age of retirement. For example, ‗age-based‘ promotion does not make sense.
One study found that students learn more from younger teachers than from
older teachers, while we pay older teachers more and promote them to higher
grades.

Another debate is whether every person requires formal education and

whether we can assure this, given the high rate of population expansion. A
proportion of the people may benefit from vocational education to become
entrepreneurs and contribute to the economy. China‘s success, among other
factors, rests on expanding vocational opportunities for its common citizens,
using schools as the primary mechanism for offering open and flexible
vocational education based on a government-market link. Their houses are
small industrial enterprises that contribute significantly to the local economy.

Opening a number of private schools would suit the philanthropist, not the
state. States establish systems, develop and implement accountability
measures, and ensure strict compliance. Our most common dilemma is
viewing education in isolation from the socioeconomic, sociopolitical, and
sociocultural landscape in terms of learning design and supportive
mechanisms. We hear all the time that political stability is positively correlated
with economic stability, and that is indeed the case. The same can be said for
education, which has sadly fallen out of sight.
Education ‗reimagining‘
Faisal Bari Published April 14, 2023

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development and

Economic Alternatives, and an associate professor of economics at Lums.

THE sentiment to ‗reimagine‘ is commendable. We haven‘t done well

in many things, and should, if possible, ‗reimagine‘ and try to do
things better. But reimagining doesn‘t mean that the solutions we
come up with will be easy or straightforward or quickly implemented
for results.

‗Reimagining‘ may give solutions that require hard work and lots of time to
implement. ‗Simple‘ and ‗easy‘, in policy space, are often not the best or most-
needed solutions.

Is there any country where education up to high school is not a ‗right‘ for all
children? Is there any country where education up to high school is not
financed by the state? Is there any country where education up to high school
is not mostly provided for by the state? Are there many such countries? Is
Pakistan very different? If most states finance education up to high school
and provide that education too, there must be a reason for it. Should we not
think about this?

If other countries provide decent education through the public sector, why
can‘t Pakistan? It is not just the developed countries that have been able to
do this; many developing states, too, are making creditable efforts in this
direction. In fact, the latter category has, over the last couple of decades,
improved the quality of education for all children, largely through the public
sector, quite significantly. Vietnam and Brazil immediately come to mind, but
there are many others as well.
However, even where developing countries have been struggling to get all
children to school and to learn what they need to learn in school, they have
not ‗reimagined‘ education to imply mass privatisation. No country is talking
about dismantling the public education sector. Most are talking of further
reforms and strengthening public education systems. Why is Pakistan thinking
differently?

Pakistan has one of the most divided, fragmented and inequitable education
systems in the world.

Pakistan has one of the most divided, fragmented and inequitable education
systems in the world. Where private provision has educated millions, it has
also contributed to further entrenchment and exacerbation of existing
economic and social inequalities.

Access to quality education depends on parental or family incomes. The public

education system is supposed to level the field and lay the ground for equal
opportunities.

It is not that all state schools are bad and all private schools good; but, other
than model schools, Daanish schools, cadet colleges, and a small number of
others, most government schools impart a poor quality of education. In the
private, for-profit sector, quality is linked to tuition fee.

High-fee private schools do provide a decent quality of education, but the

bulk of the private school sector comprises low-fee, for-profit schools where
the quality of education is also poor.

Low-free private schools cost less per child as compared to public schools, but
research shows that the main reason for the cost differential is the low salary
paid to private school teachers. Private school teachers, other than those in
high-cost schools, do not even get minimum-wage levels of salary.

Is this what we want for the teachers? As it is, we have trouble getting good
candidates to join the teaching profession; do we want to deepen the problem
by paying teachers less than the minimum wage? Quality of learning is
strongly linked to teacher quality and effort, among other factors. How do we
improve teacher quality if salaries remain below the minimum wage?

The quality of education differential between the public and private sectors is
also believed to be higher than it really is. When we control for selection
effects (children from richer backgrounds choosing to go to private schools
etc), the differences in learning outcomes become smaller. The gap has also
narrowed slightly over the last decades.

There is even evidence of students moving to government schools when they

reach high school. The private school pyramid (the number of schools
available as we move up the grade level) is also very narrow at the top. If we
leave aside moderate- and high-fee schools — they comprise a small number
but figure prominently in the public imagination — the quality of education for
most low-fee private schools is not much better than in public schools. Why
then would we want to think of privatising education on a large scale rather
than improving public schools?

Every child has a right to have a decent education. Giving scholarships to a

few thousand children from poorer sections of society to access high-quality
education is not a solution. If we want such scholarship schemes (though this
plays into the idea of the ‗tyranny of merit‘), that is fine.

They help the individuals in question. But they do not address the larger
issues regarding the rights of every child. And, until the rights of every child
are addressed, the promise of education will not be realised for individuals,
families or society and the state as a whole.

Vouchers make sense in some places and for some populations. But they are
not a universal solution and some research shows that their impact is limited.
When the private sector does not have many high schools and does not
operate in areas that do not have large enough markets (where there aren‘t
enough children), and when the provision of affordable, secure and safe
transport is nonexistent, vouchers alone aren‘t a solution even if it was
practically possible to move to them on a large scale.
Yes, we need to reimagine what we need to do in education and to internalise
that education is every child‘s right and that it is in our individual and
collective interest to provide opportunities.

But there is no escaping the fact that education up to high school level is the
state‘s responsibility and will remain so. We have to reimagine ways of
making the public sector work. And this is not an impossibility, as many
countries have shown and continue to show. If we can work out ways in that
space, that would be real reimagining.
Education is a privilege — it shouldn‘t be
There is a dire need to reevaluate how we are preparing our future generation for a
globalised, knowledge-based economy.
Annum Sadiq Published October 5, 2022
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October 5 is World Teacher‘s Day, and for Pakistan, it should be one of those days to
introspect and look upon its education and teaching standards.

Pakistan is pitched as a big market, with huge potential, and no one fails to mention its
bulging youth population. What those pitch decks don‘t mention is that school
education outcomes are insufficient to support economic and social development in the
country.

An estimated 22.9 million children aged between 5-16 years are out of school — a
worrying statistic for a country whose current workforce is young, mostly unskilled, and
poorly prepared for productive employment, said the Asian Development Bank in the
‗Foreword‘ section of its June 2019 study titled ‗School Education in Pakistan: A Sector
Assessment‘. This number — 22.9 million — is the world‘s second-highest number of
out-of-school children. It is now estimated to be closer to 24 million.

Now comes the second part — the fact that those who are enrolled in school aren‘t
doing well makes the situation all the more depressing. Pakistan severely lags behind
the rest of the world in terms of learning outcomes with nearly 40 per cent of
students unable to perform well enough on standardised exams held annually by the
government.

This is the main argument — a bulging young population is currently ill-prepared to

enter the workforce. When they do enter the workforce, wages tend to be low and
contribution to overall economic productivity of the country is found wanting.

Thus, there is a dire need to reevaluate how we are preparing our future generation for
a globalised, knowledge-based economy. Education has to be re-imagined. It has to be
made easier and more accessible. Teaching and transferring a skill-set is one of the
earliest traits in human history — without it, we would not know how to do most of the
things we do today.
The good news is that education is valued in Pakistan. A significant portion of income is
spent on this sector. But for the lower-income groups, quality education has become
expensive, and hence gone out of reach.

These past few years, if one were to look hard enough, education is the one sector that
has suffered a lot — be it due to the pandemic, high inflation, or the floods. Urban
areas may have still fared better, but Pakistan‘s rural centres have been ravaged.

What can be done?

Learners need to be met where they are. The education has to reach them, whichever
platform it takes. And the push needs to come now. The online search trends for
educational content is increasing, and in fact, students are overwhelmingly seeking
exam preparation material from online sources.

In my experience at Edkasa, we have realised that edtech is a breakthrough for the

education sector in Pakistan. It is low on cost, and enables one qualified teacher to
reach several students at once.

It has very few barriers to entry for students — one just needs a smartphone and a
stable internet connection (both still easier to achieve) — and doesn‘t discriminate
among genders.

Recently, Edkasa partnered with TikTok to launch an #ExamReady campaign on the

social media platform that has been well-received by students since engagement rates
of these videos have been higher than industry benchmarks. This shows education is a
supply-side issue. TikTok‘s reach coupled with edtech platforms and curricula by top
educational institutes can prove to be a game-changer.

The digital learning process also withstands other pressures such as the pandemic, and
is in fact, the only solution in times when road access to schools is blocked. It saves on
costs for the school, and could genuinely provide the state the most cost-effective
solution. It can also be more easily monitored, and the feedback loop for students is
faster and easier to access.

The path to success

However, before one gets carried away, this change cannot be implemented overnight.
It needs careful management, and requires behavioural change from students, parents
and stakeholders as it is more self-directed compared to traditional learning methods.

The ADB, in the earlier-mentioned report, suggested that by broadening and deepening
reforms, Pakistan could reach the millions of children who currently get no schooling,
thereby improving participation rates in school education at all levels.

―Targeted investments and programmes could improve completion rates and learning
levels. Properly focused, reforms could reduce inequalities in education outcomes across
gender, socioeconomic strata, geography, and districts. Public–private partnerships
(PPPs) can play a key role, as can strengthened mainstream government systems,‖ said
the ADB.

The public sector is swamped, and it is understandable. Its resources are limited, and
the population has only that much capacity to contribute. It is time for quality education
to be made more accessible by trying on different ideas and tools.
Bad ‗education‘
Nazir A. Jogezai Published February 23, 2023

The writer is an educationist.

IN 1970, prominent sociologist Basil Bernstein asserted that

education could not contribute to society. Because our education
system is interwoven with and increasingly influenced by the
economy, it is unable to rectify economic imbalances and thus
‗miseducates‘. Educational theorist John Dewy defined
‗miseducation‘ as a system that stifles children‘s curiosity, creativity
and critical thinking. Knowledge, according to him, is created within
the student rather than imposed by authority. Miseducation
promotes ‗indoctrination‘ and seeks to enslave the mind.

As a result, we ignore relevant information and emphasise irrelevant facts,

promote propaganda and conspiracy theories and frame a situation in a
certain way. It causes cognitive bias that impacts our choices and actions. It
makes us misinterpret information and make irrational decisions, for example,
we blame external enemies as the cause of our destruction rather than the
absence of the rule of law.

Likewise, if a student‘s educational experience is at odds with his or her life

outside of school, it will likely be difficult for him or her to make rapid
progress and contribute towards social development.

It is regrettable that education in our country is less understood in terms of

socioeconomic and sociopolitical effects and more commonly employed for the
purposes of a mass-level narrative construction to create bias, which has
trapped us — with no exit in sight. To legitimise the institutional role that
schools play in a system of control and intimidation, our classrooms, curricula
and educators adopt ‗dogmatic truths‘. As opposed to developing independent
thought, schools have always played an institutional role in a coercive system.

Miseducation seeks to enslave children‘s minds.

The type of education that emphasises the connection between individual and
public life, as well as social responsibility, the broader responsibilities of
citizenship and the state-individual relationship is, unfortunately, ignored. As a
result, teachers emphasise mechanical learning and the memorisation of
information, preferring them to critical analyses of the social and political
system that mandates education in the first place. They are increasingly
confined to the duty of imposing the ‗official reality‘, which is determined by a
small group of individuals who analyse, make and execute decisions, and
govern the political, economic and ideological systems.

We find our ruling elite periodically engaged in ‗restructuring‘ the educational

system to address the broader narrative, without leaving room for de-
traditionalising the curriculum and remedying policies that define the working
classes as education‘s losers. There should be more focus on access to
education and enrolment by concentrating on prominent issues such as out-
of-school children and, even more importantly, ‗out-of-learning children‘.
Instead, they appear to want to enrol as many as possible to indulge wider
control and coercion and leave no room for fostering independent thinking.
Education is a fundamental human right, but only quality education, and not
the one that degrades the intellect and thinking abilities and produces only
zombies.

There is little faith in education as a means to social reform since, in its

current form, public education is shrewdly constructed to perpetuate its
estrangement from practical domains. This is to encourage incorrectly defined
ideas that act to preserve and privilege the ruling class and elite. The ruling
class may promote subsidising elite schooling for geniuses who represent the
working class to update their skills and defuse their anger so that they can
fuel the elites‘ industrial production and increase their economic gain. It
deepens social stratification within the middle and lower middle classes. As a
result, the middle and lower middle classes are more oppressed, and
vulnerable, and ultimately, the losers.

We may find that almost no graduate of such subsidised schools remains

connected to their class and avoids living within poor communities; some may
even prefer the elite as their neighbours. Many parents are heartbroken
because their ‗elite-transit offspring‘ have abandoned them. The allure of such
entry points into elite circles renders public schools compromised and useless
in the eyes of the working class.

So, do we aim to forego formal education? Of course not. But we should be

clear about the fundamental elements of our education system and its
purpose within the context of the power structure. We should advocate for
the education system to be restructured to serve the common man, a goal
that is not being pursued by academia, policy experts, educationists or
politicians. We need schools to be authentic learning spaces and not
instruments of coercion and indoctrination or incubators of deceptive
ideologies.
Our failure to educate
Miftah Ismail Published December 22, 2022

The writer is a former minister of finance.

IN my previous column I briefly described five out of six pillars

required of a new social contract that delivers growth and
development. They were population planning, local government
autonomy, fiscal and exchange rate policies leading to low budget
deficits and balanced current accounts, change of policy away from
import substitution to export promotion, and finally, improvement in
agricultural yields that increase incomes of the rural poor.

My sixth pillar for growth is education. Let‘s review some statistics that make
clear the abysmal states of our literacy and education.

The federal and provincial governments together spend about Rs1,000 billion
on education annually. That‘s almost twice the cost of running the civilian
federal government and by far the biggest item after defence and debt-
servicing. And that‘s just public-sector spending.

Private spending is more than this number. And what do we get from all this
money? Nothing.

Unfortunately, 75 years after independence, almost four in 10 Pakistanis

remain illiterate, consigned to a life of hardship and poverty. Worse still,
literacy rate isn‘t even improving.

In 2020, our net enrolment rate in primary schools was only 64 per cent —
down from 67pc in 2015. Punjab and Balochistan maintained their ratios at
70pc and 56pc respectively. Yet Sindh‘s net enrolment actually went down
from 61pc to 55pc and KP‘s ratio (even excluding the former tribal agencies)
went down from 71pc to 66pc. Half of all school-aged children are not in
school.
No amount of money will improve our education outcomes under the existing
system.

Punjab spends about Rs31,000 per child annually in its government schools,
KP spends Rs38,000, Sindh Rs40,000 and Balochistan Rs61,000. And for all
this money, what do we get?

A study conducted by Aga Khan University across Pakistan showed that the
average score of our students in science and mathematics was a failing grade.
Only 5pc of the kids in Class 8 could answer a simple arithmetic question and
just 10pc could answer a basic science question.

Most kids in Class 5 read and do sums at the level of pupils in Class 1. Which
is to say that these kids, after five years in school, are functionally innumerate
and illiterate. Hence, if truth be told, we get nothing from the money we
spend on education.

It‘s fair to say that provincial education ministries — especially in Sindh and
Balochistan — are not set up to educate kids. Their primary purpose seems to
be to provide jobs to teachers and benefit administrators. Education is a mere
byproduct.

Although we don‘t spend enough on education, no amount of money will

improve our education outcomes under the existing system. To improve
education outcomes in Pakistan, we must shut down this system of patronage
and build anew.

Where possible we should privatise and intelligently regulate education and

empower parents in the running of schools. Of course, governments should
fund the education of all poor children, which is a basic right of citizens.

Many different approaches are possible, one of which I present here. First we
should give a voucher to every poor child to attend at least a low-cost private
school.
All private schools should be required to have parents on an advisory board.
Second, in rural areas, if there are no private schools, government schools
should be handed over to local school boards composed of parents and local
elders, and governments should continue funding those schools.

Each school should have the right to hire and fire its own teachers. Thus we
will have teachers who are actually qualified and responsible for teaching, and
finally our kids will become well educated.

But we need to do more. I have written earlier that only 30,000 or so children
in the A-level stream get a proper education and are able to compete globally.
These aren‘t the smartest kids, just the luckiest.

Sure, a few of these kids would be among the smartest ones — such as
Harvard professor Asim Khawaja, Princeton professor Atif Mian and MIT
professor Nergis Mavalvala — but fully half of them will also be below
average. Given that we are a resource-constrained, poor country, how should
we prioritise education spending?

Just as the elite educate their children (especially boys) well, knowing this to
be a great investment for their families‘ future, so we as a nation would do
well to carry out diagnostic tests and pick out the smartest eighth graders and
give them the best education. This would be the best investment we can
make for our future.

A friend and an excellent civil servant Rashid Langrial has worked out a
scheme for finding raw talent across Pakistan and building Daanish-like
schools in every tehsil. But given our limited resources we should at least pick
10,000 to 20,000 kids annually in Class 8 and send them to the existing best
private schools and universities.

These smart kids would then form the basis of a smart, well-educated
generation on which we can compete with the rest of the world.

Some of us bemoan the fact that our IT exports are only $3bn but India‘s are
$150bn. Many entrepreneurs ask our government to provide better incentives.
Yet our tax on IT exports is only 0.25pc of revenues. We have also given a
host of other incentives to the industry.

But no amount of incentives can make us an IT export powerhouse; the only

thing that can produce IT exports is better education. But have we been able
to produce qualified human resources in IT or any other field?

India set up its first Indian Institute of Technology in 1951, and set up four
more in the next decade. These institutions today are considered some of the
best undergraduate teaching institutions in the world. We on the other hand
went through seven prime ministers in our first decade.

I will end with a prediction that may show the way to progress. If we can
design a system whereby a girl from the urban slums or rural areas of
Pakistan can grow up to teach in a Pakistani university and win the Fields
Medal in mathematics, we will never again have to worry about abject poverty
or foreign exchange reserves.
AI in education
Neda Mulji Published May 4, 2023

The writer is working as senior manager, professional development, at Oxford

University Press Pakistan.
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IT would be an understatement to say AI has taken the world by a

storm. Much like the pandemic, it is sweeping through countries and
enmeshing itself in human lives at an alarming pace. No matter what
the age or the education background, basic literacy and access to
the internet are the only prerequisites to start learning from
ChatGPT.

It seems like the world‘s greatest plagiariser, providing information from a

range of sources within seconds and keeping its cards well hidden. Where is
this content coming from and how do we judge the accuracy of the shared
information? Yet excitement abounds as ChatGPT not only provides content
but helps its users articulate themselves better than politicians and world
leaders.

Numerous questions have been raised about the potential damage that such
language models can cause. Educators worry about the loss of creative and
critical thinking skills, about dependence on information that is spoon-fed and
the ethical implications of receiving realms of data that can be massively
misused. A closer look at how AI functions will reveal that it is far from easy
to glean information from any AI model without the skill of asking pertinent
questions.

It is no longer as important to have the answers, as it is to be able to ask the

right questions. The race to success is for those who have learnt to extract
relevant data, not those who necessarily know how to produce information.
Knowing how to work with key words, staging research prompts, and applying
the information received in lucrative ways serving the purpose that needs to
be focused on are some of the skills an AI user may need to acquire.

Using AI in education will demand a set of requisite skills.

For students, this means oceans of content knowledge flowing freely, but for
those who do not know how to organise information to serve their purpose, it
may be an exercise in futility. However, language models such as ChatGPT
may actually be a goldmine for subject experts who have faced hurdles in
their career growth due to language barriers.

Language models such as ChatGPT may revolutionise the world of

opportunities for many, help ease the process of collating and presenting
information, but it cannot yet teach us how to glean information. Just like
mining for gold requires technical skills, using AI in education will demand a
set of requisite skills. Most chatbots can offer personalised learning to users
who know how to manoeuvre their way through. In fact, chatbots can offer
much relief to teachers who have to patiently answer repetitive questions and
can certainly help teachers fill the gaps in their own subject knowledge.

AI might not help people get smarter, but it certainly promises to speed up
learning and provides effective ways that may help students bypass a
teacher‘s limitation to explain or clarify concepts. For those who feel AI
education may take over teachers‘ jobs, it would help to evaluate the
humanistic elements for which children go to school.

The necessity of physical and emotional care, social interaction, guidance and
connection may be hard to replace, perhaps for decades to come. AI will
certainly enhance the learning experience, perhaps even make assessments
redundant once freely accessible information starts filling need gaps, but the
human experience may yet overpower the promise of infinite knowledge.

At best, it could act as a valued teaching assistant, cost-effective and

efficient, an assistant that won‘t require training and will speed up processes
as well as assessments. As the great AI wave sweeps global education, it
remains to be seen how the generation of digital natives will use this valuable
tool to impart the necessary skills and education to work on climate change,
healthcare and poverty.

Whether the digital revolution in learning bears the potential to close gaps in
inequality or carries the threat of further deepening the divide will depend on
how it‘s accessed and used. Barriers often come from resisting opportunity,
and from a mindset that is bent on preserving the status quo. If those who
have access to expensive private education are the only ones who are able to
purchase AI apps, there may be little hope of addressing the opportunity
divide.

Whatever the case, AI promises to shift the focus from retention of

knowledge to expanding the boundaries of it, providing skills to look deep into
a subject by asking the right questions and not necessarily being limited by
one‘s ability to analyse. In fact, the analytical tools provided may advance
innovation and growth much faster for those who had to get a team in place
or outsource expertise. AI can help turn ideas into reality in unprecedented
ways.
Education & behaviour
Nazir A. Jogezai Published November 9, 2022

The writer is an educationist.

EDUCATION aims to nurture responsible social behaviour. Thus,

socially responsible behaviour is an explicit reflection of an effective
education system. The majority will agree that our social behaviour
does not reflect this true spirit of education. We behave
irresponsibly at home, in public, and during physical and virtual
interactions. This points to a flaw in our educational system, with
consequences for education‘s quality and its ability to contribute to
social transformation.

The main issue appears to be the antiquated, top-down educational

administration and bureaucratic structure. It forces a blind following without
leaving room for critique. Consequently, education is governed by poor
monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, little clarity of roles, procedures and
responsibilities, and few parameters of accountability. Periodic tweaks and
revamps are lacking, leaving hardly any opportunity to add value to the
system that would have helped it respond to the needs of the time.

Educational changes — under the guise of modifications — are politically

motivated. For example, the Single National Curriculum (SNC) and its
subsequent rebranding as the National Curriculum of Pakistan are efforts to
change merely the label for political popularity. It is intriguing that all new
interventions are driven by political and bureaucratic whims rather than a
thorough evaluation of previous reforms and estimates of future needs.

Such reforms, and others, disregard the ramifications across various

components of the education system, including professional development for
teachers, assessment, educational administration, and above all, the needs of
the learners. To create compatibility and harmony among the various
components of education, modifications to one component, such as the
curriculum, necessitates adjustments in other areas such as teacher
professionalism and assessment.

Education does not respond to learners‘ needs.

As an example, would it be possible for someone to develop a complex

computer programme and run it on an obsolete operating system? Obviously
not, as the software is incompatible with the operating system. To
successfully run the programme, one must consider the compatibility of the
operating system with the new programme. Similarly, without understanding
the context and systems, educational interventions, such as SNC and others,
will not work.

The mismatch between intervention and ground realities is reflected in

knowledge and social behaviour asymmetry, as education does not respond to
learners‘ real-world needs and experiences or vice versa.

Following the same approach, our apex institutions continue to stress

compliance and uniformity in dress and discipline. It is unfathomable why any
university should require students to wear uniforms, leaving no room for
choice as part of students‘ aesthetic development. Some may argue that the
uniform is an option to prevent class segregation, but the question is: do they
live in a classless society or are they subject to societal class-based
treatment?

Similarly, females are urged to dress ‗appropriately‘ by universities to prevent

sexual abuse, despite the fact that there are still many cases of abuse. In
fact, the vast majority of cases are never reported. We mistakenly believe
that women‘s protection will result only from covering them up. Curriculum
and institutions must take into account the emancipation of women and the
education of their male counterparts to learn how to coexist with dignity.
Instead of lowering women‘s potential, hiding who they are and making them
more vulnerable, they could help them see how valuable women are and
teach them the skills they need to reach their full potential.
What we require is educational management that is less centralised, and
reforms that are evidence-based. More importantly, there needs to be a
system of empowerment and accountability, instead of just obedience and
following orders. Reforms should change the way people learn instead of just
maintaining the status quo.

Education processes, at the policy and implementation levels, need to aim for
harmony between learners‘ educational and social experiences and their
learning needs. There should be no hesitation in empowering learners by
providing them with the relevant knowledge and skills to improve their
aesthetics through liberal arts and music, nurture their civic sense, and above
all, provide them space to raise their voices and discuss what learning they
require.

Educational institutes must overcome their fear of allowing students to

establish forums, clubs and other entities, either co- or extracurricular, to
taste aspects of real life as part of their learning experiences and practise the
same in society as responsible citizens and future leaders. Otherwise, we will
continue to witness a widening gap between knowledge and practice and will
be forced to deal with social misbehaviour.
Why bother about education?
Faisal Bari Published March 4, 2022

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development and

Economic Alternatives, and an associate professor of economics at Lums.

ARTICLE 25-A on ‗Right to Education‘, was added to the basic rights

section of the Constitution of the country through the 18th
Amendment in April 2010. Almost 12 years later we still have around
20 million five- to 16-year-olds out of school. Our assessments of
child learning also tell us that, barring a small number going to elite
public and private schools, most school-going children in Pakistan,
are getting a poor quality education. Why is this state of affairs
persisting?

Think of any ‗reform‘ related to the education sector — free books, no tuition,
stipends, meal programme, afternoon schools, monitoring system,
performance incentives, merit-based teacher recruitment, school councils,
management committees, school-based recruitment, non-salary budget —
and we have tried it. Yet the needle on meeting goals for universal education
of a minimum standard has not really moved by much. In fact, in some
provinces and for some years, we have lost ground on issues related to
quality of education.

Read: The missing third — An out-of-school children study of Pakistani 5-16

year-olds

It is true that our public-sector education system is underfunded. Spending

less than two per cent of GDP on education will not get you quality education
for every child. But it is also true that the system a) does not spend money
very effectively, and b) has a limited capacity to absorb more. So, with the
demand for more resources, we have to make the system more efficient too,
otherwise even doubling the money will not get us results.
So, what is it? Is it that the people of Pakistan do not value education? They
do not want to give quality education to their children? This does not seem to
be the case. People are voting with their feet. Those who can afford to, even
at the cost of cutting other essential expenditures, send their children to
private schools in the hope of them getting a quality education. Demand is
not the issue. The larger answer seems to lie in the political economy of
education. Why should political parties, politicians and bureaucrats care about
providing quality education to every child in the country? What is their
incentive to do that?

It is harder for the politicians to talk about how they improved the quality of
education.

Politicians respond to electoral pressures — what will get them elected, what
will make their coalition stronger and what will give them visibility and credit.
Given how elections take place in the country, the aggregation of voter
choice, with respect to fairness, is an issue in itself. But, even if we put aside
that matter, the provision of quality education does not come up as a top
issue in our elections. Provision of local services (roads, water, sewerage, gas
and electricity) and access to jobs are usually considered more important.
Constituents might be concerned about jobs as teachers or school staff, but
the concern is not about access to quality education for all children. Maybe,
the electorate has given up on the idea that the state can provide quality
education.

It is also the case that ‗quality‘ aspects are always harder to see. Access and
infrastructure aspects are easy to see and verify, and they are more
attributable too. So, even if there is pressure to provide education, the metric
is more about opening new schools, upgrading existing ones and/ or providing
infrastructure like boundary walls, classrooms, bathrooms and electricity and
water connections. Politicians can talk about how they got another school for
their area or had a primary school upgraded to middle or high school,
obtained infrastructure for the school and even had teachers posted at the
school. But it is harder for the politicians to talk about how they improved the
quality of education in a school or in schools in their area.
Quality changes also need time for implementation and for their impact to
become known. If the quality of education gets better, you will eventually see
it in the results of children in public examinations, in colleges the children go
to post graduation, in the jobs and salaries they get. But this will take time to
become visible. Politicians work according to electoral cycles. They worry
about the next election which is at most five years away. The electoral cycle
and the quest for quality education do not align with each other.

Read: The Analytical Angle — Do children really learn in schools in Pakistan?

Politicians are the ‗principals‘ for the bureaucrats who are ‗agents‘ (using the
notion of ‗principal agent‘ in economics). If the principal is not interested in
the delivery of quality education, why would the agent do it? If principals
were interested even then it would be hard to design an effective delivery
system, but when it is not even a priority for the principal, why would the
agent spend any time, beyond the bare minimum necessary to maintain the
status quo, to do anything? This is exactly how education has been treated,
usually by provincial bureaucracies. Though education departments are mostly
the largest departments in terms of the number of employees and salary
expenses, they are not the posting of choice for bureaucrats.

Out of school, out of sight

There is some evidence, even in Pakistan, that when politicians‘ priorities

change, it can have a strong impact on the system. From 2012 to 2018, when
Punjab was using methods that saw the chief minister and chief secretary
holding deputy commissioners of districts accountable in the exercise of
meeting educational targets, we did see significant performance change. The
targets were still largely about access and infrastructure, and not quality of
education, but some evidence is there.

Political accountability of politicians by the polity is weak in Pakistan. Given

this fact and the problems of making ‗access to quality education‘ a visible
target for politicians, it is not surprising that 20m children are out of school
and the quality of education is poor. If politicians are not bothered about
providing quality education, why would bureaucrats be? But this equilibrium
can be altered. The alteration would include major changes in how politicians
are held accountable. This is going to be difficult. But access to quality
education for all is not going to work if we do not hold politicians accountable.
Education & EQ
Nazir A. Jogezai Published June 20, 2023

The writer is an educationist.

EMOTIONAL intelligence, or emotional quotient, is as significant as

intelligence quotient. EQ, based on social intelligence, is the capacity
to comprehend, utilise and regulate one‘s emotions in constructive
ways to reduce stress, communicate effectively, empathise with
others, overcome problems, and diffuse disputes. Research also tells
us about the ‗curse of emotion‘, whereby individuals with a high EQ
might arouse negative feelings. However, rational individuals with
higher EQ fare better than those who are emotionally attached to an
opinion or ideology.

Contemporary learning theories stress EQ-responsive curricula, instruction,

assessment and learning environments to promote holistic development,
including self-awareness, among the students. Self-awareness depends on the
level of mental autonomy, objective self-analysis, and decision-making
abilities, with teachers and parents as support. However, schools and homes
tend to promote the memorisation of specific knowledge, without considering
the students‘ interests or potential. What can only be called ‗instructional
policing‘ demands obedience from the students and often results in physical
or emotional abuse, if the young learners take no interest or resist.
Meanwhile, parents want to fulfil their own dreams through their children‘s
education.

With such a narrow understanding of learning at home and in schools,

students feel fear and anxiety, and are prone to negative emotions — in
contrast to how it should be. Research tells us that a learner‘s multiple
intelligences, while possessing their own strengths and weaknesses, seldom
function independently of one another. Musical-rhythmic, visual-spatial,
verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal,
intrapersonal, and naturalistic intelligences are examples. A creative,
imaginative youngster, though possessing poor memorisation powers, may do
very well in some areas but may not get good grades in an exam.
Notwithstanding their skills, such children are deemed failures.

Standardised tests also largely function as an evaluation model, measuring

students, with varying abilities, against fixed knowledge standards. There is
nothing holistic about the teaching approach that supports such tests. In fact,
assessments must go beyond merely quantifying what has been learnt; it
must also highlight areas for development for both students and teachers.
Regrettably, teachers rely on syllabus completion and memorised material to
set exam questions. As a student, I recall having to rote learn many ‗answers‘.
So I had no idea what I was reciting in front of my teachers or why one
student was praised while the other was punished.

Exams must go beyond quantifying what has been learnt.

We must prioritise learning keeping our youngsters‘ EQ in mind. This could be

done through an enabling atmosphere instead of being made to face pressure
to deliver ‗A‘ or ‗A‘-plus grades. Schools must be made aware of their
students‘ talents and adapt their teaching methods accordingly, rather than
subjecting them to homogenous teaching methodologies and rote learning-
based assessments, which can never handle diverse intelligences and modes
of learning. Intelligence denotes acting purposefully, thinking rationally and
applying information rather than merely storing it. It is more about how to
learn than what to learn.

Our curricula, textbooks, teachers, in fact the overall learning system, must
consider diversity in terms of multiple intelligences as each child is different.
The fear of failure must be reduced by sensitively addressing children‘s
learning requirements.

More important is the skill and courage to ask questions. Learning relies on
asking logical questions as opposed to just searching for accurate answers.
The repression of inquiry in the name of obedience stifles the courage and
curiosity of children and causes them emotional harm. The curricula, teachers
and parents expect obedience, which essentially means executing an action
on the orders of an authority to maintain a show of respect. Teachers and
parents are the people closest to children, but they are also people from
whom children hide a lot of things. Respect is a two-way street — between
teachers and students, and between parents and children.

Updated scientific research tells us that the students‘ reflective learning

experiences indicate an increase in self-introspection, emotional awareness,
emotional regulation and understanding others. Moving from homogeneous
expectations to multiple intelligences is the most effective approach. We can
achieve this by allowing adequate space for new modes of learning that
stimulate our children‘s intellectual capital rather than memory, therefore
preparing pupils for life than just for exams. We need to raise our children
with greater EQ, so that they remain productive for themselves and society.

Higher education
Neda Mulji Published March 25, 2023

The writer is senior manager, professional development at Oxford University

Press, Pakistan.

ACCORDING to a recent UNDP report, almost 30 per cent of our total

population is in the higher-education age bracket, aged 15-29, and
this percentage will continue to rise. The pressure to deliver is
intense with over 65 million young people ready to be trained for
marketable jobs. Mismanagement is at its peak with funding
roadblocks, lack of skilled teachers and limited resources hindering
innovation and progress.

A radical new wave of disruption is needed for those who wish to learn from
cutting-edge technology, those who wish to keep abreast of global
developments and those who will eventually be the movers and shakers of
our domestic socioeconomic systems.
What does this disruption mean for young people restricted by archaic
policies? One of the biggest challenges faced by higher education in Pakistan
is the gaping divide between skills and content. Students cannot be educated
in a vacuum where the content neither addresses real-life challenges, nor
enriches their experience. Students graduate in overwhelming numbers from
our local colleges and spend years in underpaid jobs that don‘t reflect their
qualifications.

The fact is, their qualifications don‘t make them market-ready, don‘t teach
them innovative skills for entrepreneurship and don‘t develop their ability to
learn on the job. Inequities in our education system are often cited as the
culprit; however, even those who manage to go through higher education
mostly end up walking away with a degree that symbolises little more than
the stamp it carries.

A radical new wave of disruption is needed.

Without collaboration with international universities, this scenario may persist.

With their enrichment programmes, strong linkages with the needs of
industry, and growth mindset, international universities have much to offer
us. There was a time when qualified faculty from well-reputed international
universities were seen teaching, conducting research and working closely with
local faculty and students. Gradually, the trend not only faded but
collaborative efforts across borders — including student or faculty exchange
programmes — became few and far between.

Higher education in any country is the mainstay of the economy. A focus on

the state-of-the-art buildings that house our colleges and universities will
show how skewed the priorities are. Beautiful buildings are seen teeming with
life and hope, with young people chatting away. Attend a single class and it
becomes obvious how that sense of life and hope gives way to inertia, with
the same students staring at the teacher with blank faces, passively listening,
distant and dazed.
One of the fundamental differences between school-going children and higher
or adult learners is that the latter must be convinced of the need to learn,
must see real-world meaning in it and must be able to translate it into
something useful for their future. Keeping this in mind when preparing
frameworks for policy may help alleviate some of the challenges faced by our
higher education graduates. Working backwards from their students‘ goals,
recognising and supporting their vision of where they want to be in life may
be a beneficial exercise for all higher education faculty.

Those who have dabbled in online education would know the possibilities are
immense. The world is their oyster if students wish to build their skills
independently and have learnt how to navigate the options available online.
This also means many of our students will turn away from local universities as
online degrees become more accessible and may, in fact, become digitally
savvy much faster than if they were to opt for traditional higher education in
Pakistan.

If higher education in Pakistan were to stay relevant, there is an urgent need

to build teacher capacity and overhaul the curriculum to make it more reflec-
tive of skills for the future. Besides tech-fuelled learning, we would need to
take concrete steps to equip students to present their research at
conferences, panel discussions, benefit from mentoring programmes, and
provide them with job placements and career counselling. Apparently, only
2pc of the 247 functional universities in Pakistan provide such opportunities.

The Labour Force Survey for 2020-21 reported that 37pc of our youth aged
15-29 are neither in education or training, nor in employment. Sadly, that is
21.8m young people who can be productively engaged in both work and
education.

Clearly, there is no dearth of labour nor is the young population averse to

learning or working. The fault lies in our inability to plan, execute and meet
the urgent priorities of our economy, which includes developing skills among
teachers and vocational trainers, without which there can be no hope of
producing a workforce capable of building a nation.
The writer is senior manager, professional development at Oxford University
Press,
Education for all?
Anjum Altaf Published September 16, 2022

The writer is the author of What We Get Wrong About Education in Pakistan
(Folio Books 2022) and Pakistan ka Matlab Kya (Aks Publications 2022).

PAKISTAN is a signatory to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs), one of which obligates the country to provide inclusive and
equitable education for all. Once again, the question has been
asked: is Pakistan moving towards that goal?

An inclusive education does not discriminate by gender, language, religion,

etc. On gender, discrimination is manifest at the outset when income
constrained families spend more to educate sons than daughters. The bias is
reaffirmed when textbooks offer limited role models for girls. It is argued that
Pakistan is a socially conservative country and most women subscribe to the
models prescribed for them. This is an assertion made by men speaking on
behalf of women who have not been independently asked or consulted. Even
if this is conceded, we know that there is a subset of women with different
aspirations. At the very least, the Pakistani curriculum has no place for them,
reportedly not even for someone as culturally acceptable as Malala Yousafzai.
It remains an open question whether it is right to exclude them and who is to
make that determination.

There is a forgotten dimension to this discrimination. People who are old

enough remember a time in the 1960s when girls in cities commonly cycled to
their schools and colleges. No more. Once again, it is argued that this was an
inappropriate legacy of British rule that has been rightly done away with.
School education reaffirms such limitations on the choices of women without
much public debate.

On language, the discrimination is more subtle. Children whose home

language is not English or Urdu cannot acquire elementary education in their
own language even if their parents want, despite the global consensus
supporting its advantages. Outside of Sindh, this aspect is neither fully
recognised nor debated. The exclusion of such languages means not only
their slow death but also the withering of their associated cultures and
identities.

To inhibit free expression is a form of exclusion that disproportionately

impacts those who do not belong to the majority.

On religion the exclusions are more obvious. A curriculum cannot be inclusive

when religious content of one religion is diffused throughout textbooks
prescribed for secular subjects.

This practice is justified by the argument that Pakistan is overwhelmingly

Muslim (97.5 per cent), which makes it alright to propagate predominantly
Islamic content. The difficulty with this justification is that Pakistan was not so
overwhelmingly Muslim when it was created. It is a consequence of religious
discrimination that non-Muslims feel unsafe in the country and many who
were or are able to leave have done so. This includes Jews, Hindus, Sikhs,
Bahais, Parsis, and Christians. A justification of majoritarian values is
incompatible with the goal of inclusion.

Instead of addressing this issue, the proposed solution is to have non-Muslim

students leave the class when Islamic religious content is discussed in secular
subjects. But this constitutes the most extreme form of exclusion, one that
embeds othering right from early childhood.

One example should suffice to highlight the kinds of avoidable issues that
have been created. The Single National Curriculum textbook for Grade 4
English has an exercise in creative writing on page 12 in which students are
asked to write a paragraph about a religious subject particular to Islam. What
is to be gained by choosing a religious subject in an exercise of creative
writing in a class meant to teach English? It would be more inclusive to have
a neutral subject for the essay in which all children are equally equipped to
express themselves. Creativity would also be enhanced if every student could
write something personal, instead of reproducing an approved text from
which even inadvertent deviation could be considered risky. To inhibit the free
expression of views is a form of exclusion that disproportionately impacts
those who do not belong to the numerical majority. The obligation to be
inclusive calls for reconsidering the content of all textbooks for subjects other
than religion.

Is education in Pakistan equitable, even if it is not inclusive? This question is

easier to answer. To start with, how can it be equitable if 40pc of school-age
children are not in school to begin with? The Constitution guarantees them a
free education, but no attention has been paid to the exclusion. If a country
does not honour its Constitution, will it pay heed to the goals of the UN?

What about the children who are actually in school? It stands to reason that
when education is offered as a commodity in the market, those with more
money are able to buy a better quality of the product. How can education be
equitable in such a scenario? A natural outcome is that there are a limited
number of high-quality schools to reproduce the ruling classes and a huge
number of low-quality schools to reproduce the masses to be ruled.
Unsurprisingly, it is also preferred that in the face of such inequity, the latter
do not question the legitimacy of the unequal distribution. This in turn drives
the content of public school education, whose primary aim becomes to sustain
the status quo. Hence its mind-numbing quality. Anyone claiming that a mere
curriculum can yield equitable education in Pakistan cannot be taken
seriously.

Pakistan‘s school education is neither inclusive nor equitable and is departing

further from these objectives. Is this because Pakistan‘s ruling elite is just
playing along with the UN? The SDGs were preceded by the MDGs for 15
years. None were attained in Pakistan without any analysis of the reasons for
the failure. Instead, the country signed on to a new set of goals with a fresh
lease of 15 years during which officials would continue to hold meetings and
participate in conferences. Meanwhile, the people in whose name the exercise
is being conducted are largely excluded from the conversation. In fact, there
aren‘t even comprehensible terms for MDG or SDG in any of their local
languages.
It is a surreal situation where rhetoric masquerades for reality, which all but
ensures that innocuous questions (Are we there yet?) will continue to be
asked while difficult answers (We are going in the wrong direction) would
continue to be ignored.
COLUMN: EDUCATION EMERGENCY
Harris Khalique Published April 16, 2023

American author and humorist Mark Twain once said that he never let his
schooling interfere with his education. Likewise, Albert Einstein famously said
that imagination is more important than knowledge.

Our mystic poet Bulleh Shah wrote in verse that he didn‘t require further
worldly knowledge; all he needed was Alif [the first letter in Arabic and in our
own alphabet]. It has a deeper meaning, though, as both Allah and alam
[grief] begin with the letter Alif. The first of the 30 siparahs [sections] of the
Holy Quran is also called ‗Alif, Laam, Meem‘ [Arabic letters for A, L and M].

The above-mentioned comments from the masters are, at times, used as an

excuse by some conservative religious people and ascetic Sufis in our part of
the world to undermine the importance of formal education. Somehow, that
creates a comfort zone of ignorance and signifies a contentment, where you
decide not to make an effort to expand your knowledge.

One can be content with whatever comfort and wealth one possesses. But
how can one be content with the limitations of one‘s knowledge? We tend to
forget that the masters who said what is stated above had full command over
the branches of knowledge they pursued.

Knowledge ignites the intellect and, as held by many, intuition is a higher

form of intellect. Therefore, Einstein could say that imagination is more
important than knowledge because he had mastered knowledge. Bulleh Shah
sought the source of knowledge after swimming across its expanse. Twain
learned to read and write in primary school before becoming a typesetter and
a voracious reader. Only after that could he chirpily remark that he did not let
his schooling disturb his education.

We must recognise that, in the contemporary world, for a child born to non-
or semi-literate parents in, say, a village outside Khuzdar in Balochistan,
Kandhkot in Sindh or Khaplu in Gilgit-Baltistan, it is only the local school that
provides her with the opportunity to begin to learn, to be literate and
numerate, to be able to understand the larger world.

That makes the public education system in Pakistan — or anywhere in the

developing world, for that matter — the key to individual and collective
intellectual and economic growth. The advanced economies, from Japan and
China, to Germany and the United Kingdom, have invested heavily in their
public education systems.

Even in the United States, the epitome of capitalism, school education for
every child is the responsibility of the state. You can be poor, or go broke if
you develop an ailment and are not suitably insured, but your child will still be
picked up by a yellow bus in the morning to be taken to school.

When the neo-liberal economic paradigm slowly and surely gained currency in
Pakistan after the end of the Cold War, private schools and religious
madressahs [seminaries] mushroomed in tandem with the state disinvesting
from public education.

One may not totally reject private schooling, as there is always a possibility of
experimenting with new teaching methodologies available, and trust-managed
schools and convents have long been imparting education in a non-
commercial way. However, it should not be made mandatory for students and
their parents to seek private education because of the absence of public
schools, or because of the low quality of teaching and dilapidated
infrastructure of public schools.

I totally understand the need and the economic constituency of madressahs

as well in the present scenario. They provide almost free education —
irrespective of whether we agree with their teaching methodology and
curriculum — and, in most instances, free room and board.

Even after the government‘s disinvestment and leaving of good quality

education to the private sector, more than 60 percent of Pakistani children
attend public schools. The number comes to approximately 45 million. About
20 million attend private schools, while about 25 million children of school-
going age remain out of school.

What inspired me to highlight the issues in public education in Pakistan is a

significant book published in 2021 that I chanced upon recently. It is more
like a practical manual, with guidelines for policymakers and education
managers. More importantly, it is written in Urdu. There is little tradition left
where any original work on public policy or reform administration appears in
Urdu or any other native language that we speak.

Titled Asaatiza, Bureaucracy Aur Siyasatdaan [Teachers, Bureaucracy and

Politicians], and published by Book Corner, Jhelum, it is a story of a reform
programme, comprising various initiatives, that ran across 54,000 schools in
Punjab.

This story of successes and failures in overcoming the constraints in the age-
old schooling system is told by Javed Ahmed Malik, a seasoned development
practitioner and policy adviser who has his heart and soul fully invested in the
work he does. From 2009 to 2018, he was associated with this education
reform programme in Punjab as a key person. Earlier, Malik wrote another
useful book on rural development, called Transforming Villages: How
Grassroots Democracy Can End Rural Poverty at a Rapid Pace.

In Asaatiza, Bureaucracy Aur Siyasatdaan, Malik rightly begins with the issues
faced by teachers in general and how to deal with these during the reform
process. He dispels certain misconceptions about education financing and the
reform agenda. Then he moves on to list the fundamental issues faced by the
primary and secondary schooling system.

He proposes solutions to the problems of improving educational standards

and making school management efficient, and reflects on the link between
education and national development. With a review of different reform
initiatives, Malik proposes workable solutions based on experiential learning.

The book is properly referenced and illustrated with explanatory charts, tables
and graphs. It is no rocket science to make our public education system
efficient and purposeful, if there is a will at all levels of decision-making and
implementation. Declaring an education emergency and investing properly in
public schooling, with a consensus among all political stakeholders, is the only
course the state must take.
ECONOMIC SURVEY 2022-23: Only 1.7pc of GDP
spent on education, survey reveals
Kashif Abbasi Published June 9, 2023

ISLAMABAD: At a time when more than 23 million children are out of

school, the government spent only 1.7 per cent of GDP on education
during the last year, while the literacy rate was recorded at a little
over 62 per cent.

As per the Pakistan Economic Survey, which was released on Thursday, the
literary rate was recorded at 62.8pc in the country, comprising 73.4pc males
and 51.9pc females.

The survey said that cumulative education expenditures by federal and

provincial governments in FY22 were estimated at 1.7pc of the GDP.
―Expenditures on education-related activities during FY2022 witnessed an
increase of 37.3 per cent, and reached Rs 1,101.7 billion from Rs 802.2
billion,‖ it said.

The survey stated that there are 32pc out-of-school children with more girls
than boys deprived of education. It said that Balochistan has 47pc of out-of-
school kids followed by Sindh at 44pc, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 32pc, and
Punjab at 24pc.

Moreover, it said that efforts are being made to bring out-of-school children to
schools and improve the quality of education. ―The focus is being given on
basic and college education to make the younger generation competitive from
an early age. For a country like Pakistan, it becomes even more indispensable
for its socio-economic development through an effective transition of its huge
proportion of younger population... Transformation of 63 per cent youth into
a real wealth requires optimum capitalisation through establishing a high-
quality and market demand driven basic, secondary and higher education,‖ it
said.
Progress on Education SDGs

The survey said that Pakistan is committed to achieving Goal 4 of SDGs

pertaining to the quality of education, which stipulates equitable education,
removal of discrimination, provision, and up-gradation of infrastructure, skill
development for sustainable progress, universal literacy, numeracy and
enhancement of the professional capacity of teachers. The progress achieved
by Pakistan so far on Goal 4 is the completion of the rate of primary, lower
and upper secondary education is 67pc, 47pc and 23pc, respectively.

During 2020-21, 7.1 thousand higher secondary schools with 158.4 thousand
teachers were functional at the national level. The overall enrolment of
students in higher secondary education witnessed an increase of 4.5pc in
2020-21. The enrolment registered during 2020-21 was 2.32 million as
compared to 2.22 million in 2019-20. For 2021-22, it was estimated at 2.53
million.

Degree Colleges

An enrolment of 0.82 million students is expected during 2021-22 in degree

colleges as against the enrolment of 0.76 million in 2020-21. A total of 3,000
degree colleges were established in 2020-21 with an estimated figure of 3,700
degree colleges for the year 2021-22. The teachers in degree colleges were
59.5 thousand in 2020-21 and estimated to the tune of 66.2 thousand in
2021-22.

Universities: There are 202 universities with 60.3 thousand teachers in both
public and private sectors in 2020-21. The overall enrolment of students in
higher education institutions (universities) was recorded at 1.86 million in
2020-21, the same as the previous year.

The enrolment is estimated to increase from 1.86 million in 2020-21 to 1.96

million (5.3pc) in 2021-22.

According to the survey, the projects and initiatives of the government were
aimed at introducing a ―uniform curriculum‖, capacity building of teachers,
establishment, renovation and up-gradation of schools and colleges,
mainstreaming of religious education, skills development, and promoting
awareness among various segments of society, especially targeting youth.

―Pakistan‘s literacy, enrolment and other educational indicators are gradually

improving…[but] an improvement in [the] education sector cannot be
achieved without [the] active participation of all stakeholders, especially the
private sector,‖ the survey said.

It said that given the limited resources and financial constraints, the due
diligence given to the education sector was not up to par as it should be.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2023

Girls education
From the Newspaper Published February 4, 2023

WAHI Pandhi, a Dadu town in rain-fed area of Kachho, has a

population of about 50,000, with women being a major portion of
this population. Unfortunately, there are very few primary schools
for girls in the area.

The town lacks secondary and higher secondary schools for girls. Due to
cultural norms, parents feel reluctant to send their daughters to schools
having coeducation.

This cultural taboo and grassroots level issues determine why girls‘ education
has been declining in the country. Actually, girls‘ education has never been a
priority for the decision-makers. Lack of girls schools is one of the reasons for
the rise in girls‘ dropout rate, which is 49 per cent in primary classes.

Female literacy rate in rural areas stands at 38pc. More than 12 million girls
are deprived of education in Pakistan. Article 25(A) of the Constitution makes
it obligatory to educate children age 5-16 regardless of gender.
If the state machinery is unable to provide equal opportunities, it means they
are going against the Constitution. Lack of girls‘ education triggers
multifaceted gender-based problems, like female illiteracy, violence against
women and child marriages. Yes, child marriage is also a result of lack of
education for girls.

According to UN data, there are some 19 million child brides in Pakistan. One
in six girls gets married in her childhood, and the unfortunate trend continues
to grow in areas like Kachho. The authorities should make proper
arrangements for girls‘ education as the country already stands 153rd on a list
of 156 that feature on the Global Gender Gap Index 2022.

Improper and inadequate education facilities for girls in Wahi Pandhi is a case
study showing the attitude of the relevant authorities. There are a few things
the authorities can do immediately. The secretary of education in Sindh
should approve at least five secondary-level women teachers in the local
government high school. A number of classrooms are already laying vacant in
the said school.

They should be together converted into a segregated portion meant for girls.
This can resolve the problem within no time and with minimal expense.

In the long run, more schools should be set up for girls. There should be a
higher secondary school for them. Similarly, vocational training institutions are
also needed to shatter dated norms and taboos in this regard.

Name withheld on request

Wahi Pandhi

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2023

Pakistan, Islam & education
Ashraf Jehangir Qazi Published January 20, 2023

The writer is a former ambassador to the US, India and China and head of UN
missions in Iraq and Sudan.
LISTEN TO ARTICLE1x1.2x1.5x

WHEN a patient‘s condition turns critical, doctors often say it is time

for dua (prayer) more than dawa (medicine or treatment). Current
Pakistani conversations across all classes about the state of the
country suggest a similar condition.

Such a state in a patient is often the result of multi-organ failure. In Pakistan,

the organs of the state, ie its political, social, economic and administrative
institutions, are failing.

The military, as de facto principal political, economic and administrative

decision-making institution, has brought about this state failure by exceeding
its constitutional limits.

Civil institutions and the political process have also failed. But civilian and
political culpability — on display every day — has been secondary. Hopefully,
the new military leadership is following through on its claim of turning the
page.

The country needs to emerge from its present condition to survive. Can it?
The question is not legitimate because it allows a negative answer. The
country has to do whatever it takes, whatever the odds may be against it
being able to do so. So where do we go from here? What is to be done?
These are legitimate questions because they implicitly rule out answers such
as ‗Nowhere!‘ and ‗Nothing!‘

Existential questions must generate existential responses. When they

emanate from the political condition of the country, the responses can only
come from the people. But the people are an inchoate entity. They are more
a concept than an immediate instrument of political change. To become that
they need to be enabled by well-wishers, not manipulated by those who fear
and wish to control them.

The country needs to emerge from its present condition to survive. Can it?

This is why Chomsky has little respect for media, academic, administrative,
and moral ‗intellectuals‘ who profess their identification with the people‘s
interests without seeking to catalyse and realise their potential to change their
condition.

They make a decent living working for corporate owners and the government,
or by entertaining elites and exploiting the sentiments of the people. Sartre
accused them of ―living in bad faith‖. Gramsci counselled ―pessimism of the
intellect‖ (recognising realities) and ―optimism of the will‖ (overcoming them).

Climate heating may be the primary global existential challenge for mankind.
But there are more immediate challenges. The French Yellow Vest slogan
―you are concerned about the middle of the century; we are concerned about
the middle of the month‖ encapsulates the dilemma of the poor all over the
world, especially in developing countries.

The corporate state capitalist system which prioritises class warfare and profit
maximisation exploits this situation by ―greening‖ its ultimately fatal carbon
emissions-based economic strategies on the one hand, and by supporting
delusory and ephemeral poverty alleviation over radical and structural poverty
reduction reforms on the other.

Only working class-based people‘s movements can reconcile essential short-

term compromises with prevailing realities, and staying the course for longer-
term systemic change towards eco-socialist global and national Green New
Deals. Such movements are the only hope for the survival of mankind.
Political leaders and power brokers who oppose them are the problem. Middle
class intellectuals and ‗technocrats‘ can no longer fake it. They are either with
or against them.
Let us briefly look at Islam and education. Islam enjoins belief (iman) and
action (amal). It is actively humanitarian and merciful. It provides the idiom in
which social and political messages need to be couched for the people of
Pakistan to accept and own them.

The doors of ijtihad which were closed 1,000 years ago need to be reopened
to reclaim the original message of Islam, which through the Quran and the
Sunnah spoke directly to the individual believer, not through the medium of a
class for whom faith became a profession and a means of influence and
power.

The Prophet (PBUH) said his ummah will never agree in error. It is this
confidence, lost for 1,000 years since the Mongol destruction of Baghdad,
which needs to be recovered for an Islamic civilisational renaissance to
commence, in which faith, science and human intuition reinforce one another
to comprise a transcendent unity and a transforming power for deliverance
from catastrophe.

Our scientific and cultural heritage of Baghdad, Andalus, Iran and Central Asia
needs to be repossessed and carried forward.

We are all aware of the hadith which says search for knowledge, even from
China. The search for knowledge is the essence of science and education.
Without an educated public opinion, no reform can be lasting and no national
goal can be achieved.

Public education is not a priority in Pakistan. It can never be within current

political and social structures. It is a human right, and human rights and
education are not priorities, except rhetorically and in seminars, policy
documents and manifestos. Resource constraints is another name for low
priority.

In today‘s world, the concept of education must change. The great German
educator, William Humboldt, said education ―should not be a matter of
pouring water into a vessel but rather it should be conceived as laying out a
string along which learners proceed in their own ways, exercising and
improving their creative capacities and imaginations, and experiencing the joy
of discovery‖.

Chomsky recalls one of his teachers, when asked what will be ―covered‖ in his
semester, said the question should be what will be ―discovered‖.

Unfortunately, authority, orthodoxy and syllabuses insist on filling vessels.

Parents rightly want their children to find remunerative jobs. Hence, education
as a search for knowledge will have to be a longer-term endeavour which
should, however, begin immediately.

Experts agree children should commence their primary education in their

mother tongue. They can then switch to regional and national languages and,
at a later stage, become familiar with an international language.

Pakistan is fortunate in this regard. Urdu is well understood throughout the

country and is the lingua franca between people of different regions.
Familiarity with English, if not always proficiency in it, especially among the
middle and upper classes, has been around for generations. The building
blocks for a nationally educated and internationally interacting society are
available. Constructing one must become an insistent priority.

The writer is a former ambassador to the US, India and China and head of UN
missions in Iraq and Sudan.
Right to education
Marvi Soomro Published May 12, 2020

EDUCATION is a child‘s basic right. Even in times of conflict, war or

disaster, temporary learning opportunities are set up as part of
emergency relief to provide continued learning support.

Pakistan has an estimated 22.8 million children from five to 16 outside school.
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and consequent school closures have
resulted in millions more deprived of learning opportunities.

The disparity in education in Pakistan rears its ugly head again as millions of
students face learning losses. Major barriers like the digital divide and the
weakness of education systems threaten to increase further the vastly
unequal learning opportunities available to the economically, geographically or
politically disadvantaged.

According to data from the PTA website, 31.19 per cent of Pakistanis have
access to the internet. For children belonging to the 68.8pc population
without internet access, this pandemic means losing not just the only thing
that provides routine — school — but also being deprived of their right to
learn.

Low-income households in Pakistan do not have computer hardware. Out of

the 78pc population that has mobile subscriptions, 35.9pc is online. Children
from families that make up the 42pc not using 3G/4G — or the 22pc that do
not have mobile subscriptions — have limited learning opportunities.

While we may have budding tech start-ups with millions of dollars of funding
directed towards them, technology access, affordability and internet
penetration are still out of the reach of millions.

Who will be held responsible for the students‘ losses?

There are also areas where the digital divide is essentially caused in the name
of political gains or matters of ‗national security‘. These areas, even in today‘s
‗digital Pakistan‘, are not connected to the rest of this country or the global
world because they lack basic internet connections and at times even mobile
networks. Schoolchildren in these regions are deprived of every learning
opportunity right now. University students suffer the same fate. Lockdowns
forced students to return to their hometowns but then classes were shifted
online with mandatory attendance requirements. Students of Gilgit-Baltistan
and Azad Kashmir are frustrated because they do not have the internet access
required to attend online classes. Who will take responsibility for the losses
incurred by these students? Will the telecom network that has monopolised
internet provision in the region be held responsible?

Most schoolchildren facing this digital divide come from marginalised

households and are enrolled in public schools. They are already a part of the
learning crisis. Not all school-going children learn, struggling with weak
reading and writing skills, insufficient teachers and sub-par quality of
teaching. With a dropout rate of 73pc for middle school, one of the world‘s
highest, Pakistan faces the risk of an increase in the rate. This sudden
disengagement in learning will result in many students never returning to
school.

The hardest hit will be young girls who take the burden of economic losses
and are obliged to take care of household chores and younger siblings at the
cost of learning. A recent data study by Malala Fund using data from the
2014-15 Ebola epidemic in several African countries, projects that around 10m
secondary schoolgirls will not return to school after the pandemic.

While maximising access through alternative learning options is essential

during the crisis, the quality of content and diversity of mediums will be the
deciding factor for learning outcomes or engagement. Another important
factor is support at home. In economically disadvantaged segments, most
parents lack basic skills, time or interest to help their children learn at home.
Our education systems often do not equip a child with skills like time
management or independent learning. Mass parent awareness campaigns
may improve the outcome of alternate learning options by providing support
at home.

However, we have to admit that millions of children in this country will not
have access to any learning in this period. To prevent these children from
greater learning losses we must prepare for the challenges when schools
resume. We must take help from those with expertise to design accelerated
learning programmes to support students left behind and create strategies to
reintegrate dropouts. We must design training programmes for teachers to
give them the confidence to meet the needs of learners.

To come out of this pandemic stronger we must engage in discussions that go

beyond the educational budget and school enrollment numbers. We must take
into account the disparities that rob young children from marginalised
communities of their right to education. It is time to open our eyes and
understand that without quality education for all, we as a nation will always
lag behind, regardless of the ‗potential‘ we may have.

Education plans: a suggestion

Faisal Bari Published May 13, 2022

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development and

Economic Alternatives, and an associate professor of economics at Lums.

PEOPLE are worried about the new government‘s education plans.

Will the Single National Curriculum be continued or shelved? Will we
return to the old curriculum and the old books, or will the
government create a new national curriculum? Will the government
rebrand the SNC as a minimum standard curriculum and allow more
flexibility to the provinces and schools to have greater variation
around and beyond minimum standards?

All these options and more are open. Though there were initial indications
that the SNC might not be continued, it now seems there may be a
‗conference‘ to discuss and decide the issue and the way forward. These
things are hard to decide in conferences. However, we await its outcome.

The stated objective of the SNC — the reduction of inequity in society

generally, and particularly in education, is too big for an instrument like a
single curriculum. There have been issues with the curriculum objectives as
well as the books based on the SNC. There have been major issues of
implementation too. These points have been made repeatedly. We look
forward to hearing from the government how it plans to address these issues.

But, aside from the SNC, we need to have a much deeper and more
foundational look at education issues. These issues are for the K-12
(kindergarten-Grade 12) sector as well as the higher education sector. I will
come back to higher education issues another day.

What do we as a nation want to achieve in the education sector over the next
decade?

What do we as a nation want to achieve in the education sector over the next
decade? Do we want all children to get 10 years of at least minimum quality
education? This is the promise enshrined in the Constitution through Article
25-A added as part of the 18th Amendment. But no government has worked
on this. Even today, we do not have universal primary enrolment or
completion. Instead, we have very high dropout rates. By some estimates,
about 20 million five- to 16-year-olds remain out of school. Do we want to
make the promise of Article 25-A a reality?

Similarly, we have plenty of evidence that the majority of children in school in

Pakistan — most of those enrolled in government schools and in low-fee
private schools and madressahs, and these make up some 95 per cent of all
children enrolled in schools in Pakistan — have to endure a poor quality of
education. Plenty of test, examination and assessment results establish this
fact. Do we want to prioritise the issue of quality of education?

I have little hesitation in saying that Pakistan has probably one of the most
iniquitous and differentiated education system in the world. There are
divisions based on the income of parents, gender, geography, caste, religion,
culture, language, examination systems and books. What education a child
gets, if she, indeed, gets any, depends on many or all these factors. Is
creating equity a goal for society and state? This question is much bigger than
the single national curriculum issue.

We know that Pakistan‘s future depends on what happens to the children and
youth of today. If they stay uneducated, unskilled and/or illiterate, the future
— for them, their families and the country — cannot be bright. We have
ambitions of development and achieving a sustainable high-growth trajectory.
This cannot happen if the children today and those born in the next few years
do not get quality education. No amount of short-term economic stability
and/or level of support from other countries and multilaterals will put us on a
medium- to long-run high-growth trajectory if we do not have human capital
to underpin growth and sustain it.

So, if the answers to the questions here are in the affirmative, we have a lot
of work to do. How are we going to move from where we are in, say, a five-
to-10-year period, to where we want to be? That will require a lot of planning,
commitment and support and it has to come from all areas of society.

But this task is beyond what one government can take up. It requires
prioritisation, agreement and attention from successive governments. It is an
agreement that society and state have to drive. The PML-N and its coalition
cannot do it — not only because there is uncertainty about how long this
government is going to stay but because there is also a need for a broader
consensus.

What can be suggested is that this government should set up a commission

for creating this commitment. This should be a high-powered commission but
one with a clear end date of 12 to 18 months. The terms of reference should
be simple. The commission should work out our educational priorities for the
next 10 years and provide a plan for how these priorities can be actualised. It
should also provide a way for reaching consensus in society regarding the
commitment to these priorities and the need for implementing them. It is thus
important that the commission have eminent educationists and
representatives of all mainstream schools of thought as its members. The
commission should have experts but the report of the commission — and this
should be a task for the commission before it is disbanded — should have the
endorsement of all mainstream political parties. The education issue must be
above partisan and party-based debate.

Education issues are too broad and deep and too important for our survival as
a nation to be left to one government, one party or even to be left at the
party level. To address the issues, a government must establish a body that
allows dialogue to happen across political lines. A commission with specific
terms of reference and a timeline might be one way to start this dialogue. I
hope the current government gives the issue some thought.
Save education
Asghar Soomro Published September 21, 2022

The writer is an educationist. Has worked with local and international

organisations in Pakistan.

IN the wake of the devastating countrywide floods, public education

faces an existential threat in several places. In Sindh alone, initial
assessments indicate that almost 16,000 out of a total of 36,646
functional public schools have been badly damaged, either directly
by the floodwater or by those who took shelter in them. School
infrastructure was already in tatters, and the floods have made it
worse.

In any given month, student absenteeism remains high — between 40pc and
60pc according to some estimates. Dropout rates at the primary level — are
massive; reportedly, almost 50pc of children walk out of school before
reaching Class 5, and the transition from primary to secondary school remains
stubbornly low. Of course, it is no secret that the quality of education
continues to be of serious concern, with periodic surveys and assessments
highlighting low scores in language (English, Urdu and Sindhi) mathematics
and general science tests. While the percentage share of education in the
provincial outlay increased from 13.4pc in 2011 to 18.5pc in 2017, the overall
impact on the school environment has been negligible.

Meanwhile, the population of out-of-school children is growing. The numbers

falling under this category across primary, middle, secondary and higher
secondary school in Sindh is estimated at 6.75 million children aged from five
to 16 years; the number of children dropping out has seen an increase from
1.87m in 2007-08 to 2.57m. My experience while working on international
projects focusing on education in Sindh tells me that these numbers could be
inflated, as the government, which wants foreign loans and grants, is not
prepared to correct them. Nonetheless, the issue of children dropping out of
school remains a serious concern.
Due to these woes, millions of children continue to be deprived of their
constitutional right to education, while huge urban-rural as well as gender
inequalities abound in the province. Half the people live in the rural areas
where chronic problems like illiteracy, out-of-school children, a growing
population, and poor learning outcomes refuse to go away. For example,
according to some estimates, literacy may actually have declined from 60pc to
58pc. With regard to urban-rural differences, 73pc of the population (10 years
and above) is said to be literate in the urban areas whereas in the rural areas,
the figure is only 39pc. When it comes to literacy among girls, matters are
even worse.

Millions are being deprived of their constitutional right.

Why has the education crisis remained unsolvable since independence? We

have seen many rulers — military dictators and civilian leaders — come and
go but an effective and efficient solution to the chronic ills that beset this
sector of national life has eluded everyone. Over seven decades, several
education policies, five-year plans, and dozens of development schemes have
attempted to put the system on track but all efforts have been in vain.

Faulty planning, deficient governance, poverty, and lack of awareness about

the importance of education among parents are commonly cited as the main
reasons behind the continuous failure of the effort to boost learning. The hard
truth is that these problems could have been effectively tackled — had the
ruling elite demonstrated a sincere commitment towards education. For them,
the children of the poor and powerless don‘t matter beyond rhetoric and
cosmetic gestures. Following the 18th Constitutional Amendment, education
became a fundamental right, but despite that, allocation in terms of GDP
percentage continues to be ridiculously low. Clearly, no priority is attached to
educating our children.

Sadly, education is no longer a common good but a commodity, only

accessible to those who can afford it. Well-off parents have no interest in the
public education system. Market-based solutions have birthed multiple
schooling systems ie English-medium elite schools, private schools, low-cost
private schools, religious schools, etc. A hierarchical schooling system is
reinforcing existing social stratifications and biases. The government doesn‘t
have a clear policy on how to tackle the challenge; it can only come up with
haphazardly prepared education plans and projects, which obviously don‘t
work.

The growing urban and rural and gender inequalities in education cannot be
plugged unless the whole paradigm of education planning and implementation
is reviewed and radically revised. Business as usual has never worked. The
flood not only offers an opportunity to address the chronic problems listed
here but also a chance to make education resilient to climate change. It is up
to the policymakers to turn the challenge into an opportunity and find
innovative solutions that could pave the way for change in Sindh.

NON-FICTION: PAKISTAN‘S CRISIS OF EDUCATION

Dr A.H. Nayyar Published July 24, 2022

Dr Anjum Altaf is not just a celebrated economist, but also a thinker, writer
and poet. For the ‗Education and Teaching Series‘ published by Folio Books,
he‘s written a set of four texts that explore Pakistan‘s current public education
system from various angles.

The first of these books, What We Get Wrong About Education in Pakistan,
adds a number of excellent arguments to the current debate on education in
Pakistan, and, taking the conversation to a higher theoretical level, examines
some fundamental problems besetting public education in the country.

Nearly everyone in Pakistan is unhappy with the poor state of public

education. Enormous amounts of gathered data and numerous surveys
conducted over time have raised public alarm, yet have failed to move the
state policy for any sound remedial action. State-level commitment to
education is disappointing, which brings us to the most fundamental question:
why isn‘t public education a priority for Pakistan‘s rulers?

Most writings on public education have been in the spirit of pointing out
deficiencies in the system. They often take the form of describing symptoms
of an ailment. Diagnostic writings have been fewer and not convincing to all,
least of all to the educational establishment. There are many prescriptions,
but not all are based on a sound diagnosis.

Four books by Dr Anjum Altaf tackle with great insight the problems of, and
misconceptions about, education in the country and the inherent issues
around its policymaking

This book is different. It does not stop at describing the lack of progress, or
lamenting about it, but poses incisive questions and searches for answers in
order to diagnose the ailment. The questions take readers into the depths of
the problems besetting education and help understand if the very government
is a problem, or a solution.

The answer it gets is disturbing. It proposes that poor education standards

are a matter of government choice. Our society is hierarchal in structure and
the assumption that the government cares and works for the welfare of the
entire nation is a myth. This is all the more true if the government consists of
robber barons concerned more with their self-interests.

The priorities of a government such as ours lie elsewhere. Pakistan‘s

government is content with the relatively good education that expensive
private schools provide to those who can afford it. It also finds its needs
further fulfilled by the less affluent, but talented, students who do well despite
the poor state of public education.

Although there is public representation in the democratic governance, the

democratic dispensation is distorted because of the absence of accountability
from below. In such a situation, our only hope lies in the author‘s final
prescription: ―The fate of Pakistan is in the hands of its citizens. In the era of
democratic politics, they need to find a way to enforce accountability from
below by educating, organising, agitating and offering better alternatives.‖

Addressing the general complaint about meagre budgetary allocations, Dr

Altaf wonders if spending more on bad education is not tantamount to
wasting good money. Although often asked, this isn‘t a simple question.
Education is bad because, among many other reasons, it is starved of the
resources needed to improve it. How can it improve otherwise?

A classroom in a government school in Thatta

Government-compiled data tells us that nearly a quarter to a third of public-

sector primary schools are single-room, single-teacher schools. Imagine the
classroom environment: 50 or so students of classes one through five, all
squatting together on the floor in a cramped room, all being taught by a
single teacher scribbling on a tiny blackboard.

No public sector school has a laboratory. In fact, lab work has been taken off
the Board examinations. This practice has now spread to undergraduate
education in quite a few universities, too, public as well as private (and
expensive). Amazingly, the reason cited is paucity of funds.

Shortage of teachers is a perennial problem and this is as much an exercise in

cutting down expenses as it is because of long procedural delays in hiring.

But pumping in resources without revamping anything else will hardly improve
education. In other words, finance is a necessary, but not sufficient,
condition. Increasing financial input must be accompanied by several other
reforms, for example, in modifying the educational content, in the production
of textbooks, in teachers‘ training and, above all, in the assessment system.
Otherwise, the good money put into it would go to waste.

The essay on education and development is also thought provoking. For most
postcolonial societies — as also for under-developed traditional societies —
modern education is something external, something that grew somewhere
else, and is being sought to be implanted in a different society.

Development, on the other hand, is much more internal. It surely is inspired

by how other societies have developed, but the mode of development
depends on the historical stage of the host society. For development to be
planted, the society has to have the requisite know-how — merely putting up
a computer chip-making factory in a Central American country, for example,
does not make that country a chip designing and producing country.

Here, then, is an answer to the question ‗would education by itself lead to

development, or is it development which would demand education?‘ In the
author‘s view, it is the development that requires and demands specific kinds
of education, which in itself is a dynamic demand. As development proceeds,
the demand for specific knowledge grows and takes root in institutions.

Another important question is why education is not a political issue in

Pakistan. For long, civil society activists have been trying to convince political
parties to include education reforms in their manifestos, but without any
success. Why?

Dr Altaf argues that scientific and technological development is sought only by

those societies that want to take a leading role in the comity of nations.
However, by its very nature, scientific and technological innovation requires
free thinking and intellectual questioning, which also open up space for
questioning the status quo.

He also argues that education has a dual and contradictory role in society: it
is needed for advancement, and at the same time it is a convenient tool to
preserve the social order — a cherished wish of politicians.

Advancement of society inevitably demands adjustments in the social order.

Hence, politicians take care not to commit themselves to something that may
become an instrument for destroying their political base. In the author‘s
words: ―Rulers in countries [such as] Pakistan with a primary focus on
maintaining the status quo and no real intent to be globally competitive see
no reason to promote open minds that can only result in the citizenry asking
difficult questions.‖

Thus, as the author quotes British philosopher Bertrand Russell: ―Almost all
education has a political motive‖, the kind of poor education we see serves
the political motive of our ruling elite.

The final chapter of What We Get Wrong About Education in Pakistan, on

possibilities for change, contains several short essays, each suggesting
improvements in the public sector education system.

Personally, I consider Plain Truths About Primary Education in Pakistan:

Letters to Parents as the next best among the four books because it is a
unique exercise in cautioning parents over missteps in their choice of
educational paths during their young children‘s formative years.

In the absence of a formal advice system in schools, or even in electronic

media, parents — out of their own ambitions — acquire a number of
misconceptions about education, which they impose on their children without
realising the consequent harmful impacts.

One result is a large number of drop-outs in early and late schooling. Children
have different natural aptitudes and, in the words of American psychologist
Howard Gardner, multiple intelligences. To impose one design on all is like
killing all other possible avenues of excellence.

The 20 letters in Dr Altaf‘s book proffer persuasive arguments to remove

several misconceptions that parents hold about early education, and give
good advice. Many of the letters, if not all, have already appeared as
newspaper essays. If parents follow his advice, much of the tyranny our
children suffer in schooling could be avoided, the result of which could be
liberational.

In fact, this book of letters to parents needs to be on the mantle of every

home with children, to guide parents at all crucial steps in their children‘s
education. Most of the wrong concepts are in the middle and poorer classes,
which generally see investment in their children‘s education as investment in
their social mobility. They are easily taken in by the lure of English medium
education, private schooling, etc and Dr Altaf argues strongly against them.

The remaining two books — Critical Reflections on the Single National

Curriculum and the Medium of Instruction and Single National Curriculum: A
Review of Pre-1 Model Textbooks — constitute a scathing criticism of, as the
title suggests, the new curriculum and powerfully advocate against English as
the medium of instruction in public schooling.

No school curriculum in Pakistan‘s history has been as hotly debated in public

as the Single National Curriculum (SNC) because its basic premises were
wrong, its solutions were pedagogically preposterous and it was clearly
retrogressive. It was promoted by the vestiges of Gen Ziaul Haq‘s era with the
same missionary zeal that had plunged the nation into darkness some
decades ago.

On top of that, the SNC propounds a very strange policy on the medium of
instruction, introducing English as the medium for mathematics from class
one, and for science from class three. Dr Altaf addresses this issue in Critical
Reflections… and shows how harmful such a policy would be. In A Review of
Pre-1 Model Textbooks, he exposes the mindlessness with which
mathematics, English and Urdu textbooks were prepared under the direct
supervision of the National Curriculum Council for primary classes.

In short, what these books offer to readers are: a correct perspective on

school education that should be helpful to all — parents, teachers and
education planners; a manual to parents about which of their pre-conceived
notions they must resist; and scathing but logical criticism of the Single
National Curriculum.
Education: why such neglect?
Faisal Bari Published July 22, 2022

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development and

Economic Alternatives, and an associate professor of economics at Lums.

IT has been almost two months since the end of term for the last
Higher Education Commission (HEC) chairperson but the new head
has still not been announced. The acting chair, an ex-bureaucrat,
has been given an extension or two to keep routine matters going.
Why has the new chair not been announced? The shortlisting of
candidates took place a while back. So why is the government
taking so long?

The government knew when the four-year term of the last chairperson would
end. Why did it not complete the recruitment process in time? While budgets
are being slashed and we are going through tough economic times, and all
universities — private and public — are struggling due to financial and Covid-
19-induced pressures, we do not have a chair for the HEC, the body that is
supposed to ensure the optimal functioning and regulation of the higher
education sector. What does this say about the government‘s priorities? What
does this say about its priorities for education?

At the time of the budget, the HEC came into the conversation as it was said
that the commission‘s budget was being slashed. At the time, several
ministers, Ahsan Iqbal most prominently, made statements that the HEC
budget would not be slashed, that the government considered higher
education to be very important, and that it was serious about providing
access to good quality education for young people. Even the prime minister
made one or two such statements.

The HEC‘s recurrent budget is hardly what it was last year. With an expected
inflation rate of 15 per cent to 20pc, and with the government giving a salary
increase of 15pc to 20pc to its employees, how are universities going to
survive on last year‘s budget? But since the budget, HEC has not been in the
news. And since we do not have a chairperson who could agitate for the
higher education sector, it is not a surprise that no reporting as to how
universities plan to cope next year is being done.

There are major issues in education that require the government‘s urgent
attention.

When this government took over — it has been more than three months since
Shehbaz Sharif became prime minister — a number of statements were made
about how the new government would look into education issues in detail.
That it would not only address the funding problems faced by the higher
education sector, but would also look into issues related to the Single National
Curriculum. However, after making initial noises about reviewing the SNC, the
government settled for the idea of having a national conference that would
look into curriculum issues in more detail.

The idea of having a detailed look at curriculum issues through a conference

was bizarre, but regardless, there was at least a promise of doing something
about the SNC and matters related to it. Yet nothing has happened since.
There has been no discussion on the SNC or other issues related to education.
Even in Punjab, a province that tried to implement the SNC during the last
academic year, there has been no announcement as to whether or not it
would be continued, or what shape or form it would take if it is decided to go
on with it. Summer is a good time for teachers and schools to prepare for the
next academic year. Summer vacations are nearly over but a clear statement
from the education department is still awaited.

The government has been facing major crises on the economic and political
fronts. The macroeconomic situation has been very bad and there were
serious concerns about Pakistan defaulting on its international debt
obligations. These concerns have not gone away completely but with the IMF
programme coming back on line, and with the expectation of help from
‗friendly‘ countries, the worst has been avoided. Meanwhile, politics in Punjab
has been keeping the PML-N busy and the demand for fresh elections,
vociferously articulated and pushed for by the PTI, has made the day-to-day
existence of the current government difficult. One can understand why
education might not be on top of the prime minister‘s to-do list, as it used to
be when he was Punjab chief minister, but this is why we have separate
ministers for each area. And what is the federal education minister doing?
What has he been up to for the last three months?

There are major issues in the education sector that require the government‘s
urgent attention. Covid-19 has impacted the sector badly. Not only were
schools closed for long periods, causing learning losses, but the disruption
also led to significantly increased dropout numbers.

As Covid recedes into the background, we need national-level programmes to

address issues of access, dropout and learning losses. There have even been
some pilots in these areas. But where are the larger policy initiatives that we
need? The SNC raised important issues regarding the curriculum which the
previous government was not willing to take on. Many school administrators,
teachers, parents and experts have been raising these issues for the last
couple of years now. They should have been addressed on a priority basis so
that the next academic year could have been planned better. But, sadly, no
action has been taken.

Similarly, higher education is in a crisis in Pakistan. Many universities are on

the brink of bankruptcy. The quality of education in most of our universities,
private and public, is poor. The crisis has been made a lot worse due to
Covid-19. Where the new government should have addressed these issues on
a priority basis, they have chosen to do nothing about them.

Though a lot is said about the administrative and governance ‗experience‘ of

the PML-N, the last three months, on education issues at least, have been
quite disappointing. Can one of the ministers point to a single initiative that
has been taken to address urgent issues? It is not even clear if there is even
any recognition that we need serious thinking and action on very urgent and
important issues within the education sector.
Education crisis
Editorial Published March 28, 2022

PAKISTAN‘S educational crisis is rooted in inequality. Nowhere are

national socioeconomic and gender fault lines more apparent than in
the education sector. In this regard, a recent report by the Idara-i-
Taleem-o-Agahi, titled Measuring the Impact of Covid-19 on
Education in Pakistan, confirms what education experts have been
saying all along: ―girls experienced greater learning losses than boys
during the Covid-19 school closure across nearly all competencies
and classes‖. Even before the pandemic, Pakistan was among the 10
countries identified by Unesco where girls from poverty-stricken
homes spent less than two years of their life in school. Several
surveys in the past two years have highlighted the drastic increase
in student drop-out rates and learning losses. However, this new
report provides significant insights into how almost all
vulnerabilities in the education sector — poverty, unequal access to
school, socioeconomic barriers —hamper girls‘ education. According
to the report, school enrolment for boys in the age groups of 3-5 and
6-16 years was 58pc and 61pc. In contrast, girls‘ enrolment for the
same age groups was 42pc and 39pc. Similarly, the report states
that more girls dropped out of school during the pandemic than
boys.

Secondly, girls who remained in school faced larger learning losses as

compared to their male classmates, even if they were outperforming them
before the pandemic. ―This is the case across most competencies —
mathematics, Urdu literacy and English,‖ asserts the report. For example, in
2019, 28pc girls as compared to 25pc boys could read Urdu words in Class 1.
However, in 2021, only 16pc of girls were able read Urdu words as compared
to 19pc of boys. Though learning losses are significant for both, girls appear
to be more affected. These and other figures in the report reflect the gender
imbalance in society. Many sections of society place a premium on boys‘
education, while girls are expected to take up domestic responsibilities. In
families where affordability is an issue, a girl‘s education is deemed less
important than that of her brothers. In the same vein, more boys have access
to digital means of study than girls, naturally affecting the continuity of their
studies. The task of reforming education in Pakistan, then, is a difficult but
not impossible one. As the report recommends, the government can start
investing in girls‘ education by ensuring that at least 50pc of the recipients of
education support schemes are girls. Leaving girls behind is no longer an
option.

Opinion: The flaws in our education system

Ali Aaliyan Rizvi Published November 2, 2019

Illustration by Ahmed Amin

Our education system resembles a video game. If you win, you go to

a next level and if you lose, you either exit the game or repeat
classes. One gets defeated or passes a mission, just like exams.
However, there is a difference between the two. Video games are
highly entertaining compared to our school classes. Why, you ask?
To find out, read on.

In our education system, a child whose brain is in the state of development is

judged by how he scores in tests. If he scores low, he is considered stupid
and worthless (indirectly of course), instead of being encouraged to do better.

How many times have you seen a teacher say, ―You can do it‖ or ―Never give
up‖ on a test paper in which he failed. Instead, they only write ―Keep it up‖
on high scores.

Why don‘t they understand that the kid who failed his test today could turn
out to be someone as smart as Steve Jobs who was a college drop-out or
could become a Ronaldo who was terrible at school, but is now one of the
highest-paid sportsmen in the world? How can one guarantee that a student
who scores A grades only would get a highly-paid job? There are millions of
toppers, but only one in a million becomes someone like Steve Jobs!

Our education system doesn‘t care about individuality or dreams. It is all

about shoving homework down students‘ throats so that they don‘t get time
to achieve the dreams they want. Homework should be banned and self-study
encouraged among students, which most of them probably won‘t do because
they are not interested and it has little to do with practical life. For instance,
what is the purpose of subjects like trigonometry? How will it help me in
practical life when I would be looking for a job as a writer or a chef?

So many students who want to become musicians or sportsmen are forced to

study all subjects. Up to a level, it‘s not a big problem as students must at
least have the basic knowledge about all subjects, especially science and
math. The problem occurs when students are forced to study a subject in so
much depth that they have to pay money for extra tuitions for knowledge that
he‘ll probably forget in the next five years.

In addition, in school and colleges, there are only few paths that students can
take they can only select science, arts or commerce groups. This grouping
narrows the options for children by forcing them to take a group of subjects
without giving them a chance to study and discover their aptitude for a wider
range of subjects.

This often leads to students scoring low grades because they were not able to
determine if they had the skills to study a subject when choosing it in grade
eight or nine. And many miss out on getting a chance to know more about a
subject they may be good at, for instance economics or accounts, because
they choose the pre-medical group, or vice versa.

Most foreign education systems give students the chance to choose a mix of
subjects based on their preferences. Students are also offered a chance to
take on extra subjects in school and college board exams to give them a
better and wider career choice.
Our studies are based on memory, which is why you don‘t even feel a slight
difference in your intellect after studying eight hours daily. They are making
us hate education because of wrong teaching methods which is a great threat
to us, as this is making students hate studies due to unbearable pressure and
stress.

In the modern practical world, GPAs or grades are not important, what is
important is our individual skill set and how one student is different from
others. Individuality is taken away from us since our childhood at school.

My math teacher once said that humans are different from other creatures
because humans have will power. This is indeed the truth, however, if I use
all my will power trying to pass a math exam instead of chasing my dream of
being an artist, it would be a waste of my time and energy.

The solution to rectify our education system is to change the current teaching
methods, Students should be tested on their skill sets instead of their
memorising skills.
Higher learning
Editorial Published March 27, 2023

UNIVERSITIES are like incubators where new, bright ideas are born,
and where young minds pursue journeys of intellectual discovery.
Sadly, in Pakistan, as with the rest of the education sector, seats of
higher learning are not immune to multiple crises, affecting output.
As reported recently, only 12 Pakistani varsities — out of over 100 —
made it to the QS world subject rankings.

Commenting on the rankings, the Higher Education Commission chairman told

this paper that only those varsities appeared on the list that shared their data
with the firm, while acknowledging that there was a need to improve the
quality of public-sector universities.

The global ranking of universities by various firms is, of course, not free from
controversy, as some academics have questioned the transparency of the
process, but there can be little doubt that in the current scenario, universities
in Pakistan — with a few honourable exceptions — are hardly delivering
world-class graduates.

Since at least the Musharraf era the focus seems to have been on quantity
rather than quality. The late general revamped the HEC and provided it with
ample funds, but in the decades since, we have yet to see any great flowering
of intellectual talent in our varsities. Both the public and private sectors have
their own issues.

Most public universities, which are the only option for the vast majority of
students, are run in a bureaucratic manner, and suffer from intense internal
politics. There are also issues of intellectual honesty, with some professors
producing papers at supersonic speed, apparently only to secure promotions.

Moreover, the blight of plagiarism is found aplenty in our varsities. In the

private sector, while it is a fact that some of our best institutions are privately
run, most varsities focus on profits, and mass produce graduates of little
value.

Sadly, some institutions are little more than degree mills, and their graduates
add little of substance to the job market. Unless these issues are adequately
addressed, the future of Pakistani higher education will continue to look
dismal, and we will keep losing our best minds to greener pastures.

No doubt the public sector faces a massive funding crunch, which needs to be
tackled. But apart from writing cheques, more effort is required to improve
the quality of teaching at our universities, and to foster a climate of academic
freedom and prioritise the pursuit of knowledge.

Issues of Education
Mention some major Issues and Challenges in the Essay on Education f

1. Infrastructure Facilities: Lack of infrastructure like classrooms,

libraries, hotels, furniture, sports facilities, sanitation, drinking water,
etc.
2. Capacity Utilization: Strengthening the Indian education system is
to improve capacity utilization.
3. Student-Teacher ratio: In India, the ratio of student-teacher is
very high as compared to certain comparable countries in the world.
4. Study Abroad: According to Wikipedia, 1.23 lakhs students opted
for higher education abroad. Among them, 76000 choose the U.S. as
their education destination followed by the U.K., Canada, and
Australia.
5. PPP Model: The government is making efforts to improve the
education system in terms of various parameters like investments,
infrastructure, etc.

How to improve the education system

 1. Innovation required: Educating millions of young people implies
that we need to scale up our educational efforts. Despite having a
large number of higher education institutes.
2. Affordable Education: If education has to reach all deserving
students, it should be made affordable. The fee structure in
Government-owned/ Sponsored is inexpensive in India.
3. Quality Education: Ministry of education should adopt certain
benchmark techniques. After that, improving instruction models and
administrative procedures in universities/ colleges to move forward.
In conclusion, India has one of the youngest populations in an aging world.
Moreover, the medium age of India will be just 28, compared to china and 45
which have 37 and 45 respectively. Therefore, education with holistic
perspectives is concerned with the development of every person‘s intellectual,
emotional, social, physical, artistic, creative, and spiritual potential.
The Importance of Education
Education is a powerful tool that can change the world. It is not just
about reading and writing, but also about gaining knowledge, learning
new skills and becoming a better person. It helps us to understand the
world around us.

Education and Society

Education plays a crucial role in society. It helps in building character
and shaping one‘s future. An educated society is a progressive society.
Education promotes equality and social justice, leading to a harmonious
and inclusive society.

Education and Development

Education is the key to development. It fosters innovation and creativity,
which are essential for economic growth. It also helps in reducing
poverty and improving health outcomes. Without education,
development is not possible.
250 Words Essay on Education
Introduction
Education, the cornerstone of human development, is a powerful tool
that empowers individuals and shapes societies. It is the catalyst for
economic prosperity, social progress, and political stability. It is not just
about acquiring knowledge but also about cultivating critical thinking,
fostering innovation, and nurturing empathy.

Importance of Education
Education is the bedrock of a civilized society. It fosters an
understanding of our social responsibilities and equips us with the skills
to contribute to societal progress. It plays a crucial role in eradicating
poverty and inequality, promoting health and hygiene, and ensuring
sustainable development.

Challenges in Education
Despite its significance, access to quality education remains a challenge,
especially in developing countries. The widening gap between urban and
rural education, lack of infrastructure, inadequate teacher training, and
outdated curriculums are some of the pressing issues that need to be
addressed.

The Role of Technology in Education

Technology can play a pivotal role in transforming education. Digital
learning platforms can democratize access to education, personalized
learning can cater to individual learning styles, and AI can help in
monitoring student progress and providing targeted interventions.
Conclusion
Education is a fundamental right and a critical driver of human
development. As we navigate the complexities of the 21st century, it is
imperative to reimagine education, making it more inclusive, relevant,
and future-ready. Leveraging technology can be a game-changer in this
regard, but it needs to be coupled with systemic reforms to truly unleash
the transformative power of education.
500 Words Essay on Education
Introduction
Education, in its broadest sense, is the means through which the aims
and habits of a group of people sustain from one generation to the next.
It plays a pivotal role in the development of a society and is a critical
tool for the progress of a nation. For India, a country with diverse
cultures, languages, and traditions, education is the unifying force that
can drive growth, equality, and social justice.

The Significance of Education

Education is much more than mere literacy. It is about acquiring
knowledge, developing critical thinking, fostering creativity, and building
character. It empowers individuals, opens up opportunities, and
promotes social inclusion. Education is the cornerstone of a democratic
society as it encourages active participation in societal affairs and instills
a sense of responsibility among citizens.

Education and Economic Growth

There is a strong correlation between education and economic growth.
Education equips individuals with skills and knowledge that can improve
their productivity and enhance their employability. It can foster
innovation, promote entrepreneurship, and drive economic development.
For a developing country like India, investing in education can yield high
economic dividends.
Challenges in the Indian Education System
Despite the importance of education, India faces numerous challenges in
its education system. These include issues of access, equity, quality, and
relevance. Many children, especially in rural areas, do not have access to
quality education. The education system is often criticized for its rote
learning approach, which stifles creativity and critical thinking. There is a
need to make education more relevant to the needs of the economy and
society.

Reforming the Education System

Reforming the education system requires a multi-pronged approach. It
involves improving infrastructure, enhancing teacher training, revising
curriculum, promoting inclusive education, and leveraging technology.
The recent National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is a step in the right
direction. It aims to overhaul the education system and make it more
holistic, flexible, and aligned to the needs of the 21st century.

Role of Technology in Education

Technology can play a transformative role in education. It can help
overcome barriers of access, personalize learning, and make education
more interactive and engaging. The COVID-19 pandemic has
underscored the importance of digital learning and highlighted the need
to bridge the digital divide.

Conclusion
Education is a powerful tool that can transform lives, societies, and
nations. It is the key to unlocking India‘s demographic dividend and
achieving sustainable development. However, it requires concerted
efforts from all stakeholders – government, educators, parents, and
students – to realize its full potential. As Nelson Mandela said,
―Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change
the world.‖ In the Indian context, it is not just a weapon but a necessity
for change and progress.

The Importance of Education

Education is a powerful tool that can change the world. It is not just
about reading and writing, but also about gaining knowledge, learning
new skills and becoming a better person. It helps us to understand the
world around us.

Education and Society

Education plays a crucial role in society. It helps in building character
and shaping one‘s future. An educated society is a progressive society.
Education promotes equality and social justice, leading to a harmonious
and inclusive society.

Education and Development

Education is the key to development. It fosters innovation and creativity,
which are essential for economic growth. It also helps in reducing
poverty and improving health outcomes. Without education,
development is not possible.
250 Words Essay on Education
Introduction
Education, the cornerstone of human development, is a powerful tool
that empowers individuals and shapes societies. It is the catalyst for
economic prosperity, social progress, and political stability. It is not just
about acquiring knowledge but also about cultivating critical thinking,
fostering innovation, and nurturing empathy.

Importance of Education
Education is the bedrock of a civilized society. It fosters an
understanding of our social responsibilities and equips us with the skills
to contribute to societal progress. It plays a crucial role in eradicating
poverty and inequality, promoting health and hygiene, and ensuring
sustainable development.

Challenges in Education
Despite its significance, access to quality education remains a challenge,
especially in developing countries. The widening gap between urban and
rural education, lack of infrastructure, inadequate teacher training, and
outdated curriculums are some of the pressing issues that need to be
addressed.

The Role of Technology in Education

Technology can play a pivotal role in transforming education. Digital
learning platforms can democratize access to education, personalized
learning can cater to individual learning styles, and AI can help in
monitoring student progress and providing targeted interventions.

Conclusion
Education is a fundamental right and a critical driver of human
development. As we navigate the complexities of the 21st century, it is
imperative to reimagine education, making it more inclusive, relevant,
and future-ready. Leveraging technology can be a game-changer in this
regard, but it needs to be coupled with systemic reforms to truly unleash
the transformative power of education.
500 Words Essay on Education
Introduction
Education, in its broadest sense, is the means through which the aims
and habits of a group of people sustain from one generation to the next.
It plays a pivotal role in the development of a society and is a critical
tool for the progress of a nation. For India, a country with diverse
cultures, languages, and traditions, education is the unifying force that
can drive growth, equality, and social justice.

The Significance of Education

Education is much more than mere literacy. It is about acquiring
knowledge, developing critical thinking, fostering creativity, and building
character. It empowers individuals, opens up opportunities, and
promotes social inclusion. Education is the cornerstone of a democratic
society as it encourages active participation in societal affairs and instills
a sense of responsibility among citizens.

Education and Economic Growth

There is a strong correlation between education and economic growth.
Education equips individuals with skills and knowledge that can improve
their productivity and enhance their employability. It can foster
innovation, promote entrepreneurship, and drive economic development.
For a developing country like India, investing in education can yield high
economic dividends.

Challenges in the Indian Education System

Despite the importance of education, India faces numerous challenges in
its education system. These include issues of access, equity, quality, and
relevance. Many children, especially in rural areas, do not have access to
quality education. The education system is often criticized for its rote
learning approach, which stifles creativity and critical thinking. There is a
need to make education more relevant to the needs of the economy and
society.

Reforming the Education System

Reforming the education system requires a multi-pronged approach. It
involves improving infrastructure, enhancing teacher training, revising
curriculum, promoting inclusive education, and leveraging technology.
The recent National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is a step in the right
direction. It aims to overhaul the education system and make it more
holistic, flexible, and aligned to the needs of the 21st century.

Role of Technology in Education

Technology can play a transformative role in education. It can help
overcome barriers of access, personalize learning, and make education
more interactive and engaging. The COVID-19 pandemic has
underscored the importance of digital learning and highlighted the need
to bridge the digital divide.

Conclusion
Education is a powerful tool that can transform lives, societies, and
nations. It is the key to unlocking India‘s demographic dividend and
achieving sustainable development. However, it requires concerted
efforts from all stakeholders – government, educators, parents, and
students – to realize its full potential. As Nelson Mandela said,
―Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change
the world.‖ In the Indian context, it is not just a weapon but a necessity
for change and progress.
The Importance of Education
Education is a powerful tool that can change the world. It is not just
about reading and writing, but also about gaining knowledge, learning
new skills and becoming a better person. It helps us to understand the
world around us.

Education and Society

Education plays a crucial role in society. It helps in building character
and shaping one‘s future. An educated society is a progressive society.
Education promotes equality and social justice, leading to a harmonious
and inclusive society.

Education and Development

Education is the key to development. It fosters innovation and creativity,
which are essential for economic growth. It also helps in reducing
poverty and improving health outcomes. Without education,
development is not possible.
250 Words Essay on Education
Introduction
Education, the cornerstone of human development, is a powerful tool
that empowers individuals and shapes societies. It is the catalyst for
economic prosperity, social progress, and political stability. It is not just
about acquiring knowledge but also about cultivating critical thinking,
fostering innovation, and nurturing empathy.

Importance of Education
Education is the bedrock of a civilized society. It fosters an
understanding of our social responsibilities and equips us with the skills
to contribute to societal progress. It plays a crucial role in eradicating
poverty and inequality, promoting health and hygiene, and ensuring
sustainable development.

Challenges in Education
Despite its significance, access to quality education remains a challenge,
especially in developing countries. The widening gap between urban and
rural education, lack of infrastructure, inadequate teacher training, and
outdated curriculums are some of the pressing issues that need to be
addressed.

The Role of Technology in Education

Technology can play a pivotal role in transforming education. Digital
learning platforms can democratize access to education, personalized
learning can cater to individual learning styles, and AI can help in
monitoring student progress and providing targeted interventions.
Conclusion
Education is a fundamental right and a critical driver of human
development. As we navigate the complexities of the 21st century, it is
imperative to reimagine education, making it more inclusive, relevant,
and future-ready. Leveraging technology can be a game-changer in this
regard, but it needs to be coupled with systemic reforms to truly unleash
the transformative power of education.
500 Words Essay on Education
Introduction
Education, in its broadest sense, is the means through which the aims
and habits of a group of people sustain from one generation to the next.
It plays a pivotal role in the development of a society and is a critical
tool for the progress of a nation. For India, a country with diverse
cultures, languages, and traditions, education is the unifying force that
can drive growth, equality, and social justice.

The Significance of Education

Education is much more than mere literacy. It is about acquiring
knowledge, developing critical thinking, fostering creativity, and building
character. It empowers individuals, opens up opportunities, and
promotes social inclusion. Education is the cornerstone of a democratic
society as it encourages active participation in societal affairs and instills
a sense of responsibility among citizens.

Education and Economic Growth

There is a strong correlation between education and economic growth.
Education equips individuals with skills and knowledge that can improve
their productivity and enhance their employability. It can foster
innovation, promote entrepreneurship, and drive economic development.
For a developing country like India, investing in education can yield high
economic dividends.

Challenges in the Indian Education System

Despite the importance of education, India faces numerous challenges in
its education system. These include issues of access, equity, quality, and
relevance. Many children, especially in rural areas, do not have access to
quality education. The education system is often criticized for its rote
learning approach, which stifles creativity and critical thinking. There is a
need to make education more relevant to the needs of the economy and
society.

Reforming the Education System

Reforming the education system requires a multi-pronged approach. It
involves improving infrastructure, enhancing teacher training, revising
curriculum, promoting inclusive education, and leveraging technology.
The recent National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is a step in the right
direction. It aims to overhaul the education system and make it more
holistic, flexible, and aligned to the needs of the 21st century.

Role of Technology in Education

Technology can play a transformative role in education. It can help
overcome barriers of access, personalize learning, and make education
more interactive and engaging. The COVID-19 pandemic has
underscored the importance of digital learning and highlighted the need
to bridge the digital divide.

Conclusion
Education is a powerful tool that can transform lives, societies, and
nations. It is the key to unlocking India‘s demographic dividend and
achieving sustainable development. However, it requires concerted
efforts from all stakeholders – government, educators, parents, and
students – to realize its full potential. As Nelson Mandela said,
―Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change
the world.‖ In the Indian context, it is not just a weapon but a necessity
for change and progress.
How to Brainstorm Essay topic?
Example - If topic is related to education - you can expand it in following
way-

 Nature of education:

1. Primary / Secondary / Tertiary

2. Technical / Non Technical
3. School / Home Education / Peer Learning / Experiential
Learning
4. Private vs Public

 Education to whom:

o Adult vs Child
o Girls / Boys
 Do we think about?
o Transgender education
o education in jail for inmates
o education for kids of workers like in brick kiln
o education for mentally special kids
o education for divyang kids
o PVTGs and Tribal Kids
 What do we have to teach?
o Life saving skills as well
o Culture/ ethos / scientific temper (DPSP mention)
o Protection of nature / wildlife
o Respect for human life particularly for female dignity
o Educating for empowerment and equity
o Learning how to learn (Margaret Mead Quote)
o Tools for healthy, happy and fulfilling life- eg. Yoga, Meditation
 What can be medium?
o Online medium / offline medium
o Peer learning
 o taking to places of cultural importance like museums/ exposure
to Olympiads and exhibitions
o Experiential learning- learning by actually doing. Eg.
agriculture, marketing
 Developing their cognitive functionalities to ask the right Q and self
discover the Answer with help from teacher
 Best practices
o Delhi Model Schools/ Unayan Banka Model / Gyanoday Godda
model
 Surveys
o NAS / Pratham does the survey as well / different state surveys
etc

 Commercialization of education
 Difference between literacy and education- development of
knowledge v/s character
 Role of family, society, peers to inculcate values, civic sense
 Nai taleem of Gandhiji
 Rote learning, marks rewarded for reproducing what is taught not
understanding why? Less emphasis on the intellectual and spiritual
role of education in Indian education system
 Mismatch between curricula and industry's needs
 Educated practicing patriarchy and caste system (lack of value
education)
 Flaws in Indian R&D system which lets plagiarism happen
 Continuous learning not emphasised in our education system
 Low value given to research vis a vis package
 Start ups being seen as undesirable endeavours by parents and
failure of them seen as taboo in society
 Disagreeing with teacher is seen as being rude but education should
teach dissent
 Schooling promoting materialism
 Need for adaptive learning, knowledge creation by children and
learning by doing for children
  Education to instill constitutional morality into pupil, role of education
to inculcate values of public service, sympathy, empathy,
compassion, integrity, honesty, tolerance, justice, truthfulness, love
caring, humanitarianism, trusteeship, social unity, altruism, EQUITY,
REDISTRIBUTION, benevolence, philanthropy and in the students
 Aware and mature electorate through political education of masses-
not go for vote bank politics
 Macaulay‘s Minute on Education- universities still produce clerks for
government administration and not innovators of the future.

These are all random pointers - (fodder material). Now, based on exact
topic, you can arrange relevant points from above material to write a
orderly, concise and relevant essay!

Try writing a essay on topic related to education now. Also, start to think
in multiple dimensions as shown above. It'll help you write uniqe and
interesting essays! Happy learning.

Education "paves the path for society's enlightenment .

It is well said that "Education is the premise of progress, in every society and in
every family."In ancient India education was considered as the "spinal cord" of
society .it is believed that if youths neglect education then the whole country
walks lame in the race of development. In Vedic age education was considered
as emancipation from life bondages. In fact in modern India education occupies
the highest value in the society. Ours is a dynamic education system that has the
potential to educate the every people from every economic class. But "change" is
the rule of nature all the systems, all the rules , all the laws are to be modified
time to time as per its need and so does our education system needs certain
improvements.

In 2013 alone, nearly 2417 suicide cases were attributed to "failure in

examination ". a common question that hits every Indian minds is that- are only
students responsible for their failure ? Does our education system lie faultless?
the answer is "No", thus there is an urgent need to introduce some
improvements in our education system.
A student's life is considered as a laboratory for educational experiments so in
order to enrich and flourish their knowledge "exams" must be held on regular
basis. Apart from 3 main exams there can be a "review test" every week
followed by a "revision test "monthly once, so that students can perform well
and this can learn from their own mistakes. School is considered as the temple of
learning; where the overall personality of a student is framed. Elocution ,debate ,
recitation drawing ,dancing, sport have equal importance in student's life as that
of studies.so this must be a part of school curriculum. A good orator, a public
speaker can best represent the country in international platform. So seminars on
regular basis must be held to show their talents through reasoning. "Equal
Opportunities" should be given to each student to show their talents. There
should be no discrimination on basis of parental status, caste, sex and not on
sequence of student's performance. Only learning without understanding is like
an ass carrying the load of sandalwood, feels only its weight , without being
benefitted by its perfume. So great emphasize must be given on what students
learn not on how much marks they scored.

In this era of digitisation, we can get everything on internet. Thus a smart

technique must be introduced in our education system - "A common platform - A
common teaching" . In order to implement this a website can be created where
students can watch online videos of best lectures and teachers around India. In
addition to this a student can also clarify his doubt from the concerned lecture of
his interested subject. In this way various students can interact among
themselves and with teachers, it will provide an environment of group discussion
where students can enrich the knowledge.

Again this can solve yet another problem that is not all students are getting the
same guidance for preparation of competitive examination may it be UPSC , SSC
,BANKING,CAT,GATE,IIT-JEE ,NEET , etc ,all because of lack of proper coaching
centres. So if government of India will take this initiative to develop this website,
then it will prove a common platform for learning and this website will be
authentic and secured too.

In ancient India the main objective of education is preservation and spread of

culture. But in present day we are in some way or other eroding these values.
Thus the schools should take the initiative to revive the essence of introducing
the value of culture in the curriculum. At least once in every week there should
be a special class for culture and ethics, in which the students know about our
glorious past and culture and their advancement in present day. Students must
be taught the lessons from the Holy Bhagwat Gita, the Bible, the Quran, the
Guru- Granth. Another great change is needed that is "Dividing" the students
according to their interest in different subjects. A student must be given chance
to give his best in the field of his interest only.

Now as India is heading towards rapid development, producing the best

scientists, teachers and engineers. But the bitter reality is that hardly any one of
them is interested to serve their motherland. Somewhere our education system
is lagging, as it cannot induce the feeling of "Nationalism" in our children. A
child's mind is like "wet mud" , moulds in the direction in which we desire. Thus
from the very beginning we must teach our children the very essense of "Being
Indian And Serve India". Well said by Anthony J.D. Angelo
"Develop a passion for learning, if u do so you will never cease to grow".
Little changes in our Education System can lead to Better India.

The present education system of our country is the gift of the imperial British raj.
The Britishers imparted education in our country primarily to produce a clerical
class to aid their imperialistic designs as bringing clerks from England to India
would have been a proposition of spending the pound to save the penny.

But the most important reason for the British to impart education in our country
seems to be to impose and impart the language 'English', in a multi-lingual and
multi-cultural country like India.

The British have left the country long back but what has remained in our country
is the hegemony of the language 'English' which can be considered as a replica
of British imperialism in our country.

In this backdrop, let us analyse our present education system of our country and
thereby suggest improvements in it:-

1. Firstly, when a toddler learns the three R's in his life, it is the
bounden duty of our education system to make it simple and
 interesting to learn for him. I think, the best way to do it is by
imparting education in the same language in which he was trained to
speak in his infancy, i.e., imparting education in the mother tongue.
This will improve the education system by making learning less
cumbersome by reading and writing in mother tongue then in a
foreign language 'English'.
2. Secondly, further analysing the debate of medium of instruction, that
is, English vs. the indigenous languages of the country, here it is
pertinent to mention that in the last couple of decades there has
been a mushroom growth of English medium schools in our country.
So, it is also true that, there has been a large tilting towards a
foreign language 'English' at the school level. At the same time, I
would like to state that English should be welcomed at the stage of
higher education, as at this stage of education in this globalised
world of today higher education has a global perspective. Whereas to
curtail the pressure of learning a foreign language by a toddler is not
welcomed as it puts utmost-pressure at a very tender age to cope up
with an alien language.
3. Thirdly, today's education system is more marks centric then instead
of giving stress on innovation, knowledge and creativity. Recently
many eye-brows were raised in our country over the awarding of
grace marks by C.B.S.E. and by the state board in states like Assam
in Xth and XIIth final examinations. These make-shift arrangements
to make more students to clear the bar of Xth and XIIth standard
examination is as a whole suicidal. That is why in the recent past
many students were able to secure or cleared Xth and XIIth standard
examinations with flying colours but his/her voyage of success has
halted after that. In this regard, I would like to suggest that, our
education system should be made knowledge centric rather than
making it marks centric by giving more stress on a student's
scholastic achievements which are linked with innovative thinking,
creativity, etc. Rather than becoming rich by reading a branch of
study or subject, a student in our education system should try to
enrich that branch of study via fundamental research and innovation.
4. I think, at the present time in our education system there is more
stress on studying less in life and earning more or most in life by the
 common masses. In this land of luminaries like Chanakya, Kabir,
Swami Vivekananda and numerous other saints who have enriched
this land India via their knowledge in the past, but at the present
time, we see most of us study to join the rat-race of white collar
jobs. That is why we have many degree-holders in our country but
few Steve Jobs or Mark Zukerberger in this country. In this regard we
should ponder whether we, via our present education system, we
have been able to carry on the legacy of the past and if not we must
introspect what has gone wrong. We all Indians to overcome the
present stalemate of our education system, we all need to stand up
and start a start up campaign in our country.
5. The greatest goal that our education system should achieve to make
it worthy for the times to come is to make it morally sound for the
learners by imbibing in it a sense of moral discipline among the
teacher-taught combine. Values at present in the Indian society are
at crossroads. So is the educated masses are at a cobweb of
confusion over whether to be a vivid knowledge-seeker or a vivid
wealth-seeker in his/her life. In this regard what I would like to say
to them is that wealth is worldly but what is divine in life is
knowledge. Knowledge which takes us to the path of divinity should
be welcomed by one and all. I think, we all Indians should remember
that in any education system knowledge is all pervasive whereas
pomp and gaiety brought in by wealth is just a corollary to it.

CONCLUSION:-
In a nutshell, I would like to say that the most important improvement in our
education system that I would like to bring in it is to encompass one and all by
making it affordable and accessible to them. In this endeavour, in a developing
country like ours we should focus on its universality or in other words, bringing it
to the door steps of every Indians. I think in this regard, we all Indians including
our policy makers should try to make universal education in our country as
achievable as achievable it has been universal suffrage, in our country. On the
contrary, our education system will become penny wise and pound foolish type
of a concept in our country.
'Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world' Nelson
Mandela.

This quote reflects the importance that we need to put in the education system.
Education is the basic human right of every human being. Education is the only
source by which a society can change itself. In India, education lags far behind
the global average. Indian education system finds itself trapped in the British
legacy. The method of education still languishes in the British era. Indian
education system teaches a student to memorize rather than understand. This
memorization technique fails without any proper revision. Indian education
system has to change to adapt to changing times. Currently the education
system suffers from many flaws such as low quality of education, no
competitiveness etc.

Quality
The quality of education system in India is very low. According to an
international, independent NGO Majority of students are unemployable. The
educations imparted by schools, in govt. schools, were in vernacular medium.
Huge amount of investment in the form of fiscal and social is the need of the
hour. Government spending in education is very low i.e only 3.5 % of GDP while
the world's average is 4.8 % of GDP. Increase in spending by the government
will bring talent.

Increasing private participation

Private schools in the entire India are very small. Most of the private schools are
present in the urban areas with negligible presence in rural India. This let people
to send their children's to government schools. Increasing private participation in
the education system will increase the spread of knowledge and make Indian
education system strong.

New system of teaching

The teaching system in India is mostly thrusted in memorizing books. This age
old system should be changed now. The students should understand rather than
to memorize. Understanding will increase their memory. Indian education system
is established by its colonial masters to create more babus and pen-pushers.
Therefore, this system now needs to be changed and more emphasis should be
put to innovative ideas.

Personalise education
Indian education system is like one size fit for all. This is not the case for all.
Every child has its own learning capacity. Special emphasis must be put to teach
every child individually and innovatively. Earlier children are taught to be babus
but now, most of the children are becoming engineers. But this change in career,
also, is not translated into innovation. Therefore, personalizing education is a
must for today's India.

Technology
Currently use of technology is nil in Indian education system. This makes it hard
to impart modern teachings to students. Technology has the capacity to reach
each and every nook and corner of the country. This makes it extremely urgent
to utilize technology for imparting education to students. Technology can
connect a pupil of remote area with a foreign pupil therefore exchange of ideas
and culture will enhance education system. Moreover, use of technology will
keep Indian education system updated in every sphere.

Education system of a country is the main determinant of its future. A good

education system has the capacity to uplift the people in every sphere. Whether,
it is economic, social or physical. Thus a good education system for India is the
need of the hour. Current education system is not bad but there is room for
improvements also.-----------------

Education is not a finite process. It is not initiated at the morning bell and
terminated at dismissal. It does not begin after Labor Day and end in June. And
it most definitely does not start on the first day of Kindergarten and end on
graduation day. Perhaps most importantly, it does not begin in 3rd grade (or
whenever your state begins state assessments) and it should not end after
testing is completed in March.
Unfortunately, our current education system focuses on a goal being achieved, a
test being passed and getting the "right" answer.

First, there is qualitative evidence that teachers must be evaluated based on

professional teaching standards, multi-faceted evidence of teacher practice,
student learning, professional contributions and teacher collaboration. A
successful approaches to teacher evaluation and concluded that there are seven
criteria for an effective teacher evaluation system.

 Teacher evaluations should be based on professional teaching standards.

 Evaluations should include multi-faced evidence of teacher practice,
student learning and professional contributions.
 Evaluators should be knowledgeable about instruction and well trained in
the evaluation system.
 Evaluations should be accompanied by useful feedback and connected to
professional development opportunities.
 The evaluation system should value and encourage teacher collaboration,
 Expert teachers should be part of the assistance and review process.
 Panels of teachers and administrators should oversee the evaluation
process to guarantee useful and high quality information.

Second, we know that the inclusion of student performance acts in favor of the
students, but results in a partially unfair allocation of teacher recognition.

Third, we know that teacher evaluation is a tool that depends on complementary

inputs. In order for teachers to be able to improve their practice, they must use
the information derived from evaluation to identify needs specific to their groups,
develop strategies and take action.

For this to happen teachers must have time to analyze the data and count on the
necessary support to bring their strategies to an improved instruction practice.
The improvement of the quality of education supply is a process that required
continuous knowledge.

Learning must be relevant. If we learn skills because we NEED them to

do something that matters to us, then we remember them. For example,
students working on measuring and calculating the area of a plot of land in
which they will be growing a garden to provide vegetables for class snacks are
going to care about the formula for calculating area. In fact, they will probably
be able to derive the formula. Textbooks, while an "easy fix" are very ineffective,
especially if the textbook is the primary (or exclusive) source of information and
work provided to the students.

Concluding, teacher evaluation is a tool to improve the quality of education that

depends on complementary inputs and should ideally consider professional
teaching standards, multi-faceted evidence of teacher practice, student learning,
professional contributions and teacher collaboration. Just in case you wonder,
what you think about your teacher probably does not matter. It is likely you think
your best teachers are those that gave you best grades.

Some students are get out of the schools and colleges and even universities due
to malnutrition and shortage of rich food. Education is not a prevelage. It is a
long journey with additional colors. The additional burden of learning is a curve
or it is a generation gap. The new generation courses in India now evolve three
tier citizenship. Even there are lop-sided developments and sociological
paradigms. Some of the outsiders even know the spelling bee of Microbiology
and mathematics. Industrial mathematics is a specialized branch of study to
access the theories of math into information level. Basic research is the
phenomenon of Industrial Patents.

The Job Index is proclaimed to multitudes by the Career Guru. Is the career guru
knows meditation. ? There are Government funds for career development.
Religion is an agency of funding, and the minority is fallen into a trap of vote
bank. Social media is a Double edge sword as the propaganda and talents are
clustered into trend �wise areas. The new-generation needs change the
syllabus. The trap in education is unemployment and before underemployment,
education is valueless.

Money has power if the education tends to formal needs. In the new generation
sensation, radio is outdated. Still there is old syllabus in colleges in economics
and politics. From Industrial output to Hub level, Index of Industrial Production
(IIP) coincides to WPI (Wholesale Price level).The new encyclopedia and
dictionary is to be written and edited in New-generation Terminologies. It is
difficult to understand rich people�s behavior. Urbanization can solve the issues
of New generation Status. A puzzle question is asked .Which is more valuable? A
Doctor or one crore rupee? The trap is value �less education. Much of the hilly
districts in India have a proven record of efficiency. Learning is a policy of the
civilized people. Forex trade can be tolerated in trade services. Artificial
intelligence is a safety policy .A posts for students in Facebook is a critical
warfare. Our superior Intelligence is the strength of the community. Where is
International Relations as a subject now studied? Is it on the China �Pakistan
border? Our society needs people having jobs and high salaries. Otherwise
society ignores them.

Due to climatic changes and pressure people

selects hilly areas of residences.
It is advisable to have good teachers having minimum scolding. Teacher is a
good model. At the benevolence of teacher, the student improves his career. We
are living in a world having multipolar disorder. All the issues can be solved in
counseling. Counseling can be made good if the teacher-student ratio is
widened. Wide gap of unemployment and the age bar is related. I think the age
bar in Job market is for relaxation .The age bar in job is to be taken away.
People study more from experiences in the age of 40 or 45.Age bar restricts our
country�s ageing theory to a minimum level. May I conclude the thesis with a
hope of dignity? Hope is vital for all students?

- Abraham Johnson Anchaniyil

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."

The above lines quoted by the 'Father of The Nation', Mahatma Gandhi,
emphasizes on the true essence of education in enlightening the minds and souls
of thousands of people all over the world. Our country, India since time
immemorial has fought back against various obstacles to attain the status of
being a 'devoloped country'. After a long drawn struggle of seven decades, it has
almost succeeded in fulfilling its wish by attaining a Gross Domestic
Product(GDP) rate of 7.1 percent as in the fiscal year,2017,which is higher than
most of its contemporaries. This mass development would not have been
possible without the whole-hearted contribution of the educated citizens of the
country. Thus, Education is that driving force which contributes to the growth of
a nation. At present, with a literacy rate of 74.04 percent, the Indian
Government is trying its level best to sow the seed of education in every nook
and corner of the country, be it the rural area or the urban area.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word education has been defined as "the
process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or
university."However, the word education has a wider meaning than this. It is not
a finite process just confined within the four walls of a school or a university.
Attaining proper education is a lifelong process which comes to an end only with
one's last breath.

The present education system in our country is all about achieving a goal,
passing a test and obtaining good grades. However, on a serious note, education
is much more than this, and therefore the system requires many improvements
in order to prepare the youth for facing more serious challenges in this 'field of
battle' ,called life.

The present education system should focus on better quality of education rather
than the quantity of knowledge attained during ones lifetime. The youth should
be given a scope to utilise their creative minds in analysing a problem rather
than putting forward a memorised theory from the prescribed textbooks.
Amongst all the creatures, human beings are the most intelligent of all. Famous
writer, Dale Carnegie, in his self-help book, "How to Win Friends And Influence
People" ,has written , "The average person develops only ten percent of his
latent mental ability."Thus, if the youth is not allowed to utilise their intelligence
and creative thinking, then they will fail to identify their actual potential. Hence,
maximum stress should be given to practical training rather than theoretical
knowledge. After learning about a particular subject, the teachers should make it
a point to give students assignments on how to put the knowledge gained into
actual practice. Practical method is one of the best methods of developing skills
among the youngsters from a very tender age. These skills that they develop in
the early years of their life is going to help them in the future when they pursue
a career of their choice.
Digital Education should be made a must in the Indian classrooms. Taking
initiative from the Digital India programme of the Government, every educational
institution should embark on teaching the students on digital platforms so that
the use of paper can be drastically reduced. As the saying goes, "One tree one
life", it is our moral obligation to preserve trees by considerably reducing the
usage of papers. Taking inspiration from the Digital India Initiative, the present
generation should be taught about the cashless modes of payment, online
banking , etc. With the minimum amount of cash flow in the economy, there will
be a better distribution of wealth amongst all the sections of the society.

Health Education should be made an important part of the curriculum as a

healthy body makes a healthy mind. Thus, every institution, all over the country
should promote yoga classes . Sports should be encouraged, as this will not only
help in making good sportspersons but will also help in maintaining physical
fitness among the youth of the country. Mahatma Gandhi had once stated, "The
future of India lies in its villages. If the villages perish, India will perish too."At
present, the literacy rate in rural India is 68.9 percent while the urban area has
reported 85 percent literacy. Thus, the education system should widen its
horizon so that every villager in our country can receive education so that the
literacy rate increases to cent percent in the near future. India has always
maintained its status of being the pioneer of education in the world and with a
little improvement in the present education system, we can be at par with the
other superpowers of the world.

- Monalisa Poali

Education in India is an attention seeking area.The current education system

does not even stand on global platform as less than 5 Indian university falls
under top 100 in world. The private as well as government education institutes
both suffer from malfunctions.

Regarding learning at government institutes, it seems antagonistic to learning.

From teachers and infrastructure to other paraphernalia for learning, all are of
poor quality in these institutes. Despite government's efforts of providing free
education up to high school, mid-day meals, etc, the condition remains as it is.
Bihar and UP are the host to worst government institutes in the country.
It is not too late for restoration of proper education in government schools and
colleges. At taking a close look, we find that there is fault at each level in the
whole education system. From proper usage of funds to appointment of teachers
there has to be transparency in the system. Once funds are released they
disappear before being utilized for the purpose they are released. Some
measures that can help upgrade this system are:

1. Strict recruitment of eligible teachers only after proper screening. The

screening too has to be common in all schools and of standard type, i.e,
merit based and through software.
2. The cheating during examinations and leaking of question parers must
be checked. Officials concerned with this should personally invigilate the
whole procedure.
3. Once the funds are released it should be mandatory for its complete and
legal usage within a definite period, as time lapse will lead to misuse or
improper use of funds. District Magistrate must ensure that this does not
happen.
4. Various schemes to lure students to school must be scrutinized
periodically and old ones be replaced by new ones if needed. This
should include spot checking of mid-day meals and class proceedings
and inclusion of extracurricular activities.
5. As far as infrastructure is concerned, I feel that once the quality of
education rises, infrastructure too will take a leap as advance methods
such as smart classes cannot be propagated in unhealthy atmosphere.
6. Last, what is ailing is that government employees are unfaithful towards
their work or have procrastination attitude. This deteriorates the
fundamentalism of learning process. Morality has a crucial role here.

With reference to education system in private sector, it can be rated good in

comparison to those run by government but still do need some change.
Currently, it seems that private institutions are a means to multiply money for its
owners, as such the quality of education deteriorates and frivolous things are
enhanced. Some improvements needed in this sector are:

1. It is noticeable that there is disparity within the private institutions with

reference to the council or board to which they are affiliated. For
 example CBSE follows the CCE pattern for syllabus and grading system
for marking, while the ICSE has stick to the old percentage system of
marking in each subject, It has caused a muddle in meritocracy selection
with some non-meritorious students gaining undeserving access. Hence,
all institutions should follow the old percentage system of marking,
making evaluation transparent and merit based.
2. There should be an independent body to look after the fee structure and
admission process in private institutions.
3. It must not be made mandatory to buy books from school prescribed
stores only.
4. Labs and smart classes should be provided to students throughout the
year, as fee is taken for the whole year but these facilities are not
provided for more than 60-80 days.
5. The text books used in various institutions differ for the same class,
moreover, after every one or two sessions new books are prescribed.
This is merely done to derive profit and does not carry any academic
value and so should be undone with.
6. Sporting activities are must for students, as it works as stress buster.
Bookish learning at school and then back at home has taken away
liveliness from their lives. So sports and required playground must be an
essential part of curriculum.
7. Most important is cultivating moral values in learners. Given the
aggression in today's society, it is the schools and colleges where a
student spends much time, can instill them with morality. This can be
done by inviting social reformers, visual appeal, textual learning, etc.

These were some ways which can raise the standard of education and help
produce responsible citizens. But i personally believe that dual system of
education ,i.e, private and government is like a rift between rich and poor and
thus an impediment to progress. Hence, there should be a single platform to
learn.

For this to happen, the government must upgrade the level of its institutions and
win over those who opt for their child's admission into private ones. This will
invite the attraction of the bureaucracy and other affluent of the society towards
government institutions. Then it will be wonderful to see the child of a mason
and other of a doctor learning together, growing together and binding the
society together.

- Divya Prasad

Before talking about education system we must have a small introduction about
education. In general term education is an effort of the senior people to transfer
knowledge of basic rules and values to the younger members of society. Hence it
is an institution, which plays an important role in integrating an individual with
his society and in maintaining the stability of culture. According to Nelson
Mandela, "education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change
the world."

Now we must talk about the differences between literacy and education. Literacy
is about acquiring the skills and learning for benefit of the people, society and
country. Hence the concept of education is bigger than literacy. According to
Gandhiji," education means all-round development of people's mind and spirit.
Hence literacy is not the end nor beginning of education."

Now we can talk about the education system of India. During ancient times
Indian society, the number of educational institution was too small and the
content of education was sophisticated and related with religion, philosophy
medicine, mathematics and. However in ancient period educations were open to
all students irrespective of cast, color, creed and gender.

In medieval times education was confined to the upper castes. The

organizational structure was hereditary. The lower castes and women were
denied education. Hence Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar said to be 'Educate,
Agitate and Organize.'

Now days as there are development in education, technology and communication

the modern education is general, open and liberal to all. The world-view is
scientific-rational; the theme consists of freedom, equality and denial of faith in
superstitions. The course content are rationalistic and in the tune with the needs
of the present day society. Unfortunately education has become just to gain
degree and job. This is because the Britishers had introduced the modern
education. They themselves were masters hence they don't required masters.
They need servants to run the administration of the country. Now we are free
from Britishers so our education system must be free from narrow mindedness.
Improvement in education must involve: -

1. Development in moral and esthetic values.

2. Development in tolerance.
3. Promotion of physical development, art and culture.
4. Development in general knowledge and current affairs.
5. Education must strengthen to promote selflessness, entrepreneurship
and denial of an unjust compromise.

Unfortunately in our educational system of primary sections are least qualified

and least paid. Hence to avoid all these things high qualified teachers must be
appointed and they should be well paid so that to provide quality education in
their early age to strengthen their plinth.

The constitution provided the right to education in article 21[A]. To give effect to
right to education, parliament passed the right of children to free and
compulsory education act or RTE act on 4th August 2009.

Main features of the RTE act are as follows:-

1. Free and compulsory education to all children of India in the age group
of 6 to 14.
2. No child shall be held back, expelled or required to pass a board
examination.
3. Completion of elementary education.
4. RTE calls for a fixed student-teacher ratio.
5. Mandates improvement in quality of education.
6. School infrastructure [where there is problem] to be improved in three
years, else recognition cancelled.
7. No child shall be denied admission in a school for lack of age proof.
8. Provides for 25 percent reservation for economically disadvantaged
communication in admission to Class One in all private school.
9. Financial burden will be shared between state and central government.
 10. A child above six years of age who has not been admitted in any
school then he or she shall be admitted in a class appropriate to his or
her age.

- Saurabh Sen

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think

critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." - Martin
Luther King, Jr.

India has shown significant improvement in education since 1947. However, we

believe that there is always some room for improvement in every field. So, here
are a few ways that can help us improve our education system.

1. Skill Based Learning - Schools should be allowed to provide skill based

training. It can be done best by recognizing the areas of interest of a
student. If someone is interested in repairing mobiles, there should be
provision for mobile engineering course. If someone loves trying hands
in handicraft items, the training should be provided for the same and so
on. Skill based training will ensure one thing - Self-employment!
2. Focus on Rural Education - Mahatma Gandhi said, "The future of India
lies in its villages. If the villages perish, India will perish too." This alone
explains the significance of focus on rural education. We should have
schemes and schools that provide good education to children living in
villages. Also, involvement of talented and experienced teachers should
be assured.
3. Free Basic Computer Skills Classes - It is the era of globalization driven
by Information Technology, education is nearly incomplete without basic
computer training. Be it accounts, engineering or just the simple back
office job, the use of computers are everywhere.
4. Teacher Training - Our country already has several training programs for
teachers. The need of the hour is to design a curriculum for teachers in
such a way that provides uniformity in teaching standards all over the
country. Moreover, teachers should be trained well enough that they
know their rights as well as duties.
5. Subsidies and Grants for Professional Courses - No doubt, we have
different scholarships existing in various schemes for the underprivileged
as well as the meritorious students. We can further improve this by
having subsidies and grants in various professional courses. This way,
aspiring students will not have financial related limitations.
6. Educate Parents - Educating parents is equally important so that they do
not force their children in their career path. Also, necessary steps should
be taken to augment and improve the communication between teachers
and parents.
7. Health education - Another area that needs improvement and attention
is the health education. We should try to inculcate the knowledge of
Yoga and other workouts in our education system so that children get to
learn and understand the value of good health and maintain the same.
8. Smart Classes - Though many of the Indian schools and institutes are
already following this concept, we should take a step wherein all
educational institutes can be connected with the concept of smart
classes. With the help of different audio-video devices, multimedia
concepts and other necessary IT elements, we can make our students
learn and understand theories in a much better and modern way.
9. E-libraries - Introducing this concept in our education system will be of
great help, as anyone would be able to access books and the required
study material from anywhere with ease. Moreover, E-libraries can be
updated quickly with new material and books which is a blessing in
disguise.
10. Making Sports Compulsory - Last, but not the least, we should try to
make sports compulsory in our education system. This will not only help
students to embrace a bright career, but will also help our country in the
long run! Moreover, this option will also generate employment for so
many talented sports persons who, due to some reason, could not
further pursue their career in sports.
So why not achieve another milestone in education by making some
more improvements? With little effort, planning, hard-work and a
positive attitude, we can definitely take our education system to new
heights.
Quotes on Education

Education is the manifestation of perfection already in man –

Swami Vivekananda

 The object of education is to prepare the young to educate

themselves throughout their lives.

 The education of a man is never completed until he dies – Robert

E Lee

To educate a person in mind and not in orals is to educate a

menace to the society – Theodore Roosevelt

 We do not want book worms, we want man making, character

building education – Swami Vivekananda

 Education should be such which takes us to perfection

 Education begins in womb and ends in tomb

 Stagnant minds create immobile systems which becomes

roadblock to growth. Hence creative thinking in needed.

 Economy is the material part of development. Education is the

essential part of it.

Education that does not mould the character is absolutely

worthless. – Mahatma Gandhi

 Confucius – ―If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in

terms of ten years, plant trees; if in term of 100 years, teach the
people‖ (importance of human capital)

 The illiterate of the twenty first century will not be those who do
not read or write but those who do not learn, re-learn and un-
learn. –Alvin Toffler
  ―Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change
the world‖ – Nelson Mandela.

―The pen is mightier than the sword‖ – Edward Lytton (Father of

Robert Lytton, Governor General of British India)

 A child educated only at school is an uneducated child

Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of real education –

Martin Luther King Jr.

 If the ability of fish is measured by its ability to climb a tree then

fish would have lived it‘s entire life thinking that it is stupid.
-Albert Einstein
------------------------------------
Essay on Education for All: Myth or Reality?
September 30, 2019 by Karan

―What is really needed for the democracy to function is not knowledge of

facts, but the right education‖ – Mahatma Gandhi

The education for all movement was started by UNESCO (Dakar, 2000). It is a
global movement to address and provide for educational needs of children,
youth and adults.

It started after the Dakar conference which was held between 9th and 12th
July 1987. It was first launched in 1990 with an aim to bring ―benefits of
education to every citizen in every society‖ with the help of national
governments, civil societies and development agencies like World Bank and
UNESCO. They had six specific education goals to be achieved by 2005 and
2015.

In India, this started as a means to provide free and compulsory education to

all belonging to the age group 6-14 years old by 2010.

Education for all is guaranteed and protected constitutionally and by law

through the Right to Education Act of 2009 under Article 21 of
the constitution, thus making right to education a fundamental right as per
the Supreme Court decision in 1993.

The government of India recognises the need for primary education to help
people acquire quality education and therefore has set up various government
schools that are looked after by the local authorities; other than these there
were five different schools set up namely Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya
Vidyalaya, Sainik schools, Tibetan schools and Railway schools each of them
serving different purposes.
Government also launched various schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan whose
overall goals included – children in school, reducing gender and social gap in
terms of access to education, quality elementary education and universal
retention.

Other initiatives by the government include schemes like Operation

Blackboard, Non formal education schemes, Teacher education, Mahila
Samakhya etc.

It also came up with District primary education program, launched in 1994,

that aimed at bridging the gaps and improving education in the most
inaccessible areas or in areas with lowest female literacy rate and to improve
the quality of primary education.

Operation Blackboard scheme was launched by the central government to

provide basic institutional and structural aid to government schools that were
necessary for teaching.

The National Literacy Movement was launched in 1988 to help educational

benefits reach adults too. During the period 1988 to 2008, 127.45 million
persons were made literate through NLM interventions.

The NLM was recast in 2009 and its new variant the Saakshar Bharat (Literate
India) Mission was launched in September 2009 with a renewed focus on
female literacy.

The Mission seeks to impart functional literacy to 70 million adults (60 million
females) in the age group of 15 years and above.

The government, as a part of food and nutritional security as well as to

reduce absenteeism from primary schools, launched the mid-day meal
program.
This program served children of primary government schools basic meal (as per the
nutritional quantity needed) for the day so that their basic nutritional requirements are
fulfilled and would lead to reduction in absenteeism, full stomachs which would increase
retention and fall in dropout rates along with achieving food and nutritional security for
these students. Despite these strong initiatives by the government education is still
inaccessible by many.

Accessibility and Affordability of education

Education is still a far fetched dream for many, especially for the ones living in poverty,
in tribal areas or those who are unaware. Accessibility and affordability of education is a
rising issue in a democratic country like India. The government only contributes 2.7
percent of the GDP towards education.

The plight of tribal education is unheard by the state, thanks to some NGO‘s working
towards to this greater social cause. The tribal literacy rate stands only 59 percent as
opposed to the country wide literacy rate of 74 percent. Tribal have been deprived
economically, socially and as humans throughout history.

They haven‘t had access to good roads, basic amenities, electricity, basic food, land and
other necessities required for adequate growth and social upliftment. Government in
order to help them has provided 1470 hostels only for ST students.

It has rolled out various educational schemes like establishment of ashrams for girls and
boys separately; Post matric scholarships for financial assistance, Eklavya model
residence schools to provide medium and high quality education to ST students.

But all of these have certain institutional problems, like they aren‘t handled well by the
state government authorities, at times the state institutions do not want to bear the
financial responsibility of the students or some have poor infrastructure, low quality
teaching staff or low maintenance.

Other problems for tribal education include – language barriers, affordability (because
of corruption at many places), poor student and teacher relations, distance from home
to schools, and basic structural amenities required for schooling are absent which
include books, notebooks.

Another issue that makes education a myth for many people is the poor quality of
infrastructure. There are still about 16.3 percent (primary) and 4.8 percent (upper
primary) schools that still do not have basic drinking facility as per 2004-05 and 2005-
06. There are 51 percent of primary schools (2004-05) that lack basic toilet facilities.

Schools in village areas are still prone to caste, class and gender discrimination.
Students of fifth or sixth grade have to clean latrines or dry latrines because they
belong to a particular lower caste or community, they are made to sit in different lines,
and they are not allowed to drink water from the same glass and so on.

This discrimination makes it difficult for them to get quality education, to concentrate
and thus increases rates of drop outs and absenteeism from schools.

Another reason why education is restricted is the availability of medicines to treat illness
like ring worm, cholera etc that are quite frequent in rural or urban poor areas. They
have no definite and quality medicinal access and try to quit education to avoid the
―additional expenses‖.

Education to females has been affected by a number of reasons numero uno being
orthodox myths and beliefs. In some areas small girls often help their mothers when
they are out for work on field or to collect water. They are often restricted by family
rituals and beliefs that pull them back or drop out of schools after a certain standard.

Some are married off early, while some families fear that if girls go out they will come
under bad influence or will be not be treated well by the society so they are restricted
to their own houses. Some areas where girls are allowed schooling do not have basic
toilet or drinking facilities.

Unavailability of basic latrines makes it difficult for girls to attend schools during those
days of the month due to unhygienic conditions. It also paves way for other diseases
and infections.
While accessibility and myths are an issue, affordability of education is a huge problem
for many. Many families can‘t afford quality education in private schools because they
demand huge donations, large fees or some high level aptitude tests for which rural or
students from poor background aren‘t ready.

These families cannot afford private education and have to choose government schools
that lack infrastructure, sanitation, quality of teachers and quality of study material.
Some government schools don‘t even have adequate facilities like good benches,
blackboards or even buildings.

About 51 percent of the primary schools (2005-06) lack boundary walls and around 3
percent of the primary schools lack adequate school buildings.

Apart from these factors, distance from school also increases dropouts or absenteeism.
Children who have to travel a lot without proper food or medicines fall sick often which
leads them to discontinue. It tends to increase their overall cost of schooling. For girls,
travelling this long is neither an option nor a choice of their family members.

At times, vernacular language holds children back in most of the English medium
schools. They are humiliated, considered of low rank which deteriorates their self
esteem and confidence and eventually diverts them from learning.

Conclusion
Education for all is still a dream in India that dwells in poverty, in the rural parts, in the
tribal areas and the ones belonging to a particular community. It has to do more with
goals like zero hunger, accessibility to all and affordable by all, not alone literacy levels
but quality education that is given equally to all.

Another aspect to education is the difference of schooling between private and

government schools and the difference through boards i.e. the state, central and
international boards. It is not enjoyed equally by all; the textbook matter differs board
wise which produces difference in skill sets and knowledge of an individual.
Though online training‘s and apps like SWAYAM (an government initiative) along with
initiatives by foundations like Teach for India bridge this gap and are trying to provide
quality education free of cost or with a minimal charge.

Yet the basic schooling like poems, difficulty level in subjects like mathematics and
science create a problem when it all comes down to results of 10th and 12th boards.

As far as hostel facilities are concerned to be a solution of travelling cost and distance,
they are not looked after well by the government. Some lack basic amenities,
infrastructure while some do not have good quality food essential for an individuals‘
growth.

Education for all still remains a dream in these areas. It isn‘t a myth completely as
government has, at each time, taken adequate steps to ensure every child is educated
and is provided with the bare minimum necessities for schooling. It has through various
programs tried to reduce the number of dropouts and increased the Net enrolment rate
to almost 73 percent in 2011.

It has reached to the most inaccessible areas to provide education. Through schemes
and training programs for teachers there has been a decrease in cases of
discrimination. Along with Swachh Bharat Abhiyan clean latrines and availability of the
same isn‘t a dream anymore.

Yet, there are institutional and delivery failures that need to be addressed immediately
so that it doesn‘t remain a myth anymore. Government should develop measures to
bring about equality in quality of the knowledge provided by each board yet try to keep
the diversity it gives students.

Public schools should be externally funded too so that they are maintained and families
do not hesitate to send their children to government schools. There should be
awareness of policies and schemes in the tribal and rural areas of India, to be
undertaken by the educational officer of each district and other fellow volunteers.

The goal of quality education has to be realised with the goal of zero hunger, by
ameliorating the system of mid-day meal schemes and nutritional security.
Education is a myth for the unaware, it is the delivery of quality education that has to
be turned into reality along with good infrastructure and institutional facilities made
available to each and every child – male or female; only then can India achieve its goal
of quality education.

rue education must correspond to the surrounding circumstances or it is not a healthy

growth. (Mahatma Gandhi)

Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.
(C.S. Lewis)

Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in

every society, in every family. (Kofi Annan)

Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats
the beauty and the youth. (Chanakya)

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
(Aristotle)

Real education enhances the dignity of a human being and increases his or her self-
respect. (A.P. J. Abdul Kalam)

To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society. (Theodore
Roosevelt)

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Credit Based Higher Education System –
Status, Opportunities and Challenges.
Education in India has always assumed a larger than life role in the
society. Whether it be the ―Guru Gobind Dono Khadey, Kaakey Laagun
Paaye…‖ of Rahim or the twice born doctrine in the Vedas, education
has always had that spiritual connection and the business of imparting
education was never considered a business at all. Perhaps out of this
conceptualization only, education has always received the patronage of
the taste and the wealthy through our history and was never a financial
burden on the students. Whether it be the Kumaragupta founded
Nalanda, or the Gangai Konda Chola Mandap mentioned in the
Anaiyyavaram inscription of Rajendra Chola, or the madarassas founded
by Sher Shah, the students and the teachers were always comfortably
maintained out of the donations and India maintained its distinction of
being one of the most sought after destinations of higher learning.

Things changed for the first time under British India where it was clearly
felt that ―free education would not be valued properly by the natives‖,
and hence should be changed. But post independence, the Indian
conceptualization again took the center stage and the seats of higher
learning became the temples of modern India. Nehru knew the central
importance of higher education in his vision of a planned economic
development and hence ensured that the doors of these temples
remained open to the very best of minds – irrespective of their financial
capabilities. So liberal state grants were made for this cause and thus
the fees were maintained low as well. Within all its constraints such a
system functioned remarkably well in serving the needs of the economy.
However, by the 1990s the structure of this economy began to change.
State led approach gave way to a market determined pattern of
development and the enterprising potential of the economy was
unlocked. Naturally the wants of this economy from its education sector
were much larger in scale and more diverse and dynamic in character.

To meet these new demands, the higher education sector had to reform
as well. First of all its size was simply not big enough. India had a
particularly unimpressive record of the penetration of higher education
and this was simply not consistent with the ambitions of taking the
economy on a high growth trajectory.

Next there was a need to meet the new unconventional needs of the
economy. No longer, thus, it sufficed to produce graduates with
standard degrees possessing standard skills. One needed to be dynamic.
Similarly, as our economy competed on a global scale, we needed
human resources who could work with world class technologies and
management practices as well. Thus a large scale investment in the
sector was needed.

Now this is where the reliance on government could become a

constraint. Because public funds are scarce and slow in coming and are
just not suited for such a dynamic environment. Thus budget constraints
became hard and the sector was forced to rely more on internal
resource generation and thus the credit based education system
proliferated.

There were other factors driving the change as well. For instance the
new economy offered a larger number of better paying jobs. So people
were now prepared to pay more for the higher education which could
land them with such jobs. And it is always difficult to run against the
market forces in full swing. If we hadn‘t allowed the higher education
institutions to increase their fee, it would simply have created more
compliance issues as the higher ‗fee‘ would have been pushed under the
table, because market forces can‘t be resisted on a macro scale without
significant costs.

Moreover as the economy became more integrated with the world, so

did the people. Migration, specially of the qualified people, increased and
if our institutions didn‘t offer better terms to the teachers, the more
qualified ones would have simply migrated away. Similarly if our
institutions didn‘t offer world class facilities and education to the
students, both the students and their prospective employers would
migrate away as well.

Thus there was a clear need for higher investment in the sector and so
the credit based system emerged. With time there has been a gradual
strengthening of the system as more and more private institutions come
up, government institutions increase their fee, private jobs develop more
and banks reorient their business to take advantage of the opportunity.
Finally as we speak, there are proposals to allow foreign universities into
India and a bill to that effect is in the parliament.

Having examined the transition towards the credit based education

system, let us pause and ask ourselves what are the implications of such
a transition. Can it continue to suit us in future as well? What are the
opportunities which lie forward? Or what does it do to the student and
to our cherished dream of equal opportunities to all?

Let us look at the opportunities first. Clearly the biggest strength of the
model, as seen earlier, is that it is aligned with the market forces. This
makes it smooth. This makes it dynamic and this makes it scalable. This
gives us the potential of creating world class human resources. The
model is capable of generating and attracting resources for developing
state of art infrastructure, for retaining top level teachers and students
and thus create a positive feedback mechanism. Apart from providing
the lubricant to run the economy efficiently the model can also help
enhance India‘s soft power. As our highly trained professionals go
abroad, they will help create the image of a new, rich India. Finally, this
model is unique in the sense that it can produce the ‗barefoot engineers‘
needed to advise on the MGNREGS projects and can also produce the
best investment bankers capable of dealing in complex derivative
transactions. Thus the opportunities offered by the model are immense.
But before passing the verdict, let us also look at the potential causes of
concern.

Given the alignment of the model with the market forces and its
potential to serve us, should we then leave it entirely to the market?
Well, certainly not. To begin with ECO 101 tells us that education has
positive externalities and thus if left to the market, the market will
always over price it and provide too little of it. Thus state intervention is
needed to correct this distortion.

Then think of what the model is doing to its principal stakeholder – the
student. It is upping the stakes. And by upping the stakes it is putting
her under a lot of additional pressure. And in an educational system not
exactly known for its sensitivity towards the students, add one more
woe to her already long list of woes – how will I ever repay the credit if I
fail? There is already at least ne suicide every year in my alma mater
since at least a decade – do we want to increase that any further?

Next think of the implications in the current context when an effective

regulatory mechanism is lacking. One aspect clearly is that this puts the
students (and their guardians) in a worse situation since they are locked
in and thus subject to being manipulated by the college authorities. Even
apart from it, think of the wider context. Higher education is a sphere
where there is a clear information asymmetry with the students being at
the receiving end. This credit based model will create a classical ‗lemons
problem‘ since because one would expect the better institutes to charge
higher fees, even the worse ones wold charge a higher fee for otherwise
they would be considered ‗bad‘ by the virtue of charging a lower fee.
Then having put so much at stake, these institutes would be inclined to
publish ‗paid rankings‘ in the media and thus compounding the
information problem.

Worse still, what would happen if such institutes come together and
form cartels – creating artificial scarcity and higher fee. And in all this let
us not forget what happens to the research output in such a case.
Clearly having paid so much for the education, students would be
inclined to take up jobs in industry rather than donning the scientist‘s
coat.

And finally the concept of equity – what happens to it under this model.
We all know credit flows towards the ‗haves‘. It filters out the ‗have
nots‘. How can we expect a poor man‘s child to ever furnish a hundred
thousand dollars loan guarantee notwithstanding however deserving she
may be. Thus the system automatically weeds out the poor.

Having seen the practical limitations of the model, it is clear that we

need to build in sufficient safeguard mechanisms first. This would ensure
it contributes to growth – meaningful inclusive growth and not just a
number called growth. Clearly there is a need to safeguard the interests
of the financially poorer children. Is there any way of doing this without
putting a strain on the public funds? Perhaps we can draw upon the
Universal Service Obligations (USO) Fund model from the telecom
sector. Or we can look towards a RTE kind of feature (25% reservation).
To address the other issues, specially to protect the interests of the
students at large and also to prevent a lemons problem from occurring,
we need to put in place strong and independent regulatory mechanisms.
The proposed bill on the higher education is certainly a welcome step in
the direction. Student counseling must invariably be a part of this
regulatory package and we need to bring laws which empower the
students. And finally, to make sure that research activity is not sacrificed
in the din, we would need to put in place larger incentives structure so
as to make India a hub for global R&D.

The credit based model is powerful because it is aligned with the trends
of the age. It offers tremendous potential to serve the country as well.
And certainly we must encourage it. But at the same time we need to
put in sufficient safeguards as well. The future awaits…
Essay Quotes on Education and Values?

You know, as most of us education enthusiasts do. I‘ve got my buddy, Murphy,
lounging around, my dog-eared book of quotes by my side, and my son, Lachlan,
struggling to beat me at a game of chess. Before you conjure an image of Murphy
donned in lecture caps and gowns, let me clarify that he‘s a Golden Retriever. Hard to
believe, but he‘s every bit a dog as yours, complete with four legs and a love for bones.

As Lachlan contemplates his next chess move, he asks, "Dad, why is education so
important?" Yep, it's one of those days. The days for those long winding conversations,
with life lessons neatly embedded within. Moreover, a day that seems fit to revisit some
of IAS.NETWORK‘s golden nuggets of wisdom on education and values.

Demystifying a Kaleidoscope of Values through Education

Rolling up my sleeves, I begin to unravel the importance of education, lacing it with
practical illustrations, personal experiences, and the essence of values. Ah, values! They
are those intangible components that sneak in through our educations like mischievous
school kids, sticking around and sculpting us into the individuals we become.

First, let's delve into this beautiful concept of ‗Values Education‘. It's an essential aspect
of the education process that isn't confined to the four walls of a classroom. Values
education is about honing the moral compass that each one of us carries within.

In fact, one of the intriguing quotes from IAS.NETWORK encapsulates this thought
perfectly, "Education is not filling the mind with a set of facts, but lighting a fire of
curiosity and fostering an attitude of lifelong learning." It‘s as if education is a bounty-
filled treasure chest and values are the gleaming jewels nestled within.

The Power of Education: Transcending Books

Swinging back to my conversation with Lachlan, I noticed his eyes starting to glaze
over. Time for a story, then! As former president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam said, "If you fail,
never give up because FAIL means 'First Attempt In Learning'".
A couple of decades ago, there was a chap who had consistently been at the bottom of
his class. Yet, his unwavering drive to learn propelled him to create a successful start-
up that marked the beginning of his journey as a notable entrepreneur. Now, he was
not a genius, not even close. But he had an insatiable desire to learn, a lesson he had
gleaned from IAS.

Murphy seemed enthusiastic about the story, or it could be he smelled the nearby
sandwich. It's all open to interpretation at this point.

Cultivating Values: The Bedrock of an Evolved Society

A vital facet of our discussion that day was the inevitable link between education and
societal values. The way I see it, education isn't about memorizing chapters or scoring
high on tests. Instead, it's about instilling values that foster an individual‘s well-being
and strengthen societal bonds.

I personally love how it puts forth the idea, "Education without values creates smart
people who can become clever devils." It‘s this enduring emphasis on values-rich
education that aims to engineer conscientious human beings, serving as the pillars of a
forward-thinking society.

By the time I concluded my discussion, my chess game with Lachlan was at a

stalemate. Murphy had managed to hold court over a small gathering of birds as the
reluctant ‗King of Bones‘. Yet, the air still buzzed with the essence of IAS.NETWORK's
profound insights on education and values. We may have been taking a casual day in,
but, as they say, the wonders of an efficient education system never do take a break!

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List of Contents
 Introduction
 What is the meaning of Quality Education?
 What is need to deliver Quality Education?
 What steps have been taken by the Government for Quality Education?
 What are the gaps in our current education system?
 What are the constraints impeding delivery of quality education?
 What are the remedial measures?

Introduction

The pandemic highlighted the shortcomings of our education system that is

more focused on rote learning. This system pays very low regard to the
creativity and mental wellbeing of children indicating lack of quality education.
Further, the level of education possessed across regions is not uniform and
the disadvantaged sections often have poor education levels.
The Government has undertaken a plethora of steps including the formulation
of National Education Policy, 2020 with the vision of delivering quality
education to every child. India is also a party to UN Sustainable Development
Goals whose Goal 4 aims to deliver quality education for all. Nonetheless,
there remain some bottlenecks which need to be duly addressed.

What is the meaning of Quality Education?

Quality Education is a comprehensive term that includes learners, teachers,
learning environment, appropriate curriculum, engaging pedagogy, learning
outcomes, continuous formative assessment, and adequate student support.
It warrants inculcation of critical thinking, creativity, scientific
temper, communication, collaboration, multilingualism, problem
solving skills, ethics, social responsibility, and digital literacy.
Attempt to improve quality of education will succeed only if it goes hand in
hand with steps to promote equity and inclusion. This requires schools to
be sufficiently equipped and prepared to address the diverse learning
needs of all children with a special focus on children belonging to SC,
ST, Minorities, Girl child etc.
Another dimension of quality is to address the rural-urban divide and regional
disparities as also the digital divide.

What is need to deliver Quality Education?

Better Employment opportunities: It will allow the children to get jobs
and get out of the vicious web of poverty. Further industry will be getting a
robust supply of qualified personnel. India Skills Report 2021
estimates that only 45.9% of Indian youth possess sufficient employability
skills.
Health and Wellbeing: Quality education covers the aspect of mental and
physical well being that would improve health outcomes of the nation. It will
also help in reducing the prevalence of suicides in children especially due to
severe educational stress.
Reaping Demographic Dividend: India has more than 50% of its
population below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35. This
requires delivery of quality education to children or else be prepared to face
the brunt of demographic disaster.
Curbing Regional Divide: Some states like U.P and Bihar lack in education
levels versus states like Kerala and Karnataka. Further delivery of education is
better in urban areas in comparison to rural regions. This gap needs to be
addressed by focusing on quality education for all.
Tackling Social Problems: The lack of quality education makes children
prone to social evils like Child Labour and Child Marriage. Ensuring quality
education will ensure higher retention and decrease dropout rates in
schools. As per the latest Unified District Information System for Education
Plus (UDISE+ 2019-20) report nearly 30% of the students don‘t
transition from secondary to senior secondary level.
Adapting to Technological Advancements: The 21st century would be an
era of Big data, Machine Learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT) and other
technological advancements. This means the curriculum, textbooks,
pedagogy, and assessment need to be transformed.
Realization of Fundamental rights: The Constitution of India has provided
many fundamental rights like free speech, equality before law, freedom of
religion etc. All these rights can be enjoyed in true sense only when a person
has been imparted with quality education.
What steps have been taken by the Government for Quality Education?

Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009:

It provides free and compulsory elementary education to children. It ensures
realization of fundamental rights under Article 21-A.
National Education Policy 2020: It envisions a shift from the traditional
teacher centered to learner-centric approach. The policy stresses on the core
principles that education must develop. It includes the cognitive skills –
both ‗foundational skills‘ of literacy and numeracy, and ‗higher-order‘ skills
such as critical thinking and problem solving.
It also focuses on social and emotional skills– also referred to as ‗soft skills‘,
including cultural awareness and empathy, perseverance and grit, teamwork
etc.
Samagra Siksha Abhiyan: It is an overarching centrally sponsored scheme
for school education that sees learning as a continuum from pre-primary to
higher secondary with focus on contextual, experiential, and holistic
learning. It subsumed the three erstwhile Centrally Sponsored Schemes of
SSA, RMSA and Teacher Education.
Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA): It aims to connect school-based
knowledge to life outside the school, and making learning of Science and
Mathematics a joyful and meaningful activity.
Performance Grading Index (PGI): A comprehensive 70 indicator-based
matrix has been developed to grade the States/UTs, against certain common
benchmarks and provide them a roadmap for making improvements.
National Initiative for School Heads‘ and Teachers‘ Holistic
Advancement (NISHTHA): It is a first of its kind teacher training
programme wherein the Government of India, through its academic bodies,
NCERT and NIEPA, is taking a lead role in changing the landscape of in-
service teacher training.
National Initiative For Proficiency in Reading with Understanding
and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat): It was launched in July 2021, to ensure
that every child in the country attains Foundational Literacy and Numeracy
(FLN) at Grade 3 by 2026-27.
PM eVidya: It is a comprehensive initiative under the Atma Nirbhar
Bharat Programme, which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air
education to enable coherent multi-mode access to education.
It includes access to a variety of e-resources in 33 languages including Indian
Sign Language over DIKSHA (One nation; One digital platform), Swayam
Prabha DTH TV channels (One Class; one channel for class 1 to 12), Extensive
use of Radio, Community radio, and Podcast – ShikshaVani.
What are the gaps in our current education system?

Excessive focus on rote learning: The curriculum tries to encourage

memorisation of text rather than cultivating a conceptual understanding of
issues.
Exams define intelligence: The current system equates passing of exams
and exam scores with a student‘s intelligence level. There is an excessive
focus on completing the exam cycle rather than learning experience.
Discourages Creativity: Parents and teachers want to see children as
doctors, engineers, bureaucrats etc. Children are rarely encouraged to pursue
creative fields like writers, artists or adopt any other vocational skill.
Barriers for poor sections: Good quality private schools are not present in
rural regions while the fees are very high in urban regions. Further, the 25%
reservation for EWS candidates in private schools has also been bypassed by
many schools.
Bias against Persons with Disabilities: They are often seen as a liability
by many teachers and their special needs are generally ignored.
Coaching Culture: The proliferation of coaching institutions shows the
deteriorating quality of education in India. Many school teachers also engage
in teaching in coaching institutions after regular school hours for extra
compensation.
Lack of Vernacular content: Good quality books and material is still
unavailable in the vernacular medium that creates hardships for many
students and impedes learning.
What are the constraints impeding delivery of quality education?

Financial Crunch: A recent World Bank study notes that India spent 14.1 %
of its budget on education, compared to 18.5% in Vietnam and 20.6% in
Indonesia, countries with similar levels of GDP. This hinders creation of
quality infrastructure and retention of good talent in the education sector.
Quality of Personnel: The quality of teachers in many schools is still not up
to the mark. Further, many teachers struggle to deliver lectures through the
online medium as observed during the pandemic.
Digital Divide: The digital systems of many schools and universities are
using obsolete technology. Further, many universities lack basic infrastructure
to deliver quality education thereby impeding delivery in hinterland
regions. Similarly many people don‘t have access to digital devices like mobile
phones and internet routers.
Adult Illiteracy: The lack of adult literacy allows individuals to focus on
short term incomes via child labour and forgo long term good career options
after inculcation of quality education.
Further, many are unable to operate the digital devices that hampered
their children‘s education during the pandemic times.
What are the remedial measures?
First, the Government should adopt a new system of education that is
fair, robust, and removes the dependency on time-tabled exams. This is
required to tackle any future pandemics or contingencies like disasters that
disrupt the normal cycle. A mix of hybrid (online + offline) teaching should be
promoted.
Second, the focus should be on learning through activities, discovery,
and exploration in a child-friendly and child-specific manner.
Third, the assessment of students must be based on an integrated
approach rather than mere textbook exams. Under this weightage should be
given to indicators like peer interaction, curiosity potential, creativity acumen
etc.
Fourth, to implement all these measures there is a need to support the
education sector with adequate budgetary resources. Hence, it is important to
increase the share of education to 6% of GDP as envisaged by NEP 2020.
The Government should make a significant headway from earlier policies by
putting quality education as the top most agenda, strengthening the
foundations of education, catering to the educational needs of the most
disadvantaged, and making it a global leader in education. All this is desired
to truly realize the vision of ‗Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas‘.
APOLITICAL EDUCATION
―Education is our safety, outside this ark, everything is a deluge‖ –Horace Mann

Since the dawn of civilization, the man had the urge to educate himself and discover
the secrets hidden underneath the surface as of even, above them. Mans‘s sappetite to
know more had been the first step to educate themselves. With years, the craving to
discover and invent heightened and formal institutes were set up. India, the land of
divinity hosts the presence of one of the oldest universities in the world. This age has
been classified as the Golden Age in ancient learning. With advancements, the
education system in India evolved.

In the process of evolution, India lost its title of the global educator. The colonialization
of India and its aftermath had affected the priorities of people. Now, the priorities were
to meet the ends and have food, shelter; education had taken a backseat. After several
years of independence, India stands at a 74.04% literacy rate. Ironically, many
educationists have called India a land of rapid literacy growth but stagnant educated
mass. Several reasons for this asymmetric growth have been observed, but, the most
notable one is the intervention of politics.

The idea of political intervention is a big no, because political stand changes after every
five years, but, education is an everlasting impact. Taking a political stance creates
torrents of waves and biased views, which in turn creates a sense of fake patriotism. It
is not a veiled thing that rival political parties would condemn each other thought
process. But, that rivalry is limited to politics though, such a radical mindset can‘t be
undone in the minds of students. The most critically acclaimed textbooks, by NCERT,
had faced such backlash by politicians for missing out certain nationalists. This was not
the job of political leaders to intervene in an educational framework and caused a
massive uproar. This is an example enough to prove that political intervention is not
required in the educational sector.

In the tender age, full of youthfulness, students should rather focus on the
development at the grassroots level.

Education and politics would go hand-in-hand if a mind develops enough to understand

that they are being used as pawns and will be sacrificed in the fire of dirty politics. The
original reality is often hidden from the naive eyes of students and seditious speeches
cause enough damage to their already brimming adulthood. The politics are often done
at the cost of dead martyrs which indeed is the most degrading truth.

A youth dominant nation like India which has capabilities to make a vast difference in
the world order sadly is entangled in the political mess. Indians have been subjected to
mediocre teaching systems due to this massive intervention, in one way or the other.
Many bright minds prefer tp study abroad because they can‘t withstand the whirlwind of
politics. They get massive success but they don‘t prefer to return. Such questions
should haunt the leaders of India and active measures should be taken to improve the
situation.

Politics and patriotism should not be presented as the same for young students as it
takes the necessary element of education. Many bright minds go unnoticed due to
political patronage. This is very unfair to students and an immediate solution must be
provided as ―Padhega India tabhi toh Badhega India.‖
―Change Is The Result Of All True
Learning.‖

Introduction:
You can start the introduction through following ways:

 Start with a general introduction/an anecdote/an example/a short story/a poem/

etc. about change and how learning influences it.

 Define Change for an individual and society.

 Define what True Learning is.

o Give various perspectives.

For example – According to Mahatma Gandhi true learning is the one which trains
heart, hand and head.

Thesis Statement:
 It is a transition statement between introduction and body of the essay.

 In thesis statement, you should write outline of the body with your own
arguments. You should prove these arguments in body of the essay with relevant
examples.

Body of the essay:

 Discuss why change is needed for an individual and society.

o Mention social evils in society that require a change in the behavior of

people.

 Examples: Child Marriage, Caste marriage, gender inequality etc.

o Mention changes required at the individual level.

 Examples: High rate of corruption, anger management, intoxicant

consumption, lethargic attitude etc
 o Mention how change is inevitable and how young minds are like hot iron
which can be molded for better.

 Explain how change can be achieved with true learning? Discuss both
Individual and Social perspective. Give examples and quotations.

o How can true learning help in understanding about the

necessity/requirement of the change?

o Example – How Modern Western education made Indians realize about the
importance of values like liberty, equality and freedom. How this
understanding led to various Socio-religious movements demanding change?
One can also mention how learning these values further enhanced the
desire for Freedom and helped in India‘s struggle for freedom i.e. regime
change.

o Explain how true learning can help in developing a desire for change and in
working towards the change.

o True learning can also give impetus on how to develop human values.

 Discuss how change is an ongoing process and not an event.

o Also, discuss how learning is at the core of this process.

 From the entire cycle of initiation of change to the conclusion to new

requirements.

 Value education

 Indian ancient education system can help develop true learning

 Change can make individuals and society better.

o Change helps to enhance learning.

 Explain that learning is a continuous process and how change

influences the learning process.

 Example – Development of environmentalism, how several changes in

the environment have forced mankind to learn about Environment.

o Discuss other aspects, apart from true learning, that influences the
change.

 Role of motivation.

 Role of consistency.
  Role of the surrounding environment and other factors.

o Challenges in the process of change and learning.

 Discuss how false learning can lead to change in the wrong direction.

 Change takes time and sometimes there are no considerable results

even after several attempts.

 Lack of other essentials like – motivation, consistency etc.

 Resistance from an existing environment to change and the role of

learning.

 Suggest measures to achieve true learning to promote change.

o Making learning a lifelong process.

o Making education more holistic and practical.

o Imparting value education which can inculcate empathy, tolerance etc in the
society.

o Clarifying the role of stakeholders ie., individual, family, school and state.
etc

Conclusion:
 Conclude with a positive perspective on how true learning helps in change
INTERNATIONALIZATION OF HIGHER
EDUCATION

Context:

 Internationalization of higher education has been a cherished dream of foreign

universities operating in India by providing conducive conditions and an enabling
framework for such institutions.

 But the idea failed to come to fruition due to the concerns of the regulatory
authorities and governments in India as well as the foreign higher educational
institutions.

Problems faced by foreign universities:

 Foreign universities are concerned about the potential adverse effect of setting up
offshore campuses with their accreditation, ranking and reputation.

 Truly reputed higher educational institutions operate on a not-for-profit basis and

have no materialistic motives to go offshore.

 A few countries that have such offshore campuses had to hard-sell the institutions
the idea by leasing land at almost no cost, bearing the bulk of infrastructure cost
and promising them the academic, administrative and financial autonomy that they
enjoy in their home country.

Get the idea going:

 Past setbacks notwithstanding, the idea of having world-class universities establish

and operate their campuses in India has been so compelling that the National
Education Policy (NEP) 2020 provided that ―selected universities e.g., those from
among the top 100 universities in the world will be facilitated to operate in India.
 A legislative framework facilitating such entry will be put in place, and such
universities will be given special dispensation regarding regulatory, governance,
and content norms on par with other autonomous institutions of India.‖

 Even though the NEP favoured a ―legislative framework‖, the idea is being
executed through a regulatory route by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

 There seems to be determination to get the idea going, even if it amounts to some
dilution in standards.

Going abroad:

 Students do not go abroad for degrees alone; they also go for the experience,
post-study work visas, income opportunities and better career prospects.

 Most critically, as they are able to finance a good part of their education abroad
through jobs, assistantships and scholarships, they find it more economical.

 Further it was stated that foreign universities in India would stop the outflow of
$28-30 billion in foreign exchange.

Conclusion:

 India needs to have an enabling framework for the entry and operation of foreign
higher educational institutions to ensure that the best of the best set up their
campuses in the country.-----------------
Essay Topic: Education

―Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.‖ Nelson
Mandela

―Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.‖ Mahatma
Gandhi

―Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.‖ Margaret Mead

―Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learnt in school.‖
Einstein

Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true ed

Education that does not mould the character is absolutely worthless. –

To educate a person in mind a

–

―Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.‖ - Marti
Education and the future of a country

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

Education is critical for economic development as well as human and social interaction
within society. Economic development without substantial investment in human capital
is unsustainable. Education enriches people‘s understanding of themselves and the
world. The level of education among the people determines the quality of life in a
society. Without education or quality education, there will be higher poverty, lower
economic development, and lower quality of life. Therefore, to have a happy and
prosperous economic and social society, the majority must be educated. Few things in
life are more important than an education. Developed countries worldwide have well-
developed educational systems and opportunities for higher education, which helps the
citizens of those countries obtain higher-paying jobs and a better quality of life.

Further, the education of girls and women is the most effective investment for creating
conditions for better family health and nutrition, improved birth control, lower infant
and child mortality, and enhanced educational attainment of children.

Education level varies among countries for many reasons, such as economic
development, poverty, government corruption, and level of democracy. Each hurts or
helps the educational quality provided in a country. Developing and underdeveloped
countries do not have the resources to provide universal education.Developing and
underdeveloped countries have higher poverty. Poor people cannot afford to send their
children to schools, and many do not appreciate a need for education. The level of
corruption determines how much the bureaucrats siphon off, leaving less for the
education of children. The level of democracy determines how much people can
influence the policies of the government. If people have more say, then the government
is more likely to listen and provide resources for public needs.

Pakistan will always be a developing country having to deal with an expanding

population due to uneducated people, relying on the export of Pakistanis to earn money
for Pakistan that is spent on useless projects, and continually borrowing money that the
country can never repay

Currently, countries are ranked by education standards using a compilation of scores on

three equally weighted attributes:1)the country has a well-developed public education
system, 2)people would consider attending university there, and 3) the country
provides top-quality education. Using these attributes, the European Union, Canada,
and the United States have the highest education standards.

Some organizations use factors such as literacy or graduation rates to determine which
nations have the best education systems. For example, the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) looked at the number of people between 25 and
64 who have completed a vocational program or received a two- or four-year degree.
These data were then used to determine which countries have the most educated
population.

Based on this data, Canada is the most educated nation, having over 56% of adults
continue their education past high school. Coming in second is Japan, with over 50% of
adults completingsome form of post-high school education. Israel is next, with 49.9% of
adults finishing a higher-education program. Other nations ranked highlybased on these
data include South Korea, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Finland, Norway,
and Luxembourg. Other organizations such as U.S. News and World Report and the
Business Insideralso measure education standards. Their rankings may vary but are
consistent with OECD.

Nations with poor educational systemsthat are considered the world‘s worst educational
systems include Burma, Central African Republic, Dominican Republic, Equatorial
Guinea, Georgia, Liberia, Libya, Monaco, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Zambia.

Pakistan‘s education systemis considered the worst among 200 countries. It requires a
complete overhaul if its education is to be worth anything. Instead, no one in Pakistan
understands how to educateor what a quality education even is. For example, as I was
writing this Op-Ed, DAWN had a news item, ―Reforms Initiative Introduced to Improve
Quality of Education in School, Colleges‖ (Aug. 13, 2020). The suggested reforms are
laughable as none will improve the quality of education. For example, the list of reforms
consists of measuring students‘ personality development, setting up Urdu and English
clubs and debating club, setting up news media, coaching to pass exams, planting
trees, learning to code and a foreign language, implementing courtesy rules for staff,
providingfor the needs of staff members‘surviving family members, and ensuring that a
significant number attend funeral prayers.

Countries with fewer educated citizens and low quality of education also have lower
economic development, lower quality of life, and higher population growth. All of these
factors further impede economic growth and quality of life.

Education is an essential determinant of economic well-being. The economic theory of

growth emphasizes at least three mechanisms through which education may affect
economic growth. First, education can increase human capital, causing an increase in
labor productivity and thus higher growth in output. Second, education increases
innovation, which further spurs growth due to new technologies, products, and
processes. Third, education increases the ability to diffuse and transmit the knowledge
needed to understand and process new information and implement new technologies
devised by others to promote economic success.

Education in Pakistan faces many issues that it cannot solve. Currently, millions of
children are not in school, and those who are lack proper classroom facilities, such as
electricity, bathrooms, adequately trained teachers, and appropriate curriculum and
other materials needed for learning. Thus, some of those in school may drop out. These
deficiencies contribute to widespread illiteracy, and even those who may make it
through the system receive a low quality of education.

In addition, educational opportunity does not exist in many rural areas. If it does, many
cannot take advantage of it due to social and economic hardships, leaving them at a
disadvantage compared to those in urban areas and those having economic means. In
addition, many girls and women do not receive an education due to social stigma or
religious limitations.

All these hardships make it harder for a young child to deal with and low-income
families to overcome. As a result, many children drop out, increasing illiteracy in
Pakistan and further compounding the social, economic, and religious problems. Due to
high illiteracy, more and more people marry at an early age, causing tremendous
population growth. As a result, more people require more resources to support, which
leaves less for economic development and educating children. This cycle of illiteracy
causes population growth, requiring more resources for unproductive needs, causing
more population growth, and so on. The vicious cycle will never end and will force
Pakistan into more debt and destruction.
The vicious cycle of lack of education causes little or no economic development, and
low economic development creates a lack of education. Thus, Pakistan will always be a
developing country having to deal with an expanding population due to uneducated
people, relying on the export of Pakistanis to earn money for Pakistan that is spent on
useless projects, and continually borrowing money that the country can never repay.

Will Pakistan ever learn the root causes of its problems and how to solve them? If not,
Pakistan, as a country, will never come out of poverty and will be a country of perpetual
borrower asking for loans. It seems that Pakistan has still not realized that it is ina dire
situation, and things are getting worse. For example, a recent news report said that
Pakistan has had to borrow a billion dollars from China to pay the debt it owed to Saudi
Arabia. I wonder how long Pakistan expects these countries to provide a lending hand
to rescue it. Someday, one of these countries may say enough is enough and tell
Pakistan to take care of its problems, or they may even demand it repay almost $110
billion debt or Rs.18,150 billion debt, which Pakistan does not have.

As is well known, relying on loans from ―friendly‖ countries that may be at their last
straw,and that could likely tell Pakistan to save itself or declare bankruptcy.
Unfortunately, by declaring bankruptcy, it will have no resources to help the people and
will put Pakistan in a further vicious cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and no economic
development. There is no hope for Pakistan unless the people and the politicians wake
up and realize that the end is near.
The Future of Education in Pakistan

Zaheer Qazi

Making a Difference: Learning and Development Professional

Pakistan and its people are experiencing another crucial period in social and political
terms. Although it is not for the first time, this time over, it is harder, obvious, and
more dangerous. Our economy, our ways of life, and opportunities depend on the
decisions of our leaders and civilians‘ demands. Right now, it seems, both have other
priorities and are unaware of the storm in the making. International economy experts
are comparing the situation with what it was in Brazil, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. 1947,
1951, 1965, 1971, 1979, 1984, 1991, and now 2021; the future of Pakistan is under
some heavy clouds again. We have issues like illiteracy, poverty, corruption, diseases,
water scarcity, and population explosion.

However meager the situation may be, the one component that can change it, and the
one thing that is closely associated with all the core problems of Pakistan is
EDUCATION. Education now has to play a more significant role than ever before in
Pakistan. From the inception to date, we have been experimenting with different
models and are, perhaps, still confused about education policies, curriculum, and
medium of instruction. Our values, culture, and ideology have been forged at more than
five divergent types of educational systems. No one knows what is good or real or bad
or fake, and what is more painful is that nobody seems to be bothered. Education has
gone through an extraordinary and revolutionary change around the globe whereas, in
Pakistan, we are still lurking to launch the so-called modern teaching methods of the
1980s. Education in Pakistan must return to a focus after all the experiments, doubts,
and vicissitudes that we have undergone over the past decades.

This should change, has to change, and must change before it is too late. There are
many areas of improvement but, the three most significant challenges we are facing
are:

a) the arrangement for a fair, uniform, and flexible, humanistic education,

b) teaching our students to think and act, and

c) train our teachers for teaching for the future.

A) Humanistic education and professional, ethical training

The humanistic approach means to engage the students with thinking skills, social skills,
emotions, intellect, arts, and practical skills as part of their training. For years now,
some of the schools in Pakistan have been taking the initiative to offer humanistic
education to the new generations of learners. The purpose is to take the learning out of
the classrooms (or bring the world into the classrooms). In the current context of swift
and spasmodic changes in the academic, family, society, industry, economics,
technology, and cultures, schools must pay attention to the main themes of 21st-
century education. Schools have to modernize on all levels, from teaching methods and
teacher training to new assessment methods.

B) Teaching students to think, act and lead

The global society is ever more dependent on technology and knowledge has not been
an issue in modern times. It is searching for the specific content and deciding how to
tailor it and use it to purpose. As a consequence, a significant number of skills taught at
school have become obsolete. With the enormous amount of information available and
the power of social media, it is essential to make them learn how to think for
themselves, develop their own criteria to understand how the world works. Moreover,
due to the menace caused by technology and artificial intelligence to the present work
routine and the welfare of people, the world needs professionals that have the key
human qualities like initiative, lateral thinking, empathy, constructivism, creativity,
persuasion, and the ability to see one step ahead.

C) Training the trainers

Teacher training is important for teachers as continuous professional development is a

critical part of the teaching-learning process. Good teachers put an emphasis on
updating their knowledge and skill in creating an atmosphere conducive to learning.
One of the biggest mistakes a teacher makes is to think she could successfully teach
her students the same way her teachers taught her. Time, professional requirements,
and the challenges of life are changing faster than you think. The future is not what it
used to be, as they say. Teachers must stand in their student‘s shoes and perceive the
need in 10-15 years from now. Teach them into the future and train them for the times
to come instead of pulling them back to the past where your teachers were teaching
you.

In conclusion, despite the testing political and economic situation, education can and
will solve the majority of challenges faced by the nation. Since a school is the first
landmark in a student‘s professional life, representing the time and space to grow
academically and socially, it must prepare them for a successful life into the future.
Consequently, education must be reformed towards the current as well as future
requirements of the family, society, businesses, and the world. Pakistan needs
tolerance, civility, mindfulness, and leadership, and this leadership must be inspired at
home and at school.
Education System Of Pakistan Essay
The Mukabbir Schools had organized an essay competition titled, ―Education System of
Pakistan.‖ This was done to understand the view of students regarding education in
Pakistan.
Although many students wrote outstanding essays we are going to list the essay that
was in simple words. This essay was also most relative to the topic and stood out the
most among others.

Importance of education for a nation:

― The main hope of a nation lies In the proper education of its youth‖-
Erasmus.

For any country, the literacy rate determines its success.

The more educated the people are, the more the country will progress.

Thus, a country needs to have an advanced education system that provides quality
education to its students and focuses on their well-being. It is important because
children are the future of a country.

Education system of Pakistan:

Unfortunately for us, the education system of Pakistan is not very good. In fact, since
its independence, Pakistan has been facing critical problems regarding the education
system and is not paying much attention to it.

If Pakistan wants to progress, then it must pay attention to its educational system.
Japan is a prime example of gaining progress through education.

Japan has always been very strict regarding its educational system and keeps the
students a top priority.

This strategy has gained them a lot of progress and today Japan is one of the world‘s
most developed countries in the economic field.
Although we are also seeing some increase in the current literacy rate of Pakistan
(almost 60%), the changes are way too low.

Keeping in mind the current economic situation of Pakistan, the education system of
Pakistan has been affected the most.

Problems in the education system of Pakistan:

Insufficient attention to primary classes:

One of the main problems is that the faculties of these institutions are not implementing
the education policies set by the government.

Many of the schools don‘t pay much attention to the primary level, not knowing that it
makes the base of the student.

The burden of studies for higher classes:

So much stress is put into higher education. The institutions are more focused on
getting their profit.

For this purpose, they are feeding countless information in their brains which the
students are forced to swallow.

They only teach them to get good grades in the papers. As a result, students are also
focused on getting good grades rather than attaining knowledge.

Expensive institutions:

Especially, private institutions have become so greedy for money. For colleges and
universities, the fees can go up to more than lacs per semester.

For the government institutions, the merit for fields like medicine is increasing day by
day. Thus, our educational system is also too focused on grades rather than skills and
willingness to learn.

Pakistan is not an economically strong country. Most of the people cannot afford these
expensive feeses. Thus, it is high time the government of Pakistan does something
about it.
Barrier-building institutions:

Instead of uniting the nation, the education system of Pakistan is only building barriers
due to different categories of education.

Cambridge schools only teach international syllabus and are highly expensive. Then we
see the English medium schools that teach Pakistani syllabus but in English. These
schools are also very expensive.

Then comes the Madarassah which gives religious teachings but does not focus on
other educational aspects. And lastly, we have our government institutions that teach
the syllabus in Urdu.

The government system should be at the top to encourage the study in Urdu to
maintain the identity of Pakistan. These different categories are creating barriers
making the government students seem less educated.

Ways to improve the educational system of Pakistan:

If the government starts to focus on its education system, almost all problems of
Pakistan can be solved. We should not play with the future of the children.

We should set aside all of the politics and focus on the education system for the
success of our country. There are several ways we can do so:

Same curriculum:

There should be only one curriculum followed by every institution, no matter private or
government.

This will help to keep every child equal and hence they will be able to avail themselves
of equal opportunities in the future.

The government should keep a close eye on the institutions to check whether the same
curriculum is being taught.

Up to date syllabus:

The curriculum should be advanced at least yearly. We should keep the syllabus up to
date according to the advancements especially in the fields of science.
Skillful teachers:

Teachers should be hired based on their skills to make the syllabus easy. They should
have a simple manner of teaching.

Many teachers are highly qualified but their explanatory skills are very weak. Also, more
teachers should be hired so that they are not burdened.

Currently, a teacher had to teach 30-40 students in a class which can be quite stressful.
This number should be decreased to at least half so that teachers can teach easily.

Focus on primary level:

Attention should be given to the primary level. They form the foundation of a student.

Thus basic teachings should be given to the students that will help to groom their
personalities and increase their confidence.

Lower the fees:

The fees of all the institutions (private and government) should be lessened to lighten
the burden of parents.

Primary education should be made free of cost. Scholarships should be given to bright
students or to the ones who cannot afford the fees.

Education without any discrimination:

Another important step is to raise awareness about the importance of education. Many
children especially girls are not able to get educated due to family traditions or poverty.

Some are not given admission due to their race or religion.

Thus, it is important to take steps. We should go to such areas and teach them about
the importance of education.

According to Nelson Mandela,

‖ Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the
world.‖
Other than these amazing competitions, Mukabbir Schools also hosts sports activities in
schools that are essential for a student‘s growth.

Conclusion:
Education is the backbone of a country but unfortunately, our country fails to
understand it.

However, it is our duty as citizens of Pakistan that if we want to see our country
successful, we should raise our voices for the future of our children.

If we work together along with the government, then one day our country will certainly
be among the most developed countries.----------------

--

The Future of Education in Pakistan: Trends and

Predictions for 2023 and Beyond

Table of Contents

 Current State of Education in Pakistan

 Trends in Education: Digitalization and Personalization
 Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning in Education
 Importance of STEM Education for Pakistan‘s Future
 Vocational Education and Job Skills for the Future
 Education Policy Reforms and Challenges
 The Role of Teachers and Education Professionals in the Future
 Preparing for a Future-Oriented Education System in Pakistan

Current State of Education in Pakistan

The education system in Pakistan is facing various challenges and difficulties that
include low enrolment rates, high dropout rates, poor infrastructure, low quality
education, etc. In rural areas and marginalised communities, these problems are more
dominant especially for girls and children from low-income households. The current
literacy rate in Pakistan is 60% according to UNESCO (United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation) which is less than the average of South Asia. When
the quality of education is not up to par, the graduates do not have the required
knowledge for employment or further education.

Apart from the infrastructure related issues, there are also disparities related to gender
and socio-economic status which means that only children from wealthier backgrounds
are receiving a satisfactory standard of education that enables them to compete in the
global market. Although the government is taking steps to ensure that all children
receive good education, there is still a lot to be done. In this blog, we will be looking at
the current trends in the education system and what the future is looking like for the
education industry.

Trends in Education: Digitalization and

Personalization
As the modes of education are transforming worldwide, Pakistan has adapted to the
changes as well, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. There are more online
learning platforms, online courses and interactive digital services available for students
to learn through. Educators are also recognising the need for personalisation needed in
education because each student responds differently to different styles of teaching
according to their abilities, interests and needs. Based on this, some schools are
experimenting with personalised learning approaches but there is need for growth in
this area.

Digitalisation of education is still something that needs to be developed because all

students do not have access to high speed internet. Moreover, personalised learning
approaches also can not be applied as the teachers are still more accustomed to
traditional styles so the stakeholders and policy makers will have to be involved to
improve this.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning in

Education
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are still in their early stages in the education
system of Pakistan but there have been some very promising developments. The main
application of these two technological advances is personalised learning as AI-powered
system tailor learning paths for the individual needs of students. This improves the
engagement of students. AI and ML also help teachers as it helps them analyse the
data from student assessments and identify areas of improvement. Outside of the
classroom, AI chatbots can give quick and prompt attention to students.

Importance of STEM Education for Pakistan‘s

Future
STEM education, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics,
is crucial for the economic growth and development of Pakistan as it can create a more
skilled workforce and promote innovation to address societal challenges.

When students are provided quality STEM education, they can seek careers in high
demand fields all over the world like computer science, engineering and biotechnology
so job opportunities will increase for them. STEM education also teaches students to
solve problems creatively and this is essential for entrepreneurship and the economic
development of the country. Healthcare, agriculture and infrastructure can be improved
by the advent of cutting-edge technologies as well. Overall, STEM education will deal
with the rapidly transforming society and provide innovative solutions that will help
Pakistan compete in the global economy.

Vocational Education and Job Skills for the Future

Skilled workers are required in various industries of Pakistan and it is crucial for
the future of education in Pakistan. Job skills are required in healthcare, IT and
manufacturing so job-specific training is required to cover the workforce skill
gap. Vocational education is also important to reduce unemployment in the country and
provide students with hands-on training that can improve their practical skills. This can
also lead to successful entrepreneurship which creates more jobs and economic
stability. As many jobs are getting replaced by Artificial Intelligence, it has become
essential to train the workforce for jobs that will still exist in the future and this will
future-proof their careers.

Education Policy Reforms and Challenges

Pakistan has been striving to implement policies that promote access to education and
improve the quality of education. The National Education Policy 2017 aims to give
equitable access to education and improve its quality at primary, secondary and higher
education level. Furthermore, the Right to Education 2012 has made education
compulsory for all children between the age of 5 and 16. 4% of the GDP is also
dedicated to the education budget. Still there is much more that needs to be done by
the government to put stronger emphasis on increasing enrolment rates and reducing
the rural-urban divide.

The Role of Teachers and Education Professionals

in the Future
Teachers and educators can contribute to the future of Pakistan‘s education system in
the following ways:

 Teachers can use innovative methods of teaching in their classes and developing
updated and relevant curriculum to provide students with hands-on learning
opportunities
 By continued professional development, teachers can stay up to date with the
latest trends in education and practices. They can attend workshops,
conferences and other training programs to do so
 Integrating technology in the classroom is important to engage the students
nowadays as it enhances the learning experience

Preparing for a Future-Oriented Education System

in Pakistan
To prepare for the challenges of tomorrow, Pakistan needs serious educational
reforms to deal with the limited resources and education gap. They should address the
inequality and create policies for long-term practices so that all communities can
participate in building a stronger economy. This can be done by providing scholarships,
financial aid and other support to children from low-income backgrounds. Government
needs to work closely with local communities and fulfil their specific educational needs
by building the right strategies.

In addition to this, teachers need to be fully ready to deal with the changes in society
by incorporating the latest pedagogical methods to instruct children and provide quality
education for the workforce of the future.
The classroom decides the
future of the Nation
At the end of the Peloponnesian War Athens won over Sparta. At the end of the Cold
War Capitalism triumphed over Communism. In both cases, David Landes asserted that
it was not naval might, soil richness, or economic affluence but the dynamic, versatile
and competitive educational system that fostered the national ambitions and quality
over the numbers. Many pedagogues and scholars believe in the 21st Century economic
confidence and military prowess is an essential characteristic for the rise of great power
but it is education and the classroom that decides the prospects of any nation.

History is replicated by the norms of change from one stage to

another that was possible in the advancement of modes of
learning in every phase. It is education and the classroom that
decide the future of states. Pakistan could learn from regional
neighbours in Asia how they rose from ashes to magnificent
powers through education
In history, the rise, fall, decay, and decline is determined by the education and literacy
of states. Education seeds the conflict of ideas that are a sine qua non for the
sustainable growth and vibrant environment in any social setup. Certainly the future
socio-economic and socio-political development of Pakistan lies in education, that
creates an informed citizenry, sustainable growth, a culture of inclusivity, green
consciousness, and gender normality in the society. Education through moderate class
infrastructure and an enlightened mechanism of education could foster the seed of
competency to deal with wicked problems of malfunctioning virtues in Pakistan.

- Advertisement -
Neil Postman computed that education is the integrated matrix to broaden all sectors of
society if it is not marred by the economic industry of maximization of profits.
Classrooms in Pakistan could bring economic affluence. Progressive education equips
individuals with competitive inheritance. The deficit of the economy can be fulfilled by
producing professionals and skilled graduates that can contribute to the economy of the
country effectively. For example, Pakistan exports labour to Middle East countries for
odd jobs while in comparison the major chunk of European or American professionals
belong to India.

It is because of the difference in education. In Pakistan economic remittance is based

on labour capital while in India capital of the economy is based on the remittance of
professionals. That puts great strain to advance Pakistan at an equal level to regional
forces. Yuval Noah Hariri regarded irrelevance as the major threat to humanity in the
coming century. The incompetent classroom produces irrelevant examples of individuals
for a world that ultimately declines the relevancy of such individuals in the international
arena.

The classroom can determine the social outcomes of the nations. The cultural
confidence of any nation builds on the premises of education that provides cultural
security in the regional and international realm. China was built from ashes and it was
education that addressed the Chinese previous socio-economic grievances and
embarked them on the journey of glory and grandeur. Furthermore, this imparted the
spirit of competition and confidence to expand their relevance in the region. It was the
classroom back in the Deng Xiaoping Era that formulated the progressive
consciousness. Pakistan can lead as a vibrant nation if it addresses the educational
policy with the effective apparatus and national ambition to drive out of the abyss.

Environmental degradation is more lethal than security vulnerability in the 21st century.
In Pakistan, green consciousness is still lagging just like the primary enrolment of
students in schools. Due to lack of consciousness, the sudden vibrational changes, and
ill-informed agriculturalists are facing severe soil infertility that all are attributed to
climatic change.

The classroom and education can build the consciousness of people to deal with this
issue through mass education at schools. The prospects of environmental security are
dependent on the citizenry being informed through education.

Coming to other indicators of sustainable development that fiddle the paramount

importance in the makeup of any state and their relevance to the classroom, it is
education that determines the behaviour of people regarding the deficit of identities in
marginalized groups. Gender ghettoization, cultural marginalization of minorities, lack of
pluralism, and establishment of a non-material culture of transformative values and
norms can be addressed through education. Contemporary education can install
leniency and adaptation to progressive values of enlightenment if the educational
system can function with the mastermind paradigm.

The world is facing totalitarian tendencies because of the unfulfilled expectations of

many social groups. The rising appeal to emotions and empowerment of demagoguery
in the states is due to the rising neoliberal paradigm of education. The neoliberal
educational system turned the institution of education into the institution of
maximization of profits and flow of capital. The educational system was meant to
cultivate vision rather than ideology, inform citizens rather than inject citizens with only
patriotic instincts and diverse rather than monoculture individuals.

Here the struggle for democratic norms for which we lost millions of lives in the 20th
Century was overshadowed by malfunctioning practices of education. The good
education and classroom fostered a culture of dissent, rational agency, and
transformation that is not complacent in the modern education system

The progressive education in Pakistan can address the deficit of democracy by

improving the voting turnout, breeding good politicians, and inclusive state institutions
that are possible through inclusive education without the lust for maximization of profits
but the vision to advance the nation like Singapore.

Democratic peace theory endorsed that education reduces the chances of war because
it is the education that constructs the consciousness of people to control the decisions
by their will. The wars in history were executed by the ulterior interests of leaders to
claim glory for themselves. The general will of the people and the social contract of the
subject of the state is never concerned during the war because it is the whims and
wishes of impulsive leaders that advance war.

So education expands the consciousness through effective educational institutions that

create democratic decision power and people always tend to prioritize peace over war
with regional rivalries. Good education prevents war, peace prevails and growth
becomes possible. After the years of war during the 20th century, it was the citizens of
Europe and the West that decided to end the vicious war and signed up for peace. This
all was possible by the General Will of people constructed by education.

History is replicated by the norms of change from one stage to another that was
possible in the advancement of modes of learning in every phase. It is education and
the classroom that decide the future of states. Pakistan could learn from regional
neighbours in Asia how they rose from ashes to magnificent powers through education.
Education is our future
Columns

In a message to All-PakistanEducational Conference at Karachi on November 27, 1947,

Quaid-i-AzamMohammad AliJinnah said: ――There is no doubt that the future of our State
will and must greatly depend upon the type ofeducation and the way in which we bring
up our children as the future citizens of Pakistan. Education does not merely mean
academic education, and even that appears to be of a very poor type. What we have to
do is to mobilize our people and build up the character of our future generations.‖

This was indeed a message of prophetic relevance to our nation‘s future. The Quaid
correctly emphasized the critical role education plays in the over-all health and well-
being of a modern nation-state. Unfortunately, with misplaced priorities, we never
focused on developing education as a pillar of our nation-building and as an asset for a
modern, progressive and prosperous Pakistan.Historically, as a public sector
responsibility, education in Pakistan has remained a most neglected sector both in
terms of budgetary allocation and systemic development. It has been among the lowest
of our national priorities with scant attention paid to the need for systemic reform and
redressal. Besides low ratio of budgetary allocations, we suffered an attitudinal
complacence inherent in governmental as well as societal inertia towards our
educational system.With general disdain for knowledge and scholarship, we could not
give education the place that it deserved as a major ―building-block‖ in the future of our
nation. Corrupt bureaucratic hold over the country‘s education system only aggravated
the situation. The ill-conceived nationalization in the 1970s destroyed not only the
industrial and banking sectors of the country but also radically changed the complexion
of our educational system both in quality and output. Instead of allocating a major
share of our own resources to this primary need, we left education to be funded mostly
through external ―donations.‖Seventy-six percent of government‘s educational
expenditure is met through foreign grants and assistance and Pakistan still ranks among
the 15 worst countries as far as education is concerned. What is even worse is that
access to good education in Pakistan is a privilege available only to the very few with
affluent feudal and elitist ancestry.The increasing disillusionment with the public sector
educational system led to a phenomenal shift towards private education with mushroom
growth of commercially motivated institutions at all levels. There are, however,
conspicuous exceptions in the private sector, providing high-quality education though
with limited affordability.Regrettably, like every other sector, education in Pakistan has
suffered governmental neglect and mismanagement. Over the decades under almost all
successive governments, numerous studies have been undertaken at the national as
well as international levels to identify the long-standing problems in our education
system and to recommend remedial measures. And yet, our rulers have been looking
for others to come and help them. The last government invited Britain‘s world-
renowned educationist, Sir Michael Barber to co-chair a task force on revamping of our
education system. No one even bothered to know that we already have umpteen red-
ribboned reports of several such task forces lying in our archives without any follow-up
or implementation.We already have an elaborate 'menu' of creative options available to
delineate a pragmatic reform strategy, closely tailored to our country's problems and
needs, backed by requisite resources and political will. But we remain backward in
education only because of our misdirected sense of priorities and governance
miscarriages. Our rulers do need collective ―soul-searching‖ in order to put education
and knowledge at the top of our national priorities. In fact, education must be made a
high strategic priority with its GDP allocation raised from the current less than two
percent to at least five percent to start with.We also need structural and curricular
reforms in our education system to make it more productive, equitable and coherent.
For a successful education system in our country, we must do away with multiple
systems and evolve countrywide uniform syllabi and curricula. At least this aspect of our
education system must remain a federal responsibility. We can‘t afford any
devolutionary escapades at the cost of national unity and integration. This was the first
recommendation made by Sir Michael Barber in 2011. He cited the example of many
education systems that had made the needed transition successfully.
These included Korea and Malaysia from the 1960s, Minas Gerais a large province in
Brazil and a number of Indian states more recently. Some provinces of China, such as
Shanghai, which topped a recent survey of 60 education systems, have also shown
what is possible. Why not Pakistan? We must be focusing on genuine structural reform
in our education system. But till now, we have not gone beyond lip service to our
neglected education sector. Pakistan‘s population is expected to increase to 350 million
by the middle of this century, and without good education, there is no future for this
country.
The basic parameters for improving our education system include universal coverage at
the schooling level and quality not quantity at the higher education level with adequate
resources and efficient management. The foremost benchmark must be the
constitutional provision that every child in our country is entitled to a good education A
determined effort is needed to overcome the barriers to this goal that include ―lack of
resources, governmental ineptitude and corruption, political patronage of inefficient and
unqualified teachers who don‘t turn up to work, poor quality facilities and poor quality
teaching.‖
In Punjab, one did see new passion and zeal as a ray of hope. Chief Minister Shahbaz
Sharif, from the very beginning of his first tenure has been focusing on providing
quality education facilities to those who could not otherwise afford it. His intention was
well-meaning and his priority attention to the educational needs of backward Southern
Punjab was also understandable. But he should have also understood that the very
concept of Danish Schools is privilege-based with no relevance to the needed systemic
reform in our country.We don‘t need any more elite schools (even for the poor) to
expand the ―islands of privilege‖ that only symbolize the anachronistic culture of elitism
in our society. It is against the principle of Islamic justice and equality. The resources
allocated to elitist schools would be best utilized for improving the entire network of
government-owned schools by equipping them with basic facilities that most of them
now lack.Instead of wasting government money on distribution of laptops, we need to
provide the basic modern student support services in public sector schools such as
qualified teachers, well-furnished and well-maintained classrooms, libraries, laboratories
and playgrounds.As is the practice in most countries, our schools at every level must
have latest computers in their libraries for use by students to ensure compulsory
computer literacy as part of IT training with professional support and maintenance from
a non-burearocratic but professionalized IT Directorate to be established in each
province for this purpose
Educating ourselves for a better Pakistan
It is said that education builds nations and only an educated nation is the guarantee to
a bright and progressive future. Pakistan is one of those countries where the education
sector is faced with grave challenges.Article 25-A of the Constitution states that ―The
State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to
sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.‖ Similarly, Article 26 (1) of
the UN‘s Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads: ―Everyone has the right to
education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages.
Elementary education shall be compulsory.‖In practice, however, we see that education
in our country is not a right, but a privilege.In Pakistan, anyone who can read a
newspaper and can write a letter is deemed ‗literate‘. But can such a person be
expected to be able to propel the country on the route of development?
We don‘t have enough schools, particularly in rural areas. The majority of schools that
do exist, are such that they do not meet basic international standards of quality
education. This is true especially of government schools.
There is a sea of difference between government and private-sector schools. English
and Urdu medium schools, along with the British schooling system, only enhance the
class divide.

I was shocked when a colleague who reports on education told me that all 46 students
of a class failed their intermediate exam in a government school in his village. The story
did not end there. The school was running without a principal and nobody in the
education ministry had time to hire staff for the institution. In fact, the school had been
utilising its repair funds to hire staff.

With such schools, what kind of future can we expect?My colleague added that in his
village there was no school for girls and the school for boys was miles away.

In my own village and in the villages nearby, the situation is no different. There are
either no schools and the ones that do exist in name, are hardly functional.

As always, before the 2013 elections, I can remember politicians making promises of
enforcing education emergencies and sending children to schools. However, since 2013
to this day, neither can an education emergency be seen nor have the children in the
streets been sent to schools.
If this negligence continues, the dream of becoming a progressive nation with prospects
will remain just that — a mere dream.
We have no reason to hope for better future for our society or country until we overhaul
our educational system, and get away from rote memorization, with all the emphasis of
getting glowing marks instead of producing well rounded, independent thinking, analytical,
curious citizens. What we get in the name of education is indoctrination and propaganda of
official version of everything that has nothing to do with the universe as it exists. Education
shouldn‘t and doesn‘t end once you finish school, college or university, it begin at birth and
ends only upon our death.

No one should depend entirely on the established institutions to educate us, it‘s personal
responsibility of each of us to educate ourselves in some way every day of our lives. If you
are lucky enough to come across an opportunity to teach, grab it with both hands, because
in teaching we learn too.
Future at risk?
Faisal Bari Published September 2, 2022

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development and

Economic Alternatives, and an associate professor of economics at Lums.

OUR educational outcomes have never been great. All examination

results, sample-based testing of children and other outcome
indicators, show that clearly. And this has been the case for most of
our history in Pakistan.

The Annual Status of Education Reports have been documenting learning

outcomes for at least a decade. Each report shows the dismal state of
education in Pakistan. Even more depressingly, they show there is no
improvement trend in learning outcomes.

We have been somewhat successful in increasing enrolments — more at the

primary level than at the middle and high school level, but there has been
some improvement. The data on learning outcomes, though, is more static.

And then two and a half years ago, we were hit by Covid-19. There were
lockdowns for a period of some months but even when these became more
sporadic, schools remained closed for months more. Schools have had to be
closed down a number of times over these two years.

The Covid generation goes to school

There is a lot of evidence that has now been gathered that these two years
have set us back substantially in terms of educational outcomes. Many
students did not come back to school when schools reopened. A lot of families
experienced income and employment shocks due to Covid-19; many
responded by pulling their children out of school. Even for those who have
been able to come back, there is substantial ‗learning loss‘ and many children
have forgotten what they had learnt before the crisis hit.

Though there was some effort to cover older ground before going forward,
this effort was not very systematic, organised and widespread. The effects of
learning losses will be with us for some time.

The losses sustained during school closures and disruption are not recouped
easily.

If children have problems in understanding basic concepts, if the latter have

not been covered properly and/or if the children have forgotten concepts, the
students will have problems learning advanced concepts, with early problems
being compounded. So the impact of the learning loss stays with children for
a long time.

This summer we have been hit by the floods as well. Thousands of schools
have been inundated and many damaged. It is not clear when these schools
will be able to start the education process again.

We have evidence from the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake that school
closures have a long-term impact on children‘s education. The losses
sustained during closure and disruption are not recouped easily.

The struggle right now is to provide relief to the millions who have been
impacted by the floods, and rightly so as food, clothing and shelter needs are
of paramount importance. But when the monsoons are over and the waters
recede, the conversation will need to go to rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Getting infrastructure back is hard. It requires a lot of resources and time.

The schools that have been damaged will need expenditure in terms of both
money and time. But this is not the only issue at stake here.

How are we going to get children back to school? Many families have been
wiped out financially by the floods. Relief and rehabilitation/ reconstruction is
going to be their first priority. Will they be able to send their children back to
school? When will that happen if they can?

If the children do come back to school, will schools be able to ensure they are
able to repeat some of the work that was done before the floods forced
closures? Will learning losses be removed before children are taught new
things? As mentioned, we do not have a good record of addressing learning
losses. Will it be different this time?

There has been some talk that the Prime Minister‘s Office is mulling over a
relief package for students of the flood-affected areas. This package might
include reducing tuition fees for college-going students in the area and
scholarships as well. But what is being talked about is a) at college and
university level, and b) about making the cost of education less. There has
not been, as of now, any thinking about what will need to happen at the
school level.

What is needed is a detailed plan about how the damaged schools are going
to be rehabilitated or reconstructed. We need cost estimates for this and we
need to figure out where the budgeted amount is going to come from and
how long it would take to rehabilitate schools.

Education disrupted

We need to figure out how we are going to get all the children back in school.
Will this require conditional cash transfers or similar incentives or will public
campaigns suffice? The provincial departments of education need to start
work on what the closure will imply for what should be taught when children
do get back to school. Which learning objectives will need repetition and/or
reinforcement, how much of the course would need to be repeated, and when
we move forward which learning objectives might have to be dropped? What
should be the pace of teaching for the first few months?

There is already some literature that suggests that one of the reasons for the
low quality of education is that we try to teach too much to students and too
fast. Teachers worry more about covering the syllabus than about what
students learn. If we try to do all the course work that was being planned
before the floods came, we are going to compound the problem. We hope the
departments of education will start work on the issue now so that we are
ready with optimal plans by the time schools start again.

Access to quality education has been an issue for us throughout. Covid-19

made the problem a lot worse and now we have been hit by floods as well.
This is going to create a whole cohort of children who will be lost to
education. To minimise the negative impact, we have to plan now.

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Develop

A system dynamics study of Pakistan's education
system: Consequences for governance

Abstract

Purpose
Marred by complex internal and external pressures, Pakistan's education system struggles to move
ahead. This paper uses system dynamics (SD) to analyze this complexity and identifies leverage
points and intervention strategies for change.

Methodology
An SD approach suggests that meaningful understanding comes from building up a big picture of
phenomena. Causal loop diagrams (CLDs) are utilized to describe and explain the present system
and helps to suggest actions that can be taken in the present that will impact the long term.

Findings
Three factors are identified in terms of having the greatest impact in this area. We conclude that in
order to reduce dependence on the military and foreign aid, it is imperative for Pakistan to turn its
attention to its education sector.

Practical implications
The implementation of the suggested strategies could arrest the vicious cycles occurring at present
within the education sector. Consequently, the education sector could gradually be mended,
inducing positive knock-on effects on the economy and the country as a whole.

Originality
Each of the factors that have been identified have been examined separately in their role in
advancing the education system; however, by utilizing this methodology, this paper attempts to
bring a ―system understanding‖ to a long-standing problem.
INTRODUCTION
Despite sweeping promises by a succession of governments to improve Pakistan's education system
(Khalid & Khan, 2006), more than 60 years on Pakistan still possesses a dilapidated education
system (Ali, Hakim, & Abdullah, 2017). This is an education system, which is rife with corruption,
lacks a national curriculum or qualified teachers, and fails to produce any international confidence in
its graduates (Iqbal, 2010; Malik & Hassan, 2015).

Education provides an invaluable foundation for reducing poverty and enhancing social development
(E Saqib, Panezai, Ali, & Kaleem, 2016; Memon, Joubish, & Khurram, 2010). Since its inception as
a state in 1947, Pakistan has struggled to keep up with its peers in many respects. Especially,
Pakistan's education system has led to a stagnating economy and instable government, which, in
turn, has left Pakistan unable to move forward (Ahmad, Said, Hussain, & Khan, 2014; Chaudhary,
Iqbal, & Gillani, 2009). Since its independence more than 60 years ago, the state of Pakistan has
been shaky at best, marred with political unrest, experienced rampant corruption, and produced a
dismal education sector. Under various military and nonmilitary governments, the economy has
crept forward slowly, but the gap between Pakistan and the modern world is growing, as is the
distance between Pakistan and those states it considers its peers and competitors. Furthermore, the
education system is heavily politicized, which means there is little emphasis on the quality of
education and the contribution that education may have towards improving the economy. In a
country in which there are only 100 000 people in tertiary institutions at any given time is poor when
compared with the 700 000 people in tertiary institutions in Iran, a country with a similar population
(Cohen, 2004).

The ramifications of the education system being left in its present state provide many problems for
Pakistan internally as well as externally. Internally, the increase in unemployment and a lack of an
educated workforce encourages poverty and crime, which perpetuates corruption and places greater
pressure on the government. Externally, the international community continues to perceive Pakistan
as a breeding ground for terrorists, again placing pressure on the Pakistani government. In the past,
these kinds of pressure on the government have usually led to a greater dependence on the military
arm of Pakistan and thus, lesser emphasis on the education system, which so desperately needs
assistance (Jones & Naylor, 2014).

Pakistan's economic outlook is no less daunting. As of 2013, Pakistan carries considerable national
debt (US$33 billion), imports generally exceed exports by a billion dollars or more, and the
government's consolidated balance is about 4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The expenditure
on education, although increasing, remains at 2.2% of GDP and is dependent on foreign assistance
(Memon, 2007; Memon et al, 2010). Pakistan's economic performance, according to a Japanese
analysis, is shadowed by considerable uncertainty and is highly dependent on political and
diplomatic developments (Cohen, 2004). Thus, with its thin natural resource base, high levels of
corruption, dysfunctional bureaucracy, and political uncertainty, Pakistan remains well down the list
for capital-seeking investment (Cohen, 2004; Hayward, 2015).
The education system in Pakistan is complex. To address the above challenges, a new
methodological approach is necessary that moves from a ―linear‖ or individualistic approach to a
more systemic way of thinking that considers how all the components within the wider system are
interconnected. This study uses a systems dynamic (SD) approach to holistically address the deep-
seated issues within the wider Pakistani political and economic landscape. SDs are based on the
belief that the parts of a system can best be understood by looking at their interconnectedness. This
leads to a focus on cycles of activity rather than linear cause and effect. If Pakistan is to move
ahead and close the gap between its peers and itself, Pakistan must encourage economic growth
and place a greater emphasis on education. These two factors—education and economic growth—
are closely intertwined (Fägerlind & Saha, 2014; Glewwe, Maiga, & Zheng, 2014). When they are
in a positive direction, they reinforce each other in a virtuous cycle; when they are negative, the
cycle becomes vicious, and then, a state may spiral downward or stagnate (Memon et al, 2010).
The latter may well be what symbolizes the state of Pakistan as it stands on the eve of its 70th
anniversary.

The purpose of this study is to use SDs to explore the complexity in the education system of
Pakistan and to identify potential leverage points and intervention strategies for transformational
change. The specific research question that this research sets out to explore is ―How can Systems
Dynamics be used to holistically understand and address the challenges faced by the education
system of Pakistan.‖ The next section explores the education system of Pakistan in greater depth
and identifies its main challenges. Section 3 describes the SD methodological approach in more
depth. This leads to the next sections where we develop an understanding of the education,
political, and economic system of Pakistan from an SD perspective. Finally, we use SD to propose
leverage and intervention strategies, finishing with a brief discussion and outlook to the future.

2 PAKISTAN'S EDUCATION SYSTEM

Pakistan's education system and the key drivers affecting it are summarized in this section. These
drivers include education quality, perception of Pakistan, education investments, and politicization of
education.

2.1 Quality of education

The quality of the Pakistan education system—as measured by qualified teachers, subject content,
national curriculum, number of students in schools, physical conditions of the school environment,
and similar measures—is significantly poor when compared with international standards (Aziz et
al, 2014; Nasir & Nazli, 2010). Prior to independence in 1947, the education system was
administered mainly by Hindus and ethnic Indians. The result was a reasonably well-managed and
well-established primary and educational system (Cohen, 2004). However, after the partition from
India, most of these administrators left Pakistan, leaving the education system to its new
governments. For a short time after the partition, Pakistan managed to maintain a good relationship
with overseas tertiary institutions in the United Kingdom and the United States, sending graduates
on scholarships to overseas universities. However, when President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took over in
1971, his government politicized the education system, and the quality of education dropped sharply
(Khalid & Khan, 2006). The quality of the education system has never recovered since that time
(Hayward, 2015).

Today, basic literacy rates remain low, despite repeated promises and policies implemented by the
government. Corruption, which exacerbates this problem, exists in two forms in relation to the
education system (Memon et al, 2010). First, government officials' siphon off money allocated to
the education budget before it can be spent on appropriate educational policies. Second, once
policies are created, the government officials in charge of implementing the policies reshuffle the
funds elsewhere, mostly to themselves (Cohen, 2004; Soomro & Tanveer, 2017). The latter can be
seen in the form of hundreds of ―ghost schools‖ whose teachers draw real salaries but have no
students on their rolls (Kazmi & Quran, 2005; Malik & Hassan, 2015; Memon, 2007).

The other main problem lies in the fatal attraction of madrassas or religious education schools of
which there are many, especially in the poor rural areas of Pakistan (E Saqib et al., 2016;
Singer, 2001). As Pakistan's education and social system of continually fails to construct an
infrastructure that encourages its youth to make something of themselves and, as poverty slowly
overcomes the motivation for education, the number of uneducated, frustrated youth rises.
Increasingly, these disaffected youth have been turning to the numerous madrassas within Pakistan
and education ―camps‖ in places like Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan (Hoodbhoy, 1998). These
schools operate under the guise of religious education, but the underlying curriculum is espoused by
misconstrued fundamentalist Islamic precepts.

This low quality in the education system is impacting negatively on the development of Pakistan as a
whole. As the levels of corruption and nepotism in the workplace increase, there is a perceived
lesser need for an educated workforce. In recent times, this has been reinforced by higher numbers
of unemployed graduates than nongraduates (Akbar et al., 2014). This reduces motivation to study
and subsequent lower levels of educated professionals heavily impact Pakistan's ability to develop its
economy and natural resources. This, in turn, has led to a heavy dependence on foreign aid (Ahmed
& Wahab, 2011), and the resulting instability within the government itself has led to a greater
dependence on the military (Bhave & Kingston, 2010; Munir, 2015).

2.2 Perception of Pakistan

The foreign perception of Pakistan as a developing country has been deteriorating rapidly since its
formation as an independent state. This perception is related to various events in Pakistan's past.
First was the decline in the quality of the educated graduates that Pakistan began to produce after
the education reforms. Second was the negative impact of Pakistan's nuclear arms race with India in
1998. And lastly were the September 11 attacks in New York, because Pakistan was home to many
al-Qaeda fighters and their leader, Osama bin Laden eventually received sanctuary in Pakistan.
These three events in particular have seen a decline in the foreign perception of Pakistan as a
worthy developing country. This has major impacts within the country in terms of the education
sector getting worse and as well as a worsening of Pakistan's ties with the outside world because
people have become disinclined to invest in this country (Kronstadt, 2004; Munir, 2015).
2.3 Foreign investment in education
Foreign assistance makes up 76% of the government's educational expenditure, and yet Pakistan
ranks among the 15 worst countries as far as education is concerned (Ali et al., 2017;
Cohen, 2004). Instead of using the money gained from foreign funding to improve the facilities of
existing schools or to improve the national curriculum and teacher training programs, the
government has deemed it more important to spend the money on new projects and institutions. Of
course, new schemes mean official committees need to be set up with officials and bureaucrats
needing to be paid to administer these new schemes that never seem to fulfil their intended
promises (eg, the universal education policy). This explains the significant differences between
intended spending and actual spending on the education sector (Ahsan, 2005; Ali et al., 2017).

2.4 Politicization of education

Prior to the era of politicization, education and politics existed in separate realms. At this time,
graduates from the more popular areas in Pakistan, such as Sindh province and Karachi city, were
recognized in London and the United States and were able to gain plentiful employment
opportunities. In the late 1970s, Bhutto allowed the politicization of college and university campuses
in order to build a political base for himself and his party among the country's students (Khalid &
Khan, 2006). As a consequence, in a bid to make up for the constant strikes, Sindh University
became a university where everyone was given pass marks, and counterfeit degrees were awarded
in the form of ―scholarships‖ and/or bribery (Hayward, 2015).

Consequently, foreign countries stopped accepting Pakistani migrants as highly skilled workers. The
effect of this was crippling to the education and economic sectors. Previously, the only way out of
Pakistan was through gaining higher education and applying for a job overseas. Now, degrees from
Pakistani universities were no longer recognized in the foreign job market, and education or a
degree was not necessarily required to gain a job in Pakistan. The best way to get a job in Pakistan
is through nepotism or through corrupt officials whose best interests are in keeping educated
people, who may raise questions over the presence of officials, away (Cohen, 2004). All of these
factors led to a downturn in motivation to gain an education.

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Owing to their dynamic and interlocking components, complex problems such as poverty, global
security, and climate change evade reductionist linear solutions. Rittel and Webber (1973) refer to
this class of problems as ―wicked.‖ Wicked problems abound in social, economic, and policy domains
such as education, health, and housing.

Conventional single-domain approaches fall short of ―solving‖ complex (wicked) problems as these
approaches commonly ―jump‖ from the problem to the solution. Instead, dealing with complex
(wicked) problems requires a thorough understanding of the problem, and its interconnected drivers
before any solutions are attempted. Furthermore, complex (wicked) problems embed nonlinear
cause–effect relationships, feedback loops, and time lags (delays), often unbeknown to decision
makers. These effects tend to mislead decision makers to not see or accurately predict the behavior
of the system, resulting in counterintuitive outcomes and unintended consequences. Decision
makers' own mental models and lack of understanding of complexity are further reasons why
conventional approaches to wicked problems fail.

Yet, notwithstanding the above challenges and despite advances in decision technology and
behavioral sciences, there are still limited tools for understanding and dealing with complexity.
Furthermore, communicating the complexity embedded in dynamic systems to diverse stakeholder
groups can be difficult because of differences in technical expertise of the audience and potentially
conflicting perspectives among the stakeholders (Stave, 2003).

SD provides a powerful methodology to analyze complexity. According to Sterman (2000), SD is a

well-established methodology for understanding, studying, visualizing, and analyzing complex
dynamic feedback systems. This approach is in contrast to the traditional linear approach of
identifying quick fixes to specific parts of the system. Therefore, SD allows the framing of a problem
in terms of seeing the whole forest instead of focusing on a particular tree. They see beyond the
details to the context of the relationships in which they are embedded (Mingers & White, 2010).
Bosch, Nguyen, and Sun (2013) also assert that this methodological approach supports the
management of complexity more effectively than other approaches. This paper utilizes system
dynamics to explore the complexity in the education system of Pakistan and to identify potential
leverage points and intervention strategies for transformational change.

Leverage is a unique concept in SD that presents an alternative to a ―solution.‖ While a solution may
naively assume a permanent and optimal answer to a problem, leverage points ―are places within a
complex system (a corporation, an economy, a living body, a city, an ecosystem) where a small shift
in one thing can produce big changes in everything‖ (Meadows, 1999).

SD comprises both qualitative modeling and simulation methodology that allows the study of the
behavior of complex systems over time. The methodology, developed by Jay Forrester at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been refined over the last few decades into a
systems management tool. The SD modeling often starts with a qualitative causal loop diagram
(CLD) model to capture the relationships among a system's parts and their interactions with each
other (Bosch et al., 2013; Sterman, 2000). Thus, a CLD provides a powerful visual tool that depicts
a picture of a system and unravels its complexity.

CLDs use two ―building blocks,‖ namely, variables and links. Variables are drivers or factors that
dynamically determine the behavior of a system. Links or arrows show the connections between
variables. Variables can be concepts, decisions, actions, or policies. In constructing CLDs, one can
mix quantitative and qualitative (soft) variables together. In fact, the power and realism of a CLD is
its ability to explicitly consider and incorporate soft or intangible variables into modeling real-world
systems. Much of the art of CLD modeling is about discovering and representing the feedback
processes, which—along with stock and flow structures, time delays, and nonlinearities—determine
the dynamics within a system. Thus, the SD/CLD models can use data, information, and statistics, as
well as expert opinions and logic, to postulate and construct causal relationships.

CLDs consist of variables that are connected by key causal relationships to represent reality and,
they can be used to display the cause and effect behavior from a systems point of view
(Richardson, 2011). This enables us to simply convert complex elements into an easy to understand
format. Moreover, the relationships between variables are labelled as positive or negative, which
allows us to see reinforcing or balancing feedback loops as and when changes to one part of the
loop occur.

In the next section, we present the CLDs that exist in the Pakistani systems landscape to better
understand the underlying complexities and resulting effects on the education system.

4 SYSTEMS MODELS
This section presents and discusses CLD models representing key loops or subsystems underlying
the rise of extremists' movements in Pakistan and their complex consequences.

4.1 Education and poverty

Pakistan literacy rates are rising very slowly, at a rate of less than 1% per annum. The high
incidence of illiteracy, especially among women, creates a vicious cycle of its own. This is on account
of the fact that where there are fewer educated girls, there are fewer-female teachers, no co-
education, and thus, higher-female illiteracy (Rabia, Rab, & Shahzadi, 2016). This is shown in the
upper left quadrant of the CLD in Figure 1.
Causal loop diagram for education and poverty

Furthermore, the education level of parents is known to influence the level of education attained by
their children. This means that illiterate parents are less likely to send their children to school
(Ahmad et al., 2014; Sawada & Lokshin, 1999). Poverty also tends to be concentrated in
households in which the head of the household is illiterate. Thus, children belonging to such
households, trapped in illiteracy and poverty, tend to remain out of school and as a consequence,
join the throngs of uneducated, unemployed youth, further contributing to the poverty and crime
(see Figure 1). This has led to increased domestic stress, which in turn, has meant more pressure
on the government and increasing instability within the government structure (Chaudhary et
al., 2009). From an SD perspective the relationships between the variables indicate that this loop is
a reinforcing loop, which is generally a positive thing. That is, to say that if, for example, the head of
the household or more females within the household were literate, it would lead to a higher
possibility that children of that household would be educated, which in turn, would see a decrease in
poverty and increase in female literacy.

4.2 Dropout rates

Another serious problem in education in Pakistan is the very high dropout rate (50%) (Ahmad, Rauf,
Rashid, Rehman, & Salam, 2013). The dropout rate is defined as the percentage of students who
drop out from school before reaching grade 5. The dropout rates in the public primary schooling
clearly indicate the inefficiency and the inability of public schools to retain children within the system
(Alexander, 2008). This inability to keep students in the education system is closely linked with the
poor facilities of schools, the quality of teachers, and the national curriculum (Zarif, Haider, Ahmed,
& Bano, 2014a). A study in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan found that only six out of
10 teachers could pass a fifth-grade math exams, compared with a four out of 10 pass rate among
their students (E Saqib et al., 2016; Hoodbhoy, 1998). The poor quality of the curriculum is
evident in the actual contents taught, the textbooks chosen, and the examinations sat by the
students. The textbooks are usually full of ideological and religious rhetoric, and examinations are
based more on the students' ability to memorize and regurgitate, rather than testing skills in logic
and conceptual understanding (Ahmad et al., 2014; Barber, 2010; Khalid & Khan, 2006).
Figure 2 shows the consequences of high-dropout rates as a vicious cycle.

Figure 2

Causal loop diagram for dropout rate

Similar to the loop before, we can see that this loop is also a reinforcing loop. This suggests that the
vicious cycle could be reversed in a positive manner if we could identify and work on specific
leverage points within the cycle. That is, improving overall literacy rates, as suggested in Figure 1,
could affect the literacy rates of teachers, which would in turn, enable a better standard of
curriculum to be taught and so on, resulting in lower-dropout rates.

4.3 Cultural barriers to education

Pakistan lags behind other nations in gender equality and, by extension, access to education. There
is a very real-economic cost to a family associated with allowing their daughters, and sons in some
cases, to go to school (Chaudhry & Rahman, 2009; Latif, 2009; Rabia et al., 2016). Pakistan's
economy largely relies on its agricultural sector, which is to a large extent is privately run by small
family-owned businesses. If the children are allowed to go to school, it means they are unavailable
to work the land. This can be detrimental to family's ability to survive, especially since there is no
welfare offered by the state (Ahmad et al., 2013; Sathar & Lloyd, 1994). These dynamics form
another vicious cycle (R2) as shown in Figure 3. Together with the dropout rate (R1), they push the
system into a downward spiral.

Causal loop diagram for cultural barriers to education

Radical plans by various governments to set up an ambitious number of schools and to encourage
students to participate in the education system have been mostly unsuccessful. The reason for this
is that there is no national curriculum, and the level of teacher training is poor (Ahmad et al., 2013;
Barber, 2010). Hence, given the very low-literacy rates, there seems little point in pouring money
into increasing university enrolments (Cohen, 2004). Using the SD perspective, we can see how the
different variables work together to form these vicious cycles and how current educational policies
remain ineffective. If for instance, the government rather focused on the basic need of increasing
literacy rates rather than concentrating on higher-education enrolments, some of the negative
aspects of this loop could be reversed, resulting in an overall upward spiral.
4.4 Government stability
The level of public spending on education is an important indicator of the government's commitment
to progress. Pakistan has suffered dramatically under the rule of transient governments. In the
decade from 1988, to the return of the military rule in 1999, there were four elected governments
and three interim administration governments. These governments were preoccupied with
maintaining their precarious positions and largely unconcerned with economic development in
general and social development in particular (Ahmad et al., 2013; Winthrop & Graff, 2010). Under
these regimes, the public sector education deteriorated significantly (Burki, 2005). According to the
United Nations Development Program, Pakistan is among only 12 countries in the world that spend
less than 2.5% of the GDP on education (Stengos & Aurangzeb, 2008). Specifically, Pakistan's
education budget is a paltry 1.7% of the GDP. In sharp contrast, military spending is over 34% of
the GDP, mostly for the upkeep of the army. The trade-offs between the military versus education
spending and the dire consequences are captured in the CLD in Figure 4.

It is now beginning to be understood that a poor education system is one of the key contributors to
conflicts. For example, the Afghanistan government recognizes that a reformation of the overall
education system needs to address intolerance of difference as well as overt and underlying
messages of violence (Tierney, 2015). Education is no longer considered a neutral force for good
(Aksakolov et al., 2016). Education is now seen as a transforming process, which is intimately
related to the peace building process and, therefore, stability in a country (Smith, 2010).
There are other factors that impact a government's stability, most notably, economic performance,
and domestic conflicts. Economic performance is directly related to educational attainments of the
citizens (Maani & Cavana, 2007; Nguyen, Graham, Ross, Maani, & Bosch, 2012). Therefore, a lack
of attention to education instigates a vicious cycle of economic deprivation exacerbating
government's instability, as shown by loop R4 in Figure 4. Foreign support for the country is another
powerful consequence of government stability, which Pakistan has been denied because of its
precarious politics (loop R3).

The historic dependence on the military that helped various governments get into power means that
the army is now so well entrenched and powerful that it could undermine any government—an
unintended consequence.

4.5 Corruption
The international organization for transparency ranked Pakistan 127th (out of 170) in their
Corruption Perception Index 2013 (down from 122 in 2012) (Ahmed, 2014). This level of corruption
has an adverse effect on the confidence of foreign investors in Pakistan, which leads to lower
revenue, in the form of debt relief and foreign aid, for the government (loop R6 in Figure 5). The
corruption in Pakistan encourages the booming informal economy, which is three times larger than
the formal economy. This informal economy leads to lower revenue for the government in the form
of tax evasion and lack of an effective structure to collect taxes (Humayun, 2014). At the basic
level, lower revenue for the government results in lower salaries being offered to civil servants,
encouraging corruption and reinforcing a perennial vicious cycle (loop R5 in Figure 5).

Figure 5
A counterintuitive but real phenomenon is the widespread corruption in the education sector. A
UNESCO study found a solid relationship between the education budget and corruption as the
education sector provides fertile opportunities for corruption in terms of ―ghost‖ investments in
building of schools, provision of information technology, supply and distribution of equipment and
textbooks, recruitment, promotion and incentive systems, appointment of teachers, allocation of
specific fellowships, subventions to the private sector, conduct of examinations, awarding diplomas,
and supervision of out-of-school activities (Ahmad et al., 2014). The consequences of this
phenomenon are captured by the balancing loop B1 in Figure 5, which shows how corruption could
thwart the best well-intended actions.

Some international agencies have provided funding specifically for educational purposes (Ahmed &
Wahab, 2011). However, to a large extent, this money is siphoned off by officials before it can be
used for the intended purpose (Ahmad et al., 2013; Hallak & Poisson, 2001). One of the common
ways that this happens is the invention of ―ghost schools‖ (Ahmad et al, 2014; Kazmi &
Quran, 2005) in which the so-called officials are given the task of setting up hundreds of schools in
densely populated areas. Unfortunately, these turn out to be ghost schools with ghost teachers who
are paid real salaries to teach no students (Curtis & Center, 2007).

Another case in point was when a previous head of the state was pressed by foreign agencies as to
lack of educational spending, pledged to increase the number of schools by 90 000 at the cost of a
staggering 8.6 billion rupees (US$82.2 million) and the implementation of a universal education
policy at 56 billion rupees (US$535 million).

4.6 Education and the rise of terrorism

The effects of decreasing emphasis on education and rise of terrorism are shown by two reinforcing
loops (R7 and R8) in Figure 6. A decline in the motivation to study has resulted in an uneducated
workforce made up of millions of frustrated youth who are unable to contribute to the economy
(Ahmad et al., 2013). These youth have become candidates for recruitment by groups and
organizations who are alienated from global economic, political, and social systems (Stengos &
Aurangzeb, 2008). In a Muslim country like Pakistan, this has invariably meant that the groups who
espouse various radical Islamic causes are able to attract these youth (Winthrop & Graff, 2010).
Figure 6

These recruitment efforts are compounded by the prevalence of the Islamic schools or madrassas,
which provide free religious education, food, and lodging to their students. Ostensibly, these schools
were set up to aid Pakistanis who could not afford state schooling and, in theory, to train students
for service in the religious sector (Hoodbhoy, 1998). However, their radical world view, lack of
modern civic education, and economic poverty in the population make them a destabilizing factor in
Pakistani society (Singer, 2001). For these reasons, students in madrassas are susceptible to
recruitment into sectarian and international jihads, which promise instant salvation for the
participants. The present and past governments have made repeated pledges to enforce more
control over these types of schools (Barber, 2010; Zarif et al., 2014a). However, no real policies
have ever been implemented, and this does not seem likely in the near future (Ahmad et al., 2013).
Hence, the madrassa institution, whose autonomy remains untouched and is not obliged to reform,
is unlikely to confront the military government. On the contrary, the clergy remains a vocal
supporter of a politically dominant military. This explains why the government's madrassa reforms
lack substance and legal action or intent to enforce fundamental change is by and large absent
(Singer, 2001).

For decades, successive Pakistani governments have invested heavily in and relied predominately on
the military to preserve their rule. This has resulted in an endemic neglect and undermining of other
sectors of the economy and the social fabric of the nation. While this strategy has afforded short-
term stability for the government, the unintended consequences have far offset the perceived gains.
The most damaging impact has been the lack of investment in the education sector, which has led
to a whole range of unwanted side effects, including the debilitating quality of education, higher-
dropout rates, higher unemployment, wide-income gaps, and domestic stress and conflict.
Collectively, these factors have contributed to the destabilizing of the government and their
increasing dependence on the military (Ahmad et al., 2013; Parveen, Rashid, Iqbal, & Khan, 2011;
Zarif, Haider, Ahmed, & Bano, 2014b).

The following verbatim statements reflect the views and mental models of key officials and
influential people in Pakistan's politics, which explain the values held and thinking underlying the
CLDs presented in Figures 1-6.

 ―It is well understood factor that no country can flourish without quality education.‖ –
Pakistan President Musharraf (Kazmi & Quran, 2005)
 ―Pakistani governments, particularly those controlled by the military, have a long history of
failing to follow through on announced reforms.‖ – International Crisis Group
(Hathaway, 2005)
 ―Pakistani generals express contempt for the civilian order and steadfastly hold that ‗what is
good for the army is good for Pakistan.‖ – Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy Senior Professor at Quaid-e-
Azam University, Islamabad (Hoodbhoy, 1998)
 [Madrassas are offering] ―programs that do nothing but prepare youngsters to be
fundamentalists and to be terrorists.‖ – US Secretary of State, Colin Powell (Kronstadt, 2004)

The dynamic explained above can be summarized by the fixes that fail systems archetype in
Figure 7. That is, to say that the government has presently used a rather linear approach to
addressing the problems faced by them. They have focused their efforts of creating stability through
increased military spending. However, as the previous section enumerates the lack of attention paid
to other sectors of society such as education has led to unwanted consequences that work together
to ultimately destabilize the Pakistani government and country as a whole.
Figure 7

5 LEVERAGE POINTS AND INTERVENTION

STRATEGIES
The foregoing discussion stresses that Pakistan's educational system is extremely unstable,
unreliable, and in a far from an acceptable condition from an international context. None of
Pakistan's education indicators compare favorably with other countries in the region. This is a
consequence of decades of government's underinvestment in the education and the social sectors,
which has led to the dilapidated physical condition of public schools, limited access to educational
facilities, high-dropout rates, and low-literacy rates across the country.

The negative impact of the poor education system is inadvertently impacting the government in
insidious and pervasive ways. Pakistan is inadvertently placing itself in a precarious position of not
being able to attain stability, increasing domestic stress, declining foreign perception, and reductions
in foreign investment in the country (Ahmad et al., 2013). The latter two factors could have a
detrimental effect on the already frail education and economic sectors (Ali et al., 2017;
Iqbal, 2010). Importantly, the rising youth unemployment has contributed to the popularity of
fundamentalist Islamic ideas within Pakistan, contradicts the image that Pakistan is trying to portray
overseas (Soomro & Tanveer, 2017; Stengos & Aurangzeb, 2008).

Mental models represent ―the mindset or paradigm out of which the system – its goals, power
structure, rules, its culture – arises‖ (p.2 Meadows, 1999) and as such are the most powerful areas
of leverage for change. Understanding the mental models of leaders and decision makers is critically
important for instituting fundamental change. In SD, mental models are defined as the underlying
system structure that contains the relevant mechanisms to explain the emergence of specific
situations (Doyle & Ford, 1998). The underlying information about the structure and relationships in
dynamic systems arise from mental models.

For Pakistan to succeed, it will need a fundamental shift in the government's thinking, beliefs, and
policies so that the government not only publicly recognizes the importance of the education sector
but also is able to translate its stated policies into reality. Interventions should begin by closely
controlling the spending of foreign aid as well as following a long-term strategy for weaning Pakistan
off its dependence on the military. Staged reform of the education system begins by investing in up-
skilling teachers and upgrading the national curriculum through working with other countries. To up-
skill teachers and update the national curriculum, the government needs to open up Pakistan to the
world and facilitate its transition into globalization. This could be done through encouraging teacher
exchanges and visits from overseas education experts to assess the national curriculum and suggest
how to reform it to international standards. More easily, Pakistan could bring in teachers from India
and other nearby countries. This would enhance the technical skill levels of Pakistani teachers and,
more importantly, could end the cultural isolation of Pakistanis. An education system at par with
international standards would encourage international universities and governments to more readily
recognize Pakistani qualifications. Pakistan could also follow the lead of comparable states like
Bangladesh and send advanced students to India and other countries for training, Pakistanis who
would assist in the rebuilding of the economy upon their return.

These initiatives will first require reigning in the rampant corruption, starting with the government
itself. Several countries and international agencies have invested substantial sums into Pakistan's
education sector in the past. However, the donors have left these funds with corrupt and unstable
Pakistani governments without any supervision or control. Inevitably, this has meant that
government officials and bureaucrats have siphoned off most of these foreign funds before they
were used for their intended purposes. To counter this, international aid must be given in controlled
circumstances with close supervision and inspection of how the funds get spent. A possible
mechanism could be a committee made up of both Pakistani officials and external representatives of
international donors. This would ensure appropriate use of foreign aid and attract further funds in
the future. In the longer term, however, Pakistan must lessen its dependence on foreign aid and aim
for greater self-sufficiency. As of March 2015, Pakistan was spending 44.5% of its revenue to service
debt (White, 2015), which drains its national budget and impedes potential spending on the social
and educational sector.

6 DISCUSSION AND CONTRIBUTIONS

This study used the CLD modeling tool of system dynamics to analyze causal relationships among
the multitude of factors that contribute to the growing extremist factions in Pakistan. CLD is a
powerful tool for capturing systemic interdependencies and depicting a holistic picture of a complex
situation. Complexity arises from the interconnections and interactions of component parts of a
system. Yet, complex problems are often ―solved‖ by separating the parts and examining each part
in isolation—a commonplace cause of failure in policy and strategic decisions.

Systems thinking and causal loop modeling enable the otherwise hidden interdependencies to come
to surface and become ―visible‖ to decision and policy makers. Using this tool allows decision makers
to identify deeper causes and leverage points for fundamental change—changes that could alter the
system and not only to treat the symptoms of the problems within it (Maani & Cavana, 2007).

In this study, the CLDs surfaced the root causes of issues and their interdependencies that had
trapped Pakistan in vicious cycles of substandard education and government instability. The systems
models highlighted the links between the education system and the wider Pakistani economic and
social systems. In total, the study identified eight reinforcing vicious cycles (R1-R8) that together
push the systems into a downward spiral. In the systems thinking language, the leverage for change
comes from slowing or breaking these patterns, starting with mental models of the decision makers.

A key conclusion of this paper is that, in order to reduce dependence on the military and foreign aid,
it is imperative for Pakistan to turn its attention to its dilapidated education sector. The
implementation of these strategies could arrest the vicious cycle and gradually mend the education
sector, inducing positive knock-on effects on the economy and the country as a whole. SD provides
a fresh approach to understanding some of the systemic problems inherent in developing countries.
For example, SD provides an opportunity to understand the dynamic nature of feedback embedded
in complex systems. It allows researchers within the developing countries domain to anticipate the
long-term consequences of decisions and actions, as well as the unintended consequences of
policies and strategies (Nguyen et al., 2012). The increasingly complex interconnected nature of
government, education, and politics in the developing countries context requires a big picture
approach. While systems thinking is a relatively new approach to this domain, it is already showing
great promise in breaking the ―silo‖ mentality that can sometimes exist (Banson, Nguyen, Bosch, &
Nguyen, 2015; Nguyen & Bosch, 2013). Each of the factors that have been identified have been
examined separately in their role in advancing the education system; however, by utilizing this
methodology, this paper attempts to bring a ―system understanding‖ to a long-standing problem.-
Shahper Richter
EDUCATION SYSTEM OF PAKISTAN: ISSUES &
CHALLENGES 10
Inadequate Research Activities

Pakistani education system is based on rote learning. Students are taught to the
test andfed the answers. It is the easy way to do it. It is difficult to produce paper after
paper. No one inPakistan is interesting in learning from the research findings. This trend
is encouraged inPakistan. That is why we see that according to the Time
Higher Education world universityranking none of the Pakistani universities made the
top 500.The major problems around research based learning are usually lack of funding
andadequate facilities to carry out the research methods. The biggest adversary of
research is the no-dissent higher education of Pakistan. Students are forced to cram
and copy exact pages of the book on the exam paper if they wish to ace it. Any
deviation from the rote system is harshlycensured.The government has tried to provide
essential research funds to the public-sectoruniversities. Now it is up to the universities
how to utilize these funding. (G. R. Memon 2007)

Recommendations

It is never too late to fix the broken system of Pakistani education. Some
recommendation inthis regard are as follows:1)

Primary and secondary education should be made free as well mandatory.2)

The state needs to ensure that an up to curriculum is being taught to the students
throughmodern teaching strategies.3)

The education system should be rerouted from a rote learning trend to knowledge
andresearch based initiative. The system should thus be supportive of camaraderie.
EDUCATION SYSTEM OF PAKISTAN: ISSUES & CHALLENG
ES 11)

Accountability should be brought in the education system. Proper and reliable

proceduresshould be put in place to account for exactly where the funding has been
utilized.5)

It might take a while but gradually government should bring the whole country on
auniform education system. Public and private sectors should impart same education
andthus inequality would be diminished.6)

Government should join hands with non-governmental institutions to provide

educationsto rural areas.7)

Technical education should be made mandatory part of education since it

teaches skill.Courses of carpentary, electrical works etc should be included in the
curriculm.8)

To minimize the dropout ratio, economic incentives may be provided to parents

so thatthey may send the children to school.9)

Since education has been made a provincial subject, provinces should form
respectivelegistlations and devise educational policies according to the needs of their
people.10)

Career as well psychological counselling should be made mandatory in

secondaryschools so that children may choose a career according to their aptitude and
thus contribute to their nation.11)

Parents should also be counselled. So that they can choose a market friendly career
fortheir child which he can live up to according to his aptitude.12)

Federal government should support the provinces in compliance to the

constitutionalresponsibilities mentioned in Article 25-A.13)

Special grants should be provided to the provinces where the literacy rate is low.14)
Special measures should taken such as awareness campaigns to increase the ratio
offemale enrolment in schools. (Hussein 2015)

EDUCATION SYSTEM OF PAKISTAN: ISSUES & CHALLENGES 12

Conclusion

Education is what makes or breaks a country. The people are the wealth of the nation.
Anilliterate mass will only become a liability for the state. Pakistani education system is
plaguedwith incessant political interference, poor curriculum, gender gaps, lack of
accountability, poorteaching staff and rote learning system. Pakistan requires strict
administrative reforms. Thefactors required for a strong administration to reign in the
wayward elements of Pakistanieducation system are those of a strong leadership, an
appropriate political environment, arecognition of cultural and social elements to
education, and the presence of an attitude towardschange.
As said by Margaret Meed: ―Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.‖
How To Stop Brain Drain and Improve Education
System of Pakistan

There remains no doubt in the fact that the political and economic future of
Pakistan lies with the current youth. But is our government doing anything
productive to ensure that the youth commits itself to the future of Pakistan?

When it comes to the elite, the masses have always played the blame game,
complaining that students attend universities abroad and then decide to find jobs
and settle there. The effect, better known as the ‗brain drain‘ is perhaps one of
the bigger reasons why we have illiterate politicians sitting in the senate and
failing macro-economic policies creating an only bigger income disparity between
the rich and the poor. However, sometimes when one puts himself/herself in the
shoes of such others, one comes across the fact that such decisions to pursue
careers abroad are rather forced.

Our lifestyle is missing the basic elements and necessities of life. Why would a
graduate from Harvard wait for the electricity to come back, or resort to
spending thousands of rupees to fuel generators to run a house? Why would
someone who has graduated from the London School of Economics settle for a
mediocre paying job at a bank when he knows that he could earn twice as much
abroad in a lower position? Why would anyone for the matter be patient about
not receiving the water or gas that he/she pays high bills for when they are
sometimes free abroad? The lack of such necessities takes away the element of
peace from one‘s daily life and thus causes the decision to seek a better lifestyle
abroad, this off course being how the brain drain begins.

Perhaps the biggest short coming of any government that has ever ruled
Pakistan has been it‘s educational reforms to a lack luster, mundane education
system. The standard of schooling which needs to be attained is only achieved
by the few elite who can afford to pay thousands of rupees every month to
private tutors, who they are forced to learn from despite attending the best
schools. The masses in our youth are denied the opportunity to achieve the
education that they need to pursue a healthy and satisfactory lifestyle in the
future. We can easily pay 5000 rupees to get a fake medical certificate printed,
or indicate to our invigilators at the commencement of exams that we carry
knives to earn our A*‘s and A‘s. Never has the government paid attention to
education. Off course, except for the changes that it made to the Sindh Board
Medical Exam, in which students now answer questions on the life of Benazir
Bhutto. Only 1% of the budget focuses on educational reforms whereas about
45% of our population consists of children under the age of 18.

Am I playing the blame game too? No. There is a lot that can be done to change
the current of the educational system. But off course, that comes at the cost of
our dear Quaid‘s smiling face on paper.

Firstly, teachers need to be payed so that the problem of teachers not even
showing up to teach can be eradicated. Ghost schools, ie. schools that are
officially run by the government and have payrolls but don‘t actually exist need
to be eradicated to save our budget. Better infrastructural facilities are a
requisite.

A uniform system of education may cause a rebellion from the bourgeoisie

but the proletarians must be given the chance to study up to the level of
Cambridge Examinations. Better universities need to be developed in order to
hold back the bright minds that find their ways to countries such as UK, USA and
Canada. Better job opportunities for fresh graduates need to be arranged so that
they are not tempted by the lifestyle abroad. This, is just the beginning of a long
list of solutions that need to be super imposed on our educational system to
prevent it from worsening any more, if it still can.
Only enabling greater educational reforms and realizing the real potential
importance of a better educational system will help the government to recover
from the precarious situation that the youth of today lies in. Who knows, if
changes are implied, the youth may show their gratitude by helping reform
education in Pakistan for the many generations to come. It would be good to see
that literacy in Pakistan would no longer be classified by the ability to sign one‘s
name in any language on a piece of paper.
 Pakistan: The Lost Generation
Story Synopsis
It‘s morning in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan‘s biggest province, and the country‘s next
generation is headed to school. But what children are finding when they get there is of
increasing concern for those who want peace in Pakistan‘s future.
For 12-year-old Fatma, school is an abandoned brickyard.
"I study at the Government Primary School in Lahore," she explains. "I study English
language, and I like it. There are no chairs. We have to sit on the ground. It's a
problem in the winter. When it rains, there is nowhere to sit."
Each day, the kids bring in a few chairs for the teachers, and they set up the school‘s
one blackboard, which six classrooms share.
―So your students actually have no rooms, no desks?‖ correspondent David Montero
asks the school‘s headmaster.
―No furniture. No rooms,‖ he replies.
This school is not an exception. There are some 20,000 "shelterless" schools throughout
Pakistan. And even when there are buildings, 60 percent have no electricity, and 40
percent have no drinking water. Because the schools are so bad, Pakistan has the
lowest enrollment rate in all of South Asia.
Ali Hassan is roughly the same age as Fatma, but he‘s recently dropped out of the third
grade. Instead, he helps out at a local gas station and makes the equivalent of 12 cents
a day -- money his mother says the family now can‘t live without.
―I hope Ali learns to be a mechanic, that he learns this work,‖ his mother says. "When
only my husband earns, how can we get by?"
―Today, there are 68.4 million children between the ages of five and 19 in this country,
and fewer than 30 million of those kids are in any type of school,‖ says Mosharraf Zaidi,
a longtime advocate of reforming Pakistan‘s schools. ―You look at the consequences of
these kids not going to school -- and let's set aside the fearmongering and the scare-
mongering of saying, you know, ‗What if all these kids become terrorists?‘ Setting that
aside, the real problem is that, if you aren't capable of participating in the global
economy, you will be very, very poor. And desperate and extreme poverty has some
diabolical consequences for societies and for individuals.‖
In Pakistan, public education has become a battleground. Members of Fatma‘s local
school council are outraged, saying the elite only care about themselves and keep the
poor illiterate to stay in power.
"Government officials send their own kids to air-conditioned classrooms. Let's see them
make their kids sit here and see what it is like," says one council member. "Aren't these
the children of God's creation?"
The council takes Montero on a tour of a new construction site, where the government
promised a new building that was supposed to house the 300 students from Fatma‘s
school.
"This is the only room?" Montero asks. "Three hundred students are supposed to sit in
this room?"
The government blamed the contractor. The contractor blamed the government. The
school council wanted to visit the Education District officer of Lahore to ask what had
gone wrong. But he threatened to fire them if they showed up.
When Montero visited, the officer said that the teachers shouldn‘t be complaining.
According to his paperwork, the school would be big enough.
Across town, another kind of school is functioning quite well. It has plenty of room and
even provides free tuition and a hot meal. It is one of the country‘s many madrassas, or
religious schools, which are becoming an increasingly popular option for poor parents.
―Parents who were educated don‘t send their kids to madrassa. They send them to
private schools, universities,‖ says the madrassa headmaster. ―Poor people want their
children to learn about their religion.‖
Although madrassas are often criticized in the West, many local conservatives, like the
school‘s headmaster, believe that what‘s being taught there will make Pakistan a
stronger state.
―Why are we Muslims in this mess today?‖ he asks. ―Because we've strayed from the
Koran. If you look back at history, non-Muslims used to tremble in front of Muslims.
Today, they don't. Today, when they see the situation Muslims are in, they say, ‗Exploit
them.‘‖
It‘s a message that is also taught in the country‘s public schools, where it can influence
far more children. For decades, Pakistani schoolchildren have been learning that their
country is in a battle for survival.
―The teachers tell us that India and the British are our enemies,‖ Fatma says. ―They are
killing Muslims. They are behind the bomb blasts. I do not know much about America,
but generally people do not like America, and they can never be our friends.‖
Rabina Saigel is an academic who‘s studied public school textbooks for years and found
that they have quietly been feeding extremism.
―I feel that a great deal of the ideology that we think madrassas are producing is in fact
being produced in state schools,‖ she says. ―And I say that it's the biggest madrassa
because it has the widest outreach. It reaches every town, village, and small hamlet. It
reaches every nook and cranny of the country.‖
At the Ministry of Education‘s curriculum wing, the staff has been working on removing
the militaristic tone of the curriculum. But the textbooks still include passages like
these: ―For the past three centuries the Europeans have been working to subjugate the
countries of the Muslim world‖ and ―The Christians and Europeans were not happy to
see the Muslims flourishing in life. They were always looking for opportunities to take
possession of territories under the Muslims.‖
While those in the curriculum wing say that the new curriculum will address these
issues, some religious fundamentalists have attacked the new, more tolerant
curriculum.
―There is no demand for [secular education] in Pakistan. No demand from any section -
- not from students, not from teachers, not from parents,‖ says Fareed Paracha, the
leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest fundamentalist Islamist party. He blasts
the West for trying to secularize Pakistan‘s curriculum.
―They have started a clash between Western and Islamic civilizations,‖ he says. ―They
claim Western secular, democratic civilization now is the fate of humanity.‖
Just a few months ago, Paracha led a protest against the latest American aid package,
which includes hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked for education reform. The
religious parties say the United States. is using the aid to try to hijack Pakistani society.
But ironically, others fear that the money will never reach the schools, anymore than
the $100 million in U.S. aid over the past three years has.
Reformers believe the problems that Pakistani children face are so deep that money
alone will not be enough to fix them.
―I think it‘s generous of the American taxpayer, and I think it‘s important that Congress
and the president and the administration have made this kind of a long-term
commitment. But it is not going to make the difference between a functional and a
dysfunctional Pakistan,‖ says Zaidi. "The choice of whether Pakistan is going to be a
functional country is a choice that has to be made by Pakistanis. And Pakistanis haven‘t
made that choice yet because government after government fails to make the
investments that it needs to make."

(Anonymous)
If you think the Pakistani schools are dysfunctional try visiting the schools in Detroit. At
least the kids over there are willing to learn and not creating violence even though they
live in extreme poverty. America is blind to their own internal issues.

I don't understand why there is all this criticism over Pakistan's school system.
Everybody knows that loans from the IMF, economic (monetary) aid, all backed by or
from the US; end up in the hands of corporations or corrupt philanthropic organizations
and local leaders. US political leaders constantly criticize other countries, even while
they know there is a crisis in the US educational system and that this country is under
constant attack from fundamentalist Christian Evangelicals.

The bottom line is that public schools are a failure and the government is putting more
money into nuclear war heads than education. 60% of the kids go to MADRASSAS in
Pakistan. So what do we expect from the teachers, who believe that whole western
world is there to destroy them, no matter what.Unless and until the whole program is
revamped, a band aid approach will not work. It is a similar situation in Health Care.

(Anonymous)
"If you aren't capable of participating in the global economy, you will be very, very
poor" (zaida) is the wrong way of looking at the problem. Pakistan's inability to grasp its
limitations and trying to overreach in the world is what is causing the problem. Trade
cannot be a pillar of a nation.
(Anonymous)
kids in Pakistan sit on floors,they have no buildings, and most kids are not in school.
Maddrassa schools are more successful because they are linked to religion. I believe
America should spend money on schools in Pakistan to counter this.

I think the whole situation SUCKS!!!. No one who wants an education should have to
live without an education. There a lot of kids in the U.S. who don't even appreciate their
education & that they have people to teach them something. It is sad and makes you
realize how good we have it here.

In every school there is something missing, either electricity, water, or furniture. And
some are ghost schools, which benefits no one but the teachers who get paid for doing
nothing. The most successful schools are the madrassas where children learn religion
and have furniture and other necessary things; their tuition is also paid by the church,
which is especially good for poor families. With students that are young and gullible,
these schools have the power to prevent or promote terrorism.

Its is unfair that these students don't even have seats to sit on while they're in "school"
or even a school to go to in some cases. Instead of teaching religion and that America
is the enemy, students should be taught about love and tolerance.

The school system is really messed up. How can people with money just sit back and
see this happen. Kids with no class rooms desk not even a school building. Kids should
be the ones being treated the best; they are the future of Pakistan.
It is crazy there are no classrooms, and teachers hardly even come and teach. Their
schools are in deserted areas and right next to sewers. Six classes share 1 black board.
60% no electricity and 40% no water. Those are great differences from our schools
here. I think Obama's doing the right thing by giving money to help Pakistan schools.
It's important for everyone's future.

If the basis of creation for a state is based on a false construct pinned under the
assumption that "Only people of the same religion and same race, and the majority can
survive as a nation state" and all minorities are doomed to exploitation and subjugation,
then we have Pakistan.
In today's diverse world, majority state is a false construct as each majority group has
its own minority. I feel very sad for the new generation of Pakistanis and the common
man in Pakistan caught between an elite, who exude of false-vanity, and the religious
mullah, who is fighting to position himself as the power-center.
All countries teach some form a bias in their books and history but Pakistan school
textbooks are a denial of their own historical roots and a false propaganda of hatred
against its arch enemy India.
It's ironic that Pakistanis and Indians may be frisked and scanned with equal disdain as
they resemble so much alike. Two people and land, which have been entwined in
relationship of blood, ancestors, roots that go back more centuries than the Romans or
Greeks, are locked in perpetual war. I hope the Pakistanis of the new generation will
see the futility of the dogma that has been shoved down their throats by successive
military government.
Maybe we will become friends one day and the Taliban will cease to exist. But when?
As an Indian whose civilization roots spring around the Indus Valley, which is the source
of its name, I really wish the next generation of school goers will challenge the state for
a better future.

I wonder at the expectations of this 17-minute documentary, and the reliance on it to

understand a richly layered land like Pakistan. It is neither the duty of the filmmaker to
cover all aspects of education in Pakistan, nor is it possible for him to do so. It is the
responsibility of the viewer of this documentary to educate her/himself further and to
explore the ideas presented here.
The problem with such documentaries is that they feed into all sorts of
fundamentalisms; if they were to be viewed by well-intentioned open-minded men and
women of understanding, they would cause no harm.
I am a Fulbright alum, a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. I
sometimes falter, but mostly I am committed to saying my five daily prayers. I watch
live theatre and movies, am part of a book club, go rock climbing here in Islamabad, do
yoga, and I pray.
I am asking you to open a window in your mind, to break the stereotype of a Muslim
and a Pakistani that you clutch on to like a child clutches on to her security blanket. See
us for what we are! Vibrant, resilient, troubled by our myriad problems yet trudging
along! For more on that, watch the movie Kashf by a Paksitani director, Ayesha Khan.
The movie is in English and Punjabi.
I work for a Pakistani non-profit. I and my colleagues happily travel to far-flung areas to
train teachers and to follow-up. We had set up a camp school for the Swat IDPs
(Internally Displaced People) in Swabi, where I and my colleague trained the teachers
and our organization helped set-up the school. We are not alone in this. Many
organizations are doing such work. We have literacy centers for children working as
domestic laborers, created to draw these children out from work and to bring them to
school where they are paid a stipend for attending. PBS will not cover any of this
because it does not make their kind of a story, and that is fine; but now that we all
know that, why are we even expecting the media to give a complete picture; that's just
not part of their job description.
To cut a long story short, we have problems, and we are doing something about it.

The article above and the reactions to it are conflating two issues:
1-Education
2-Terrorism
Let's put the "Terrorism" issue out of the way first. Isn't it a bit simplistic to assume
that "Terrorism" simply arises out of "Education" or "Propaganda"?
There is never only one reason for armed conflict. For those of you who have studied
history even at High School Level, I am sure you will have studied at least 3 causes per
conflict -- no matter what the conflict being considered.
Yes, there is a crying need to re-vamp and improve the education system. But instead
of statistics, let me give you the people:
1- I went through the private school system. What is called the "elite" system. I got my
O Levels, A Levels and an external degree from the University of London from
Islamabad, Pakistan. And I got my Masters from Australia.
2- I am now working for an NGO, Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (www.itacec.org) My brief is
to handle the PELI program (www.pelinstitute.org), a teacher training program run by
Plymouth State University, USA, for Public School Teachers in Pakistan.
Basically, we get the provincial governments to nominate public school teachers for this
program. I have interviewed teachers from the most under-privileged regions of
Pakistan and this is what I have discovered:
a- There is no dearth of candidates, both male and female, willing and able to study in
the USA.
b- The candidates are uniformly open-minded about the US culture. They consistently
state that the US is an advanced country with similarly advanced teaching
methodologies and they want to learn these methodologies so they can apply them in
their regions.
c-The candidates have sufficient English language skills for communication purposes.
Generally, English is their third or fourth language, so this is quite an impressive
achievement.
d. We have asked candidates about achievements in their personal lives. Many have
pointed at their own struggle to achieve an education. Quite a few have pointed, with
pride, at their own efforts to help students attain an education by either tutoring them
voluntarily, paying their fees or convincing unwilling parents to allow them to study.
As to the elite, private system, its products attend Harvard, Yale, MIT, Oxford,
Cambridge etc. In other words, they are competitive at International levels.
Yes, Pakistan has its educational challenges. But it also has its success stories. Maybe
Frontline World should seek them out and highlight the hope they represent for
Pakistan.

This program raises more questions than it answers, but it is clear (from the interviews
in this program) that current Islamic education is mere indoctrination. But it's also free,
which is better than the near-nothing that the kleptocratic and illegitimate Pakistani
government is providing.
But from a civic-development aspect, why are local parents not empowered to make
things better? Or self-empowered? Why is there only a top-down subservience to the
local (overworked) administrator? Why is there no transparency in the construction
funding of the school and the monies appropriated for that purpose? Clearly, Pakistani
society needs transparency so that its children and its future will not fail.
(Sidenote: Why are the Saudis ("our friends?") only providing money for Muslim
indoctrination madrasssas?)
(Anonymous)
Is public school free in Pakistan? I was under the impression that it was not. When free,
public education for the masses becomes a national mandate, by law,they will do it. In
the U.S. you can be arrested for not attending school. It is a different way of seeing
education as important. Pakistan is a young country and must be given time to grow as
the U.S. was. It used to be illegal for certain parts of the population to read in America,
but things change when the people demand it. The people are the government as they
elect their reps.

just read the comment by "anonymous" that you deemed appropriate to print. i quote
from his or her comment: "America has liberated many nations from all kinds of acts.
Now we must liberate your people from your own selfish acts. Europe recalls the
sacrifices America has made. Will the Muslim world ever do the same?" A very
superficial study of history will make anonymous realize that there are no such debts to
be paid by the Muslim world. The analogy with Europe during WWII is preposterous.
this is what i meant by the dismal state of public education in the U.S. Much needs to
be done there.
(Anonymous)
For so long Muslim countries have forsaken their youth and women. Their lack of focus
on education for both has now shown their ugly face to the world. Blame your own
officials for the reasons your nation and people are not able to adjust to the west. You
have been left to behind with the rest of the world and your only answer is world wide
criminal (terrorist acts) activity. Thanks but no thanks. So go ahead blame it on
America. It's what the world does best. America has liberated many nations from all
kinds of acts. Now we must liberate your people from your own selfish acts. Europe
recalls the sacrifices America has made. Will the Muslim world ever do the same?

I'm deeply surprised Mr. Montero takes a few examples in a vast country such as
Pakistan and paints a picture as bleak as he does.
Not that the situation isn't grim--but rather, why not offer solutions and
encouragement?
Our family is deeply involved in helping the underprivileged become educated in
Pakistan. I can tell you the human spirit of the beneficiaries is nowhere near the image
created by Mr. Montero. Please visit nazeer.org for more information.
Also, taking excerpts from certain books to make it look like that is a foregone
conclusion that non-Pakistani's are to be hated is plain poor journalism. I'm Western
educated and I'll advise you to read about the opinions of authors writing about the
crusades.
Funny how in this piece Mr. Montero is doing exactly what he's trying to point towards
in Pakistan. Take a narrow opinion and let the masses believe it by giving scant
evidence...

Although the state of public education in Pakistan is worrisome, calling it a "ticking time
bomb" creates the kind of rhetorical bias and fear-based cultural knee-jerk reaction
which have made any sensible dialogue between east and west impossible.
How concerned are we for these kids who sit in the dirt and study useless books? Is our
concern focused mainly on a couple of paragraphs which talk about western colonial
and post colonial exploitation in vague enough terms that we can interpret them as
generic hatemongering? Or are we truly concerned for the future of these kids - for
their ability to get jobs, support their families, and eke out a decent existence?
Public education has always been problematic in Pakistan. what strikes you first and
foremost, is its duality. Public schools in well-to-do neighborhoods are nothing like
those presented in the film. Granted there are fewer good neighborhoods and more
urban slums/villages in Pakistan but that is such an important component of how public
education could work and does work for some Pakistanis that it is irresponsible not to
even mention such schools.
I finished high school in the public education system in Islamabad and even though i
was less than impressed with the quality of the curriculum and the whole idea of
learning by rote, my experience of public education was completely different from
Fatima's, and the same can be said for millions of other Pakistanis.
I do agree with the man who blamed a lot of what is happening on the government
where officials are busy lining their own pockets with money and totally indifferent to
the plight of the poor. Education is no different than any other public service - the same
duality will be apparent if you look at healthcare or housing. it's less about trying to
brainwash the next generation, it's more about the lack of investment in people who do
not matter to the government or the elite of Pakistan.
it's a bit like the U.S. really except more pronounced. public education is not equal for
all Americans, neither is healthcare or housing. if you live in a good school district
where you can afford to buy a house and pay hefty taxes, your kids will have a very
different education than if you live in the projects.
I think it's time for us to get off our high horse and open up our minds to possibilities -
within our own country and within other countries as well. Fear is not going to get us
far but a concern for humanity both at home and abroad might actually change things.

Education and justice are two main issues of this country, and once these two are
solved then country is on the path of real development and the end of terrorism. Why it
has not been implemented for last 62 years is because of the interests of elites and the
ruling class of this country. If the west and USA want to have long term success and
end the fundamentalism, they should spend money on justice and education in this
country and use their good offices to compel all the rulers to follow these two. Thanks.

I think we need to analyze the effectiveness of our education. However flawed and
substandard it is, does it actually help the poor raise their living standards? Surely that
is the objective? I am working with a school and experimented with a skill center
situated within the school. The regular school could not cross a 65% average
attendance but the skill center has a 100% attendance. This simple fact tells a story.
What the children found useful, they did not miss out on. Our education of learning by
rote, outdated methodology, substandard teachers will not solve our problems.
Let's move to giving young students skills to help them while we upgrade the education
system, which might take up to two generations.

The video is a true picture of public sector schools and the situation is worse in other
provinces of Pakistan. I visited some rural areas of Sindh and found the Girls
Elementary School being used as a cattle shed and boys school almost remains closed
and the Head Teacher visits off and on and drives a van instead of coming to school.
The situation of ECE needs to be taken as most important. If the situation of ECE is
better then we may hope for something better.

Friends of education in Pakistan, what is essential is to track down the origins of

Shelterless Schools. A scheme was officially launched during the early 80s actually
backed by donors during Zia's period under some romantic notion that education can be
extended without any need for shelter and school buildings. What is also worth asking
is why dual standards of education have been pushed for quantity at all cost over
quality, which leave us in a quandary of 1000s of shelterless schools in the 21st
century, with the largest numbers in the province of Sindh (over 6000 ) !
So where David Montero begins his story is indeed a very interesting one. Shelterless
schools not be default but by design -- a collusion of the sinister interests nationally and
globally and a citizenry exhausted by institutional breakdown in the 80s: the country's
break up in 1971; nationalization causing irresponsible havoc to satisfy hubris of rulers;
Islamization and closing of minds; the war in Afghanistan. It is enough to make a polity
dizzy with challenges and to rise to multiple fronts of the closing of options for gender,
human rights, human development.
So let us get the context right for shelterless schools as a formal scheme in the
education landscape ...by donors and government alike... courting a mindless phrase
education only needs teachers not facilities! Education can take place under trees and
lamposts.. sorry for rambling but let us speak from informed perspectives as to why
little 12 year old Fatima is studying in an abandoned brickyard.. this is no coincidence
or accident!
A tormented educator and activist baela raza jamil

All of you who feel for the plight of the poor children of Pakistan and would like to find
a way to help can do so by donating to some of the very credible, genuine
organizations who are doing excellent work in improving the education system in
Pakistan. Developments in Literacy(www.dil.org)is one such organization that is
providing quality education to underprivileged children in Pakistan. Their teacher
training institute is the first of its kind in Pakistan to cater to the needs of the rural
teacher.
The old guy at 5:00 said it best...and the Madrassa's Imaam should get slapped for
what he said at 8:15! What happened to spreading peace and love throughout the
world? It's people like him that spread the gap between Muslims and non-Muslims! But
he is right in saying that madrassas are the only option for the poverty stricken
communities of Pakistan.

Why it is not working when the money for education is pouring in from various donors?
The question is quite simple but the answer may need days to explain. Being an
educator for the last 27 years and, in parallel, working with Non Government
Organizations who are striving hard to improve the quality of education in Pakistan, I
have conceived the following factors that do not allow the visible impacts of all these
efforts.
1. Most local NGOs (my rough estimate is over 80%) do not emphasize impact-oriented
implementation, rather they are involved in action oriented implementation.
2. Most of the funding provided by the donors are either consumed in
management expenses, under the table deals with the local distributors, or
with the government authorities through which the funds are floated to the
implementer.
3. The culture of consuming the money inappropriately has made its way to the lowest
receiving end where the visible impacts could be seen.
4. The local tradition of less inclination towards literacy has also played a vital role in
hindering the process and modern concepts of education (which of course shall need
more energy, time and innovative thinking). This extends to teachers, who are not even
discouraged by the local administration.
5. The vague curriculum, non-activity-based instruction and the traditional rote memory
teaching has deep roots in the educational system of Pakistan.
Even the highest evaluation agency, the Board of Intermediate and Secondary
Education, is based on the written Answer books, with anonymous identity of those
examining. The result is considered as a criteria for acquiring admission to the next
phase of education, i.e., college (higher secondary stage). The so-called practical
examination is taken by less qualified, incompetent and less interested teachers, who
are unable to evaluate the students inclination, aptitude or attitude toward further
education.
This system has encouraged those elements who want to impose their own agenda
with comparatively no expenses on the part of parents, less formalities and with a
promise of making those taught good human beings. Some of the institutions are
striving hard to impart quality education but are far away from the reaching the largest
chunk of society.
What makes one fundamentally upset about debates regarding Pakistan's education
system is overlooking of:
On the one hand, an undeniable huge country wide public interest and need for quality
education which has concrete manifestation in the ever expanding enterprise of
education; today we have over 270,000 institutions of learning, of which private sector
is expanding annually by almost 25% since 1999/2000, when the first survey on private
education institutions was done in Pakistan by the Federal Bureau of Statistics
On the other hand, is a phenomenon of mushrooming partnerships with the public
sector with two key strands:
1. Helping public sector to improve its quality of supply
2. Seeking public sector financial assistance for low cost quality private schools to
expand choices for quality eduction
So as the society rises to the challenge, conversations are 'fashionably' only about
doom and gloom - as is the nature of the current conversation in this bold VIRTUAL
initiative.
What we need to do is sift through the debris and speak about all those elements that
make the glass half full with plenty of evidence, if we want to be a part of the RESCUE
TEAM For education in Pakistan.
We have a tremendous opportunity in the people of Pakistan like us and all those
teachers/educators that Plymouth representative speaks about (and many others), who
are totally passionate about making this system turn around.
Those who believe that in education lies Pakistan's transformation; there are plenty like
us, believe me. We must find believers in the public sector who are equally committed
towards this enterprise of education in its most comprehensive sense. Sector wide, all
the way and, system wide, all the way as there is a crying need to be part of the
REDESIGN of the Education system which is all wrong. Not because of its colonial
legacies but because of the unhealthy and unthinking continuation of these beyond the
time and scale that it was intended to be. (we will come to this later with good
evidence).
Moving away from the madrassah stories, I would like to introduce for this discussion
three issues affecting the entire population in Pakistan: National Education Policy 2009
Status; GDP Education Allocations, and Governance. And if there is interest, I can
expand to the next four critical areas: public private partnerships; teacher education,
ECE and the recent decision to shift age bands for calculating indicators of Net
Enrollment Levels (NERs) Primary from 5-9 to 6-10...
If there is an interest, I would like to elaborate with evidence on the issues, their scale,
and what can be done practically.
Recently, the initiative of the Pakistan Education Task Force (PETF) was formed to
make good decisions on how best to make use of the UK 225 million pounds being
given by the British govt to implement the National Education Policy 2009. It is co-
chaired by Michael Barber and Shahnaz Wazir Ali and also has USAID as a member.
PETF mandate has an echo of the Rs 1 lac in 1823 or so, allocated for education under
the Company Raj, which was debated well over a decade until the famous Macaulay
Minute in 1835 was pitched at the orientalists vs. anglicists. The latter won the day. But
what are we debating about today? Let us be clear ... speak about substance and not
sensationalize for media attention only, but for serious public and global action.
Baela Raza Jamil, Director Programs ITA and Institute for Professional Learning
Pakistan

Failure over the past 62 years to correct the public school system in Pakistan has led to
ignorance and a high rate of population growth. Today, Pakistan has schools for the
rich and schools for the poor - a polarisation and segmentation of society which is
engulfing the nation in a war on terror.
The system needs to be re-vamped with a rights based, citizen based curriculum,
bright, cheerful classrooms, interesting textbooks and trained teachers who have some
standard of education needed to be a teacher.
The system of 145,000 public schools can now only be uplifted by rectifying all the ills
that plague it across the board. A piecemeal approach will only waste time, effort and
money.
Too much time has already been wasted by tinkering here and there.

The backwardness is related to religious faith,If a nation chooses to recite religious

scripture 5 times a day,how can they grow.West should stop military aid to Pakistan,
IMMEDIATELY.
A Khalaf of Houston Texas, TX said, "As long as Muslims will cling to Islam which is a
hateful violent cult they will be poor and backward. The few well off Muslim countries
are either secularly influenced or oil rich."
Apparently you are ignorant of both Islam and history for making such a ridiculous
statement. Islam is NOT a "hateful violent cult" and if you study history you will see
that the Muslims were most affluent when they most closely followed their religion
which advocates that they gain knowledge and benefit humanity.

Pakistan looks like a problem from the top down. Just like they don't know who to
befriend; the Taliban who hangs people on hooks with their head between their legs, or
successful, civil countries who are willing to help them.
Pakistan needs to sit down and chart a coarse, and eliminate all the greed, and
corruption, and write a central value system.
I salute the whole team, specially David Montero, for providing the world with a partial
insight into Pakistan's education system. Highlighting the problems is one thing, offering
a solution is an entirely different one.
Was there any concrete solution or suggestion offered by any of the participants for a
change and improvement?
The predominance of private schools offering the same curriculum as British and
American hasn't even been alluded to. The schools offering all sort of amenities and
luxuries from pools, baseball, concerts, excursion trips to foreign lands. The schools
which do help students to qualify for the British,American and European universities
goes back to the same old masters, who then return to rule the people whose very
language they aren't able to speak.
David should have asked the authorities he was interviewing about the schools of their
kids.The owners of such schools are either brutal business people impervious to any
educational sense or the people from the political and governmental hierarchy, forces,
and bureaucracy, who are in cahoots with one of the most vicious,veiled, covert and
plaguing feudal systems.
An episode on another kind of generation, though equally lost, might strike the balance
by evoking feelings of covetousness and jealousy instead of pity, compassion and awe
in the audience about this land full of dumbfounding oddities.
As long as Muslims will cling to islam which is a hateful violent cult they will be poor and
backward.The few well off Muslim countries are either secularly influenced or oil rich.

Congratulations to Frontline on addressing the complexities of public education in

Pakistan. However, there are success stories due to dedicated Pakistani educators,
administrators, and NGO's who are working at the grassroots level. Since 2003, the
State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has been funding a
professional development project for Pakistani educators. Hosted by Plymouth State
University and facilitated by Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi, it includes U.S. and Pakistan
components. The 120 alumni of the project are remarkable - change agents in their
own country. How can the work of Pakistanis like them be supported and sustained
effectively?

Very superficial coverage of an acknowledged problem. For example, the story does not
mention several charity organizations doing excellent work in this area and their
outreach is expanding. I hope your correspondent would look at the work of
organizations like TCF, DILL and so on. A balanced report on the situation and
constructive criticism would have been helpful
I've always wanted to be a teacher in history and english. I was unable to finish
because my father pulled me out of college because teachers in California couldn't get
jobs in l972. He sent me to secretarial school and then I went back to school in 81-84
for business and computers. I was a senior when my mother got cancer and I had to
stop my last two quarters before I finished. I then got married, disabled, abandoned by
my husband and now I'm trying to get back to finish my interest in teaching again in
history/english.
Since I've always been interested in other peoples religions and customs and do not
have any family, I'm trying to get to Afghanistan or Pakistan to teach. I have no set
religion because I value all religions and learned through self education that everyone is
to be respected and valued as a child of God. I guess after studying all major religions
I've taken all of the most important parts of each one as a value to the human race.
Compassion is my #1 commandment that I always try to follow. As well as "Do unto
others as you would have them do unto you". It will be through education and teaching
the children how to read and thinking for themselves instead of following what others
tell them is right will all children learn to value one another. When the children read all
different kinds of philosophies and ideas and learn how to think critically will things
begin to possibly change.
Hopefully I'll be able to get in touch with someone or an agency that will help me reach
my goal of teaching in Afghanistan or Pakistan.
If anyone has any ideas or a person I should contact I would be very grateful for any
help you could give me to reach this goal.
Thanks, Kerry Pay, 59, female
I've never missed a Frontline show because this is the best that T.V has since it began!

What is clearly happening is that an entire generation of under educated Pakistani

children is being steered toward carrying on the holy war against the west, while an
entire generation of under educated children in the United States is being prepared to
keep going into the middle east and 'spreading democracy'. The children of our future
are being prepared from birth to carry on the campaign of hatred and ignorance that
their fore-bearers have started before our very eyes. For these poor children, both here
and in Pakistan, their birth certificate amount to little more than death sentences, and
most of them will never know the reality into which they have been brought. It is one of
the great tragedies of human kind, and it has not even begun to unfold itself.

This report was really lacking, especially in contrast to the "Behind Taliban Lines"
program after which it was broadcast. If "For the past three centuries the Europeans
have been working to subjugate the countries of the Muslim world" is met with
incredulity, it only illustrates that Pakistan is not the only nation with a failed education
system. True, it is poorly worded and is clearly being used for propaganda value, but it
is -not- factually incorrect. How many American students, or adults, for that matter,
understand the role the British Empire played in the creation of Pakistan and the
present cultural standoff between that nation and India? How many know of the brutal
Dutch war with the Sultanate of Aceh? Public Education and propaganda go hand in
hand, in the "West" and elsewhere.

I watch you program last night in awe.It is a shame that the Pakistan government
doesn't use the money that is allocated for education in the proper way. it seem like
they really don't care about the future of the country or the children that have to live in
it. Too bad.

I found this segment as well as the one on Afghanistan highly informational. There was
no mention of Greg Mortenson and his selfless dedication to building schools without
the aid of the US government's money. I read his first book "Three Cups of Tea" and
came away with a strong sense of hope for Pakistan's children. I look forward to
reading his new book "Stones for Schools" about his attempts in Afghanistan. How
could such important work not be mentioned in the program?! Are his schools being
destroyed and abandoned as well?

Thank you. This story was a great eye opener. It helps me to understand how bad it is
there, and to understand a little more on why the US is trying to help. My family just
suffered the ultimate sacrifice as one of the American solders that were killed on Feb
3rd in Lower Dir was from our family. But not only was my family member killed, but 3
young girls were killed and many more were injured, and their school is no longer
there, so sad...

I think Pakistani people need to change their mind about education but it is a difficult
target when they are grown under religious discourse and never are able to have
another point of view. Brazilian people have a distorted idea of education, similar to
that of Pakistan: school must produce people to serve power.

Thanks for the great documentaries! One day we will all ask questions like: Why are
some so much better off than others and why the rest so oblivious? Are we to be
judged by how we treat the least amongst us? If so, how are we doing?
This is bad. A pilot program should be set up immediately, with broadband and cloud
computers placed in the hands of some 10,000 kids, and internet access provided for
education. This is a cheap solution all things considered. The Gates foundation would
likely be interested.

I think education system in Pakistan needs a complete overhaul.

The major issues it has under trained or untrained teachers at all levels.
A curriculum which may be suitable to create a generation of office clerks but not more
than that.
A variety of madrassas are creating a generation of closed brain religious sects.
A class system in institutes, only results in further segregation within society.
Overall, corruption in society results in broken labs to ghost schools.
This creates a culture of getting marks instead of learning. A culture of degrees instead
of skills. A culture of shortcuts to pass exams instead of reading. A culture of avoiding
books. All this results only in a mediocre class of degrees holders who do not know how
to question or how to comprehend.
The culture of knowing the W's is totally missing in lower levels of education.

Denver
Why is it so hard for people to see that sometimes they blame others for exactly what
they do. Such as that of imposing their belief, morals, norms on others! The Taliban
accuses the Western world for imposing democracy on Pakistan and Afghanistan; yet
they impose their hatred, to die while killing non-Muslims, blessing idolatry on the
minds of young, innocent children! I think any idolatry of killing others is NO BETTER!
Is it so easy to forget 9/11? know the first time the Trade Towers were bombed in
1993, it became so easily forgotten that we couldn't (wouldn't) prepare ourselves for
another attack. Or think that it was a possibility. Now, please tell me if I am wrong, but
every man or woman who has blown themselves up to kill non-Muslims had a lot of
hatred for the Western world, and on top of that, a belief that they were doing the right
thing, that they were living out the Will of God. This idolitary can only come from a
misguided education. Propaganda. I think NOT!

I ache all over when I watch a documentary like this. I am huge fan of Greg Mortenson
and his approach to gaining support of Afghani and Pakistani people. He makes sure
that he has the support of local elders, shows respect for their ways and has done an
amazing job of providing schools for girls. Would that Americans and NATO allies have
similar way of doing operations there. The present military effort will only end in
disaster.
In Western countries, education is taken for granted...as it should be! When will people
be able to see that the future is about the now, and that means the children! I hope
that there is a change in thinking of the Eastern governments soon! Otherwise they
won't even need war to perish.
The state of education in Pakistan – Ali Moeen Nawazish

The importance of education cannot be overstated; as a great equalizer and a

foundation for the future of any developing country. The world has moved on to a
knowledge-based economy and without the right skills and training, indiscriminately
accessible to all, it will be a difficult road ahead for Pakistan. Pakistan started o with a
fairly good education system coming out of colonial rule.

Of course, the goal of education then was different, as one colonial ruler said, ―the
purpose of the Indian education system is to produce clerks‖. Still, we saw brilliant
minds emerge, educators like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who took education by the helm.

However, the past 40 years have seen that, rather than adapting, modernizing and
improving the quality of education, our public sector education has been on a
downward trajectory. Earlier generations swear over the higher quality of education
they received and this was despite schools lacking basic infrastructural facilities. Today,
the quality of education has plummeted, forgotten by bureaucrats, coupled with an
indifferent ruling class.

We are producing a workforce, which lacks the ability to research and

generate workable solutions to the problems in our society. Universities are
not spending enough on developing research proficient alumni, rendering the
higher education systems incompetent.

The consequences have been daunting. We are producing a workforce, which lacks the
ability to research and generate workable solutions to the problems in our society.
Universities are not spending enough on developing research proficient alumni,
rendering the higher education systems incompetent. There is an urgent need to
develop critical thinkers, with independent minds, ready to engage in debate, to
cultivate a culture of innovation through research.

Our graduates are becoming less competitive, a qualified workforce will go a long way
to ensure mutually beneficial deals are possible with foreign companies. This lack of
technical and academic discourse directly impedes progress. In most cases, students
are left to the mercy of employers, for training and acquisition of technical skills
required to solve the real problems in our society, industries, and economy.

Free and Compulsory Education

Article 25(a) of the Constitution codified into law, that the state was responsible for
providing free and compulsory education: ―The State shall provide free and compulsory
education to all children of the age of veto sixteen years in such manner as may be
determined by law.‖ Yet, we still see that a significant portion of the population is still
out of school; it is a collective failure of the nation.

Free and fair education laws need to be followed up by a strong political and
bureaucratic will. In India, Kerala achieved 100% literacy because of the presence of
will to take actions. In January 2016, Kerala became the first Indian state to achieve
100% literacy rate through its education programme ―Athulyam‖.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE Act) which was
enacted in 2009 made it compulsory for all private schools to reserve 25% seats for
children from disadvantaged groups which were to be reimbursed by the state as part
of the public-private partnership plan. We see this in some areas in Gilgit Baltistan as
well, and the village of Rasoolpur in Gujrat Pakistan, which has also achieved 100%
literacy. There has to be a will, even at the lowest of levels, in the bureaucracy, which
brings about change.

Divide and Rule

The principal challenge in bringing about reforms lies in the massive divide between
education systems across the country. It is divided via different boards that conduct the
examinations, the language of instruction by the public and private sector, the local and
international qualifications, religious education vs. secular education, by province, by
the textbook board, and by geography.

We don‘t have a one-size ts all approach to education in Pakistan, which can be a

positive given the flexibility it provides to the masses. But, in Pakistan‘s case, it has
become a roadblock in the way of equal access to standardized quality of education for
all citizens. The core issue is of education system variance, and a lack of quality control,
resulting in graduates of the same level producing different qualities of work.
A large part of our technical workforce is informally trained and not certified.
This means that a lot of our workforce can‘t avail opportunities abroad in
countries which pay well but require formal training.

If you were to start reforms you would have to bring everyone on the same page and
make reforms universal, so no child gets left behind. One affordable curriculum and
accessible exam system will go a long way in providing equal opportunity to all our
children in exploring their potential.

Partly this divide is caused by bad government policies. Multiple boards were created by
different governments both provincial and federal. The Education Act needs to create
one board to minimize this impact.

No one to Care!
One of the most important reasons for the dismal state of affairs is that no one with the
power to bring change and reform to our education system has any personal stake in
doing so. The concurrent private vs. public education systems in Pakistan means that
our ruling elite and middle classes are completely disconnected from the public
education system.

As Pakistan‘s own education system deteriorated in quality, the elite, movers and
shakers of society moved to alternatives in the form of private education with
―imported‖ education. O Levels, A-Levels, IB, senior Cambridge and junior Cambridge
have become status symbols for the elite.

Only if examination quality is guaranteed will we be able to bid adieu to

foreign boards, who also contribute hugely in eating up foreign reserves as
well as creating an iniquitous society.

This movement away from an indigenous education system by the chattering classes
reduced pressure on the government to implement reform to improve the system. Only
if examination quality is guaranteed will we be able to bid adieu to foreign boards, who
also contribute hugely in eating up foreign reserves as well as creating an iniquitous
society.

Everyone in parliament, top executives and top military personnel send their children to
private schools. These elite private schools provide education for only those who can
afford to pay. When you have people running a system, with no personal interest in
improving that system, you won‘t see the system improve.

A National Priority?
The importance of education is ingrained in our societal and cultural values. We are all
taught at home about how important it is to study. With the exception of a few tied
down by economic circumstances, most families would like their children to study and
succeed.

This prioritization of education at the social level; however, has never translated to
prioritization at the government and political level. One argument is that political
education is a hard sell to voters – you can‘t easily show bene ts of high- er quality
education unlike pointing to a bridge built by the government.

Similarly, voters don‘t demand education with the same gusto and zeal as they demand
other things from their political representatives such as assistance in police and legal
matters.

Thus, there is a great disconnect between our belief, ―Education is vital and important,‖
and the implementation of this belief. We would like to believe it is a priority, we
support it being a priority, but when it comes to putting our money where our mouth is,
we fail.

Is it about Money?
A lot of debate has always revolved around how much money we spend on education.
As a percentage of GDP, our spending on education is the lowest in South Asia. It can
be tempting to think that throwing more money at the problem may x it but the truth is
that there is a fundamental lack of capacity to use the funds in a meaningful way in our
system.

The money needs to be spent, but not before reform is undertaken to make the system
more efficient. For example, ghost schools and ghost teachers who don‘t show up to
teach are a big issue. If we want to develop 100 more schools in a year, the existing
bureaucracy will fail to deliver that.
It won‘t be possible to hire the required quality teachers toll these schools. Even if such
schools were established we wouldn‘t be able to get enrollment in them as per required
levels. So, it isn‘t just money, it is the implementation and consumption of that money
which becomes a problem.

The State of Higher Education

Over the last few decades, we have made significant strides in improving the state of
higher education in the country. It has borne fruit and we see many quality universities
producing quality graduates. Higher education, in general, received a huge push under
the era of General Pervaiz Musharraf with Dr. Atta ur Rehman as his Minister for
Science & Technology. We saw universities increase ve-fold in number.

The private sector also invested and we saw the establishment of private universities.
While this increased enrollment and brought a check on quality, the research side still
suffered. Quality across the board also remains a real issue. We see many graduates in
various subjects like Urdu or Arabic or even Law who don‘t have any of the skills
required to be successful in professional life.

The concurrent private vs. public education systems in Pakistan means that
our ruling elite and middle classes are completely disconnected from the
public education system. As Pakistan‘s own education system deteriorated in
quality, the elite, movers and shakers of society moved to alternatives in the
form of private education with ―imported‖ education.

If you speak to employers they tell you that, even students who have done Masters are
not for basic jobs, and can‘t write a letter properly. This speaks of the need to reform
and more importantly, cultivate industry and academia linkages in the higher education
sector. Our biggest industries have very little linkages with our graduates or what is
studied.

The other major deficiency lies in the lack of research capability in our higher education
sector. While at some level, some universities are producing graduates who are
competitive and these graduates go abroad to work and study and do well, research
wings in universities are struggling.

We are simply not producing world-class research and the quality of our Ph.D‘s is not
up to mark. Part of this has to do with funding research needs, without funding good
research cannot be carried out. Secondly, we need an industry which believes in using
local research to solve local problems.

That has been an allusion so far, this vital link which has to feed resources into our
academia has not worked. Without funding both private and public schools, and a real
focus on research needs and applications of that research, we won‘t be able to improve
our research standings.

Focus on Technical and Vocational Training

One of the key solutions to Pakistan‘s economic problem lies in equipping our workforce
with technical skills. Countries that have recognized that a traditional education is not
the only way have produced great results. Especially, Germany, where traditional
college and technical education are seen as equally good in the eyes of the public.

A large part of our technical workforce is informally trained and not certified. This
means that a lot of our workforce can‘t avail opportunities abroad in countries which
pay well but require formal training. It also means that even locally we don‘t and the
requisite skills to uplift the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET)
sector and technical trades.

Technical training o ers fast-track employment with opportunities for entrepreneurship

and is an absolutely vital way of helping the country and people move forward. It is
important to let go of traditional ways of looking at the sector as having less prestige.
Many in the TVET sector can now make more money than people having had more
traditional degrees in subjects which don‘t have demand or employability.

The Solution
I have always held the view that fixing the education system in Pakistan is no rocket
science, it just needs to be done. The following reforms and actions need to be taken
on a priority basis to x our ailing system:

1. Create consensus on a national curriculum which will enable learning outcomes

to be the same for all students.
 2. Simplify and unify the examination system. All students in Pakistan should be
taking a quality standard exam.

3. Revamp our current books to ensure that the mistakes present are not there.

4. Empower public sector principals to manage their own schools (i.e. re/hire and
hold accountable for their staff).

5. Increase spending while increasing number of schools.

6. Create public and private partnerships where the government can foot the bill
for private schools in areas where public schools aren‘t available.

7. Link higher education courses and research with industry needs.

8. Promote technical training as an alternative career path.

With the proper political will and good governance, we will see improvements in
education. However, people need to feel that it is a national priority not through words
but through actions.

Abstract
Every nation state is struggling hard to improve the living standard of its people so that
Pakistan is looking for its people. It is believed that education can bring long lasting and
sustainable transformation or change in any society towards better living standards and
improve socio-economic conditions. There is consensus among the majority of nations
and academia that quality education with inclusiveness and equity is the only tool which
can bring a desired change. Education has a very close relationship with the
contemporary paradigm shift of education for sustainable development to create critical
thinking mindset of the nation to create healthy minds. Literature on sustainability and
education demonstrates a causal link with socio-economic development. Academia,
society, researchers, scientists, industry and all folks of society are convinced that
education is the key tool to bring a change from local to global level in order to curtail
contemporary challenges human beings and the planet is facing. A system analysis
approach is used to understand logical links among loops. The causal relationship is
demonstrated in the form of a Causal Loops Diagram (CLD) reinforces the idea that
education is not only a key driver for introducing more sustainability into the
development process, it is also a set of leverage points that should be gradually
removed. Therefore, it is understood that quality education is affected by multiple
factors to achieve.
Keywords: Causal Loop Diagram, Education quality education, Equitable education,
Sustainable development, Sustainable development goals, SDG4.

Received: 27 February 2020/ Revised: 30 March 2020 / Accepted: 5 May

2020/ Published: 22 May 2020

Contribution/ Originality

This study contributes to understand the long quest to Education for Sustainable
Development from Brundtland Report (1987) to SDG4 ―Quality Education‖ (2015-2020).
We use Pakistan‘s case study to explain how Education and Sustainability change the
representation of developing country.

1. INTRODUCTION

Pakistan is one of the worst affected countries in a long list of multifaceted global
challenges such as poverty, education, illiteracy, climate change, terrorism, peace,
pollution, environment, social security, tolerance, health, basic necessities so on. Many
of these issues are directly or indirectly related to education, economic development
and growth. During the previous review of educational policies of Pakistan (Khushik &
Diemer, 2017) it was observed that most of the educational policies focused on two
main aspects, economic development and character building of the nation. However, it
is a dilemma for the country that it could not achieve any of these targets. Education is
the prime need of the contemporary era of the country. It is considered as the only tool
for the long-term development of the nation and country as a whole. It is widely
accepted truth in the developed countries and evident that education transformed many
societies (Mundy, Green, Lingard, & Verger, 2016). Many developed countries' living
standard is high in HDI because they invest all types of resources into the nation for the
developing human capital. Investing in the generations is a productive business in the
contemporary world and ensures safe, healthy and productive individuals as well as
communal life. Ultimately education enhances the quality of life by improving socio-
economic conditions of the country (Hannum & Buchmann, 2005). Legal framework is
important for any nation state to operationalize educational objectives or vision or goal
for provision of basic education up to a level to each and every citizen of the country.
Similarly, provision of education to each and every citizen of Pakistan is mandatory for
every individual but it remains challenging since inception of Pakistan. Although its first
1973 constitution guarantees every citizen access to basic education as a basic
fundamental right. Before the 1947 education conference, the Government of India
1935 Act was adopted as an interim constitution of Pakistan as well as an education
policy. During the year 2010, the Constitution has been amended, according to
constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan‘s article 38(d) it is state‘s responsibility ― to
provide basic necessities of life such as food, clothing, housing, education and medical
relief for all citizens, irrespective of sex, cast, creed or race‖. The Constitution also
provides a basic right for literacy to minimize illiteracy in the country. Article 37(b)
ensures that the state should ―remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory
secondary education within a minimum possible period‖.

Not only Pakistan but globally it is mandatory for every country to provide access to
basic quality education to each and every child of the nation according to different UN
declarations. The state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of
the age of Five to Sixteen years'' [Article 25-A]; Moreover, the article 26-1 of Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (1948) (UDHR) also mentions the right to education, it
states, ―Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the
elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory.
Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher
education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit‖. But the statistics
about education in Pakistan present a depressing picture; the official literacy rate is still
58% (Pakistan, 2019) and that too is characterized by wide male female and rural-
urban disparities.

Education should be the priority of the country's development agenda. Without putting
it on the top of the list, it seems challenging for the nations to achieve targeted
objectives. However, it seems less of a priority in the budgets of Pakistan.
Unfortunately, education remains a less priority for all governments, its evidence is all
previous percentage of budget allocations for education in the last seven decades. Even
after devolution through 18th constitutional amendments some ministries dissolved at
federal level and handed over to provinces/regions according to the new amended
constitution of Pakistan as a move to provincial/regional autonomy. However, budget
allocation for the education sector throughout the country in all provinces is below from
international commitment. Federal government usually reserved about 2.5% as an
average of GDP for education sector in every yearly budget, according to World Bank
data in year 2015 it was 3% (Pakistan, 2019) and so on as the provincial government
except North West province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Pakistan‘s educational administration or management is divided into several horizontal

and vertical tiers to manage it effectively. Although it proved to be a complex and
inefficient administration to implement a national policy of literacy to educate each and
every child in the country. Before the year 2010 since independence 1947, Education
was managed or administered by the federal level government and it was national level
responsibility therefore the national ministry of education was responsible to devise
policies, programs, projects and budgets and to ensure the provision of education in
public sector education from primary to higher level. After the 2009 national education
policy, the federal government of Pakistan passed an 18th constitution amendment.
This constitutional change devolved some national level ministries and division into
provinces and one of the major ministries was education. Soon after this amendment
provinces authorized to develop their own regional educational policies. Therefore,
conceptually provinces/regions become more independent in ensuring quality issues of
education. It is another debate whether all provincial/regional governments are
competent enough or have capacity to manage decentralization especially education.

Pakistan‘s primary level public educational system is classified in five different tiers,
starting from Primary school (grade or year 1-5), middle schools (grade or year 6-8),
high school (grade or year 9-10, higher secondary (grade or year 11-12) and above is
university level. Another parallel education type is religious education which is officially
recognized education, which is called Deeni – a local word means religious education,
commonly called the Madrasah system. There are two types of institutions which are
key stakeholders and education service provider public (state owned) schools, colleges
and universities and private institutions from primary to university level. Within the
public and private education system, there is another distinction between them is the
medium of instruction and education syllabus. Military also has their own schools,
colleges and universities which also have different syllabus. Children of officers and
other non-commissioned military go to schools which have the Cambridge (O and A)
examination system as well as the matriculation system. Therefore, in Pakistan the
educational system is not uniform which creates a difference among nations on
understanding the social and other issues of the society and it creates an inequality
between individuals. Pakistan‘s educational system is highly fragmented and
segmented. As mentioned above a variety of educational syllabus, medium of
instruction, examination pattern, curriculum, religious, private and public institutions…
are the reasons of Pakistan‘s failed education system to produce a harmonized,
peaceful, pluralistic, tolerant and sustainable society.

Federal government used economic objectives as a key driver for education. Although,
it is another debate about why it could not fulfill its objective to achieve even economic
growth. National curriculum was used by different political regimes for their own
political purposes. Especially military dictators especially modified national curriculum of
schools. Although provinces/regions have adopted other than the federal level
curriculum. Some private schools follow the Cambridge school system where they are
teaching entirely a different curriculum. It may be because of all these reasons the
country failed to create a pluralistic society.

Another key driver of education in Pakistan is the zealous attitude of the nation towards
war with neighboring countries, especially with India. Previous syllabus prepares
military mind militia to prepare people for war with India. It also diverts the country's
educational system from developing people by providing quality education to live a
quality life. This type of approach diverts nations overall interests of development into
unproductive goals.

Pakistan obliged the global community and signed the global agenda 2030 for the
betterment of the people of Pakistan and the planet as a whole. Soon after acceptance
of the challenge during the summit, the government of Pakistan unanimously adopted
SDGs through its national parliament and started working on it. It establishes a
separate sustainable development goals unit at federal/country level in order to create a
focal point for coordination, data collection, information, research, policy formation,
progress monitoring and mainstreaming the SDG agenda in order to recommend a
framework of action to align next planning from local, national and global level.
Pakistan as a state since inception took several initiatives for educational progress
under different policy reforms, training programs, local and international conventions
etc. Pakistan is a signatory of Millennium Development goals 2000, education for all
initiative 1990, Dakar framework of Action 2015.

First challenge for Pakistan‘s educational system is accessibility of education. According

to UNICEF an estimated 22.8 (UNICEF, 2016) million children aged between 5 to 16
years are out of school. Few reasons for not attending school are overall quality of
education, facilities (water, sanitation, furniture, electricity, classrooms) accessibility to
the children is also a hurdle, irrelevant curriculum, teachers rude or no friendly
behavior, poverty because children support their parents in earning by doing labor
work, unavailability of text books and note books etc.

Keeping this context and educational scenario of Pakistan where basic educational
access is still very challenging for the country to achieve then it would be very difficult
to achieve its targets for SDG till year 2030. This study addresses the SDG4 to
understand the pattern of progress against SDGs in Pakistan. Therefore, in order to
assess the status of SDG 4 and its progress against set targets this paper reviews the
progress of the country and builds a future scenario to recommend a sustainable
framework in order to achieve not only SDG targets but transform its society to a
sustainable society. In this paper, we explore the relation between Education and
Sustainability through the objectives/targets of SDG4. This proposed a SDG4 scenario in
order to assess, monitor and plan educational policy and programmes to achieve
agenda 2030 targets.

2. EDUCATION, THE LONG QUEST TO SUSTAINABILITY

Education has often been presented as an important variable -human capital (Lucas,
1990; Romer, 1990) - of endogenous growth in most economists' work (Ozturk,
2001; Psacharopoulos, 1985). It is only since the Brundtland Report that it has been
associated with the concept of sustainable development. The term Education for
sustainable development (ESD) was first introduced in the year 1992 in the United
Nations (UN) World Summit on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. Since
its inception, it remains on the global development agenda to address global
sustainable development challenges. Later on, United Nations launched in the early
2000s an initiative to integrate the principles, values and practices of sustainable
development (United Nations, 2004) into all the aspects of education and learning. The
Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005 to 2014) sought ― to
mobilize the educational resources of the world to help to create a more sustainable
future‖. Unesco is the lead agency for the DESD. Education for Sustainable
Development is presented as a holistic and transformational education which addresses
learning contents and outcomes, pedagogy and learning environment. It is an important
part of the quality education that the United Nations introduced first into Millennium
Development Goals (MDP 2 - Achieve Universal Primary Education) and then into
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG4 - Quality education).

2.1. The Brundtland Report and Education Issues

The term sustainable development was first introduced in the Brundtland report in
1987. According to the definition, Sustainable Development ‗Development that meets
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs‘. This explanation stresses on the needs of future generations and
sustainable utilization of resources in the present. In this report, many important areas
have been discussed such as the concept of sustainable development, different
approaches and strategies, economy, ecosystem, environment, education, food
security, population etc. Although it did not focus on the educational perspective of
sustainable development, the Brundtland report shared important issues related to
sustainable development.
 1. The report called for a common endeavour and for new norms of behaviour at all
levels and in the interest of all. The changes in attitudes, in social values and in
aspirations ―will depend on vast campaigns of education, debate and public
participation‖ (1987, Foreword of Gro Harlem Brundtland).
2. There are many feedback effects between Education, Population and Human
resources. Rates of population growth compromise many governments‘ abilities
to provide education. Education improves the human potential to manage
resources (education and training produce practical and vocational skills, reduce
unemployment). It also gives women the choice to define the size of the family
(family planning and contraceptives, social development programmes, female
education), this basic human right for self-determination raises the status of
women.
3. Education creates the conditions of fair society, equity and common interest:
―Sustainable development has been described here in general terms. How are
individuals in the real world to be persuaded or made to act in the common
interest? The answer lies partly in education, institutional development, and law
enforcement‖ (1987, p. 44).
4. Education introduces change in the content of growth, it takes into account the
quality dimension: ―Sustainability requires views of human needs and well-being
that incorporate such non-economic variables as education and health enjoyed
for their own sake, clean air and water, and the protection of natural beauty‖
(1987, p. 49). Money spent on education may raise human productivity.
5. Lack of education is part of a downward spiral in developing countries (high
infant mortality, poverty). At the same, the growth in primary education doesn‘t
stop illiteracy which is continuing to rise in terms of sheer numbers.
6. The understanding of the interactions between environmental processes and
economic development requires educational programmes aimed to kids, students
and adults. The report considers that: ―Environmental education should be
included in and should run throughout the other disciplines of the formal
education curriculum at all levels - to foster a sense of responsibility for the state
of the environment and to teach students how to monitor, protect, and improve
it ― (1987, p. 96).

Finally, the Brundtland report suggests a societal and economic transformation, the
main task of education policy should be to make literacy universal, to close the gaps
between male and female enrolment rates, to improve education in quality and in
relevance to local conditions.
2.2. The Agenda 21 and the Crucial Role of Education

The crucial role of education in achieving sustainable development has been duly noted
at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de
Janeiro in 1992, through Chapter 36 of its outcome document.

Agenda 21 is a document which is a non-binding action plan and a product of a meeting

in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in 1992 prepared after a meeting of 178 nation states. The
United Nations organized an international meeting in the follow up progress of
Brundtland commission. It is also called the earth summit report. It was discussed as an
agenda of global, national and local level for each participating country in the meeting
to contribute in identified areas to protect people and the planet. Agenda 21 refers to
its scope relating to upcoming challenges of the 21st century. Its aim was to achieve
sustainable development at a global level by contributing from a local level. Its main
feature was introducing global guidelines for every country who can create its local and
national agenda according to its culture and context. Document consists of 40 chapters
and four sections, its section first is about social and economic dimensions, section two
conservation and management of resources for development, section three,
strengthening the role of major groups and the last section is about means of
implementation. It was the highest level global commitment of nation states to fulfill
their responsibility to contribute in protecting planned and people. Agenda 21 was
considered as a dynamic programme which has a wide scope of changes with the
passage of time and evolved as a guiding document on sustainable development. This
action plan focuses mostly on the environmental and economical perspectives of
sustainable development. This dynamic document proposed the background or context
of a specific area of improvement, its concrete objectives, activities and means of
implementation so that the governments and civil society should act in a guided manner
to achieve specific objectives in a specific time frame.

Education is discussed in chapter 36 of agenda 21. This document is relevant with this
effort because it recommends certain means of implementation against each objective
in all areas of improvement. This effort also suggests four major areas to implement
education for sustainable development principles and objectives. First, promote and
improve the quality of education, second, Reorient the curriculum, third, raise public
awareness on the concept of sustainable development and the last one, about training
the workforce or human capital. These four objectives provided significant grounds for
building the next generation to act according to nature and sustain the future of human
beings. Quality education which focuses on lifelong learning will ultimately improve
quality of life and it's only possible when the teaching material or text focuses on the
priority on sustainable development agenda issues. This effort is also focusing on such
highly important issues to implement through a sustainable development agenda on
specific target groups to contribute on a smaller level. ESD is about education and
learning - engaging people in SD issues, developing their capacities to give meaning to
SD and to contribute to its development and utilizing the diversity represented by all
people - including those who have been or feel marginalized - in generating innovative
solutions to SD problems and crises (UNESCO, 2009).

2.3. Dakar Framework for Action on Education for All (2000)

The Dakar Framework for Action on Education for All (EFA) was adopted at the World
Education Forum in April 2000. It reaffirms the vision of the World Declaration on
Education for All (UNESCO, 1990) supported by the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child: ―all children, young people and
adults have the human right to benefit from an education that will meet their basic
learning needs in the best and fullest sense of the term, an education that includes
learning to know, to do, to live together and to be ‖ (World Education Forum, 2000).
The achievement of EFA involves to reach different goals and targets : (i) expand and
improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most
vulnerable and disadvantaged children; (ii) make sure that by 2015 all children,
particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic
minorities, have access to and complete, free and compulsory primary education of
good quality; (iii) ensure that learning needs of all young people and adults are met
through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes.; (iv)
achieve a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for
women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults; (v)
eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieve
gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls full and equal
access to and achievement in basic education of good quality; (vi) improve all aspects
of the quality of education.

If the Dakar Framework sets these six goals and proposed strategies to reach them, it
insists also on the following three principles : (1) Education is a right and an inclusive
concept, it imposes an obligation upon states to ensure that all citizens have
opportunities to meet their basic learning needs : the education of girls remains a major
challenge, especially in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa; (2) Primary education
should be free, compulsory and of good quality : quantitative achievements tell nothing
on the nature and quality of teaching and learning ; (3) the indispensable role of the
state in education must be supplemented and supported by bold and comprehensive
educational partnerships at all levels of society. ; the spread of democratic
principles requires the growing contribution of civil society.

2.4. Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (2002)

In 2002 the representatives of 191 governments gathered in Johannesburg, South

Africa for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), with the aim of
examining the progress made on the outcomes of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio and
also to reinvigorate the world‘s peoples toward true sustainable development. The
participants in the Johannesburg Summit all reaffirmed their commitment to the Rio
principles, the full implementation of Agenda 21 and the Programme for the Further
Implementation of Agenda 21. They also committed themselves to achieve
development goals contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration.
The eradication of poverty was highlighted as the greatest global challenge facing the
world and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, particularly in
developing countries. The different countries have been invited to develop programmes
for sustainable development to increase access to productive resources, public services
and institutions, in particular land, water, employment opportunities, credit, education
and health ; to promote women‘s equal access to and full participation in, ―on the basis
of equality with men, decision-making at all levels, mainstreaming gender perspectives
in all policies and strategies, eliminating all forms of violence and discrimination against
women and improving the status, health and economic welfare of women and girls
through full and equal access to economic opportunity, land, credit, education and
health-care services‖ (United Nations, 2002). The challenge is significant: children are
the agents of behavioural change, so national governments have to ensure that boys
and girls will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling and will have equal
access to all levels of education.

Education as training, capacity-building and skills enhancement are aimed also to

promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, to develop
awareness-raising programmes on the importance of sustainable production and
consumption patterns, to provide information for the population about available energy
sources and technology or to protect/manage the natural resources base of economic
and social development. Finally, the JPOI called on the various governments to ― create
and strengthen networks for science and education for sustainable developmen t‖
(United Nations, 2002) and to follow the recommendations proposed by the Dakar
Framework for Action on Education for All.
2.4. United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005
- 2014)

Following the Johannesburg plan where education was taken as an indispensable

element for sustainability, the United Nations designated its agency UNESCO to lead
this initiative at global level. United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development (2005 – 2014) (DESD) aimed at integrating the principles and practices of
sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning, to encourage
changes in knowledge, values and attitudes with the vision of enabling a more
sustainable and a just society for all (UNESCO, 2014). UN DESD marked an essential
milestone to achieve progress against a sustainable global society. Its goal was to
integrate knowledge to protect people and the planet and live a healthy sustainable life
as a being of planet earth. This document provides a foundation in the field of ESD. For
the advancement and progress evaluation UN endorsed a Global Action Program to
work. The initiative of decade of education for sustainable development is evidence in
the domain of ESD which proves significant advancement at global level. By its vision,
aim or purpose, objectives, approach and nature many nations states reported changes
in legal structures, policies, priorities and pedagogies. Participatory learning, critical
thinking and problem based learning approaches are taking importance in the field of
education. DESD initiative was a successful evidence in implementation of the ESD
agenda at global level by acting through local level. Key focus of the DESD approach
was content and purpose of education at all levels. Its initial strategy was to create
networking to expand the agenda to larger scale through networks. Along with the
principal DESD initiative some other parallel platforms were introduced such as RCE
(Regional centres of expertise) and GUPES (Global Universities partnership on
environment and sustainability). It was designed in a broad scope and far-reaching
effects on the countries especially developing countries in order to transform their
whole educational system in accordance with ESD guidelines.

ESD empowers learners to take informed decisions and responsible actions for
environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society for present and future
generations, while respecting cultural diversity. It is about lifelong learning, and is an
integral part of quality education. ESD is holistic and transformational education which
addresses learning content and outcomes, pedagogy and the learning environment. It
achieves its purpose by transforming society. DESD was considered as the most
effective agenda for promoting the ESD objectives to achieve sustainability at a higher
level.
The focus of the 2009 progress report prepared by the M & E Expert group was to track
the progress and evaluate its achievement at the midpoint of the programme. The 2009
report was a mid-term review after five year of efforts on advocating the agenda of
global challenges. Overall after this report it was observed that with the passage of time
and starting from the initiative more and more people are in the surge of a sustainable
world. It motivates the objectives of such initiatives to continue until a significant
change in the world. It is because this programme will continue for the next five years.

Chapter three of the report of the DESD emphasis more on meaning of ESD to create a
common understanding about the concept. Consensus on the definition of the concept
is rather difficult but following the principles and purpose of ESD a common meaning
can be derived. ESD is a process of learning based on the principles of learning and
practice about sustainability. Five types of learning have been discussed in the report
(UNESCO, 1990) such as learning to know, to be, to live together, learning to do and
learning to transform oneself. Overall the concept of ESD in the chapter is defining it as
a dynamic concept by keeping its huge scope and flexibility to fit in every context,
culture and country in the world.

On one hand, another important point is discussed in the report about the relationship
between ESD and other adjectival projects or programmes such as global education,
environmental education, AIDS education, Education for all, UN Literacy day as well as
MDGs (Millenium Development Goals. Although, the objectives of these initiatives
resemble the objectives of ESD. On the other hand, it creates confusion among
practitioners about the clear scope of ESD because at one stage all of these domains
interlinked and mixed with each other. It can be considered as the strength of ESD
because its scope covers the majority of academic domains to rapidly influence at a
greater level. It is also a reality that all issues are interlinked poverty and quality of life
cannot be separated from quality education. This nature of challenges makes ESD a
dynamic and wide scope approach to deal with all types of issues and challenges for
people and planet in the present and future. It seems this approach is becoming a
foundation in transformation of current policies to new policies to achieve sustainability.

On the onset of DESD, implementation of the agenda was a complicated and difficult
task. UNESCO took advantage of its already in place networks, mechanisms and
partnership to start implementation. Later on with the passage of time the UN
established special mechanisms and frameworks in order to operationalize the concept
of ESD within a decade.
Here it's interesting to discuss ESD integration in formal and informal educational
policies around the world. Some countries implement it by integrating into curriculum,
some by adopting certain activities in extra curricula activities. ESD in this report
focused on primary and secondary formal education as an institution and target for
integration of DESD agenda into every section and level of education schools. It also
considers formal primary schools the way to cope with challenges human beings face at
all times at global level. At the same time, it is also argued that sustainable
development is adding more burden on the students through an already overcrowded
curriculum. That was the key question reviewed during the review of DESD that how
the education system integrates ESD agenda in a way that it can be a part of already in
place curriculum, training and practice. Learning outcomes are important in ESD and
what we are expecting from education to teach. Some learning outcomes were used to
evaluate the progress of ESD in that particular decade. It is observed in this report that
some poor regions stressed on some social issues such as peace, poverty, equality etc.
Informal and non-formal education is also an important component of the ESD.
Illiteracy is still a bigger challenge when about 10 million children remain out of school.

A very important and relevant discussion has been covered in the DESD review report in
which is emphasis on continuing research on ESD to bring evident evidence to convince
the countries which are lagging behind achieving targets in time to contribute to the
cause. For the success of the ESD agenda UNESCO recognized research and key
strategy along with other seven strategies. Therefore, this research is also focusing on
a few of the focused areas of ESD such as policy review and learning. Review report
highlighted some obstacles identified during the exercise by the key stakeholders that
partners lack clarity about the concept of ESD and environmental education. Methods,
content, curriculum, scope, funding and clear roles and responsibilities were also
discussed in the report in order to expand the agenda at higher levels. It seems that
similar challenges still exist in some countries where there is a need to define the
concept and its scope of ESD to avoid confusion among people. It is recognized that
non-governmental organizations and other platforms associated with and without
UNESCO played a vital role in promoting ESD agenda besides the constraints of funding
and other resources. Overall this report contributed to the clarity for the meaning,
methods, research, development, approaches etc. for widespread understanding in the
domain of sustainable development.

The previous report was a review exercise where we observe certain initiatives and
challenges in order to pace up the agenda. In this stage, the decade of education for
sustainable development was officially closed but its mission is still continuing until the
achievement of the maximum percentage of the set target.
Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI, 2015)

At the Rio+20 Conference, the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI) has
been created as a partnership of several sponsor UN entities (UNESCO, UN-DESA,
UNEP, Global Compact, and UNU). Over 300 universities from around the world joined
the network and signed the TOR (Terms of Reference) intended to clarify the role and
the responsibilities of the various actors involved in HESI. All the members of the
network have been committed to work and promote implementation of the SDGs by
supporting higher education in their pursuit of integrating sustainable development into
teaching, research, curricula, outreach and sustainability practices by HESI (2018):

1° Teach sustainable developments across all disciplines of study, including through

online based platforms.

2° Engage with students on campus and seek to represent and support their interests
through the group.

3° Encourage research and dissemination of sustainable development knowledge.

4° Green campuses and support local sustainability efforts.

5° Engage and share information with international networks.

6°OUtline an advocacy agenda that would see partners make contributions towards
either systemic, sectoral or thematic issues relating to the SDGs with governments and
other stakeholders.

7° Explore innovative practices from other sectors / Partners that seek to deliver
transformative change around this agenda.

2.5. The Global Action Programme (GAP) of UNESCO (2014)

As a follow-up to the United Nations Decade of ESD (2005-2014), UNESCO launched

the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD. The overall goal of the GAP is to generate
and scale up actions in all levels and areas of education and learning to accelerate
progress towards sustainable development. GAP has identified five priority areas to
advance to ESD agenda: policy support, whole-institution approaches, educators, youth,
and local communities. UNESCO has established five Partner Networks, each
corresponding to the five priority areas, as one of its main implementation mechanisms
of GAP. The Partner Networks will create synergies for the activities of their members
and catalyse actions by other stakeholders.

Keeping the disasters situation of the planet earth where climate change, social
inequalities, economic crisis, shrinking of natural resources and a long list of challenges
convinced the global community to take decisive actions and convinced that education
is the only tool which can contribute in the cause for long term sustainable
development. The final report of DESD demonstrates some major steps in contributing
and advancing the implementation of the agenda. It reorients learning, teaching,
knowledge, information, communication, values, skills, decision making, mobilizing
masses, creating awareness in all three dimensions of ESD social economic and
environment. It is believed and observed during the decade long interaction of different
stakeholders that the top leadership of every country seems convinced and committed
to the cause which advanced in progress of achieving their agenda. This initiative also
contributes in advancing the quality of education with reference to sustainable
development. A solid foundation has been laid for ESD at the end of the DESD,
achieved by raising awareness, influencing policies and generating significant numbers
of good practice projects in all areas of education and learning (UNESCO, 2014).

Access to education is the major thrusts of DESD agenda and same is prioritized in this
effort. It is prioritized because without the access of education in formal setup how
could one realize the benefits of ESD. This article is focusing on the formal educational
setup or institutions.

It is important to highlight and discuss how DESD transformed education which is

evidence for the next step of planning and implementation.

The 2014 final DESD report highlights major trends and findings learned from the past
one decade at different levels. It founds ESD as an enabler for sustainable development
by shaping the vision for future generations. Education and sustainable development
agenda are reinforcing each other in all three dimensions of ESD social, economic and
environmental. Many countries transformed policies, strategies, tools, education
curricula etc. to achieve SD agenda. Partnership and political institutions observed
instrumental in advancing educational agenda during the decade. Partnership was an
observed key effective mechanism to implement the agenda on a large scale to achieve
maximum objectives within the limited time frame. Formal education at primary and
secondary level achieved significant progress towards agenda within ten years of
duration. If this pace progresses, which is although a little slow in achieving objectives,
it will bring significant contributions in the human present and future. Change reported
by member states specially in transforming curricula and pedagogy. UNECO observed
encouraging evidence through the QME report to demonstrate progress in educational
approaches all across member states and other countries of the world.

Overall UNESCO witnessed many challenges and obstacles in implementation of the

ESD agenda at high scale. Some countries found it very responsive and interested in
implementing ESD objectives, others seemed more reluctant to change curriculum and
educational approaches. During the Decade, a variety of implementation strategies
were reported from member states. Many initiatives and projects were introduced and
implemented. One example is the Australian whole school approach which focused on
four basic pillars for integrating ESD, governance policy and capacity building,
community partnership and relationship, school facilities and teachers teaching and
training and curriculum.

The Muscat Agreement (2014)

The growing international recognition of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

as an integral element of quality education has been recognized by the MUSCAT
Agreement (Global Education For All Meeting: Oman, 12 - 14 may) and the proposal for
Sustainable Developments Goals (SGDs) developed by the Open Working Group of the
UN General Assembly on SDGs (OWG).

The Muscat Agreement reaffirmed that ―Education is a fundamental human right for
every person. It is an essential condition for human fulfilment, peace, sustainable
development, economic growth, decent work, gender equality and responsible global
citizenship‖ (UNESCO, 2014). The post-2015 Education Agenda has to empower
learners to take informed decisions and responsible actions for environmental integrity,
economic viability.Education must be a stand-alone goal in the broader post-2015
development agenda and be integrated into other development goals. The Muscat
Agreement supported "Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and
promote lifelong learning opportunities for all" and translated this goal into global
targets.

2.6. The Sustainable Development Goals (2015 - 2030)

United Nations general assembly resolution 70/1 approved Sustainable Development

Goals (2015-2030) as follow up agenda of Millenium Development Goals (2000-2015)
and a global development agenda with larger scope and scale then, the previous
agenda to achieve global progress towards a sustainable future of people and the
planet. This global challenge is a paradigm shift from the policy and planning to
implementation of this agenda by aligning it with the national goals of countries'
strategic plans. Its scope broadens its scale and engages almost all countries to
incorporate objectives into planning policy to achieve goals on large scale.

These SDGs are an urgent call for action in a global partnership strategy. They address
a simple message to developing and developed countries: the end of poverty and
inequalities requires a holistic and systemic approach aimed at integrating issues related
to water, energy, urbanization, transport, climate, technology, food, air quality, health,
education...

3. SD GISSUES FOR PAKISTAN: TRANSFORMING THE

SDGS INTO NATIONAL GOALS AND TARGETS
Pakistan obliged the global community commitment and signed the global agenda 2030
for the betterment of the people of Pakistan and the planet as a whole (Diemer &
Khushik, 2020). Soon after acceptance of the challenge during the Paris summit 2015,
the government of Pakistan unanimously adopted SDGs through its national parliament
resolution and started working on it in February 2016 to become the first country to
initiate the process of policy and planning at high level national forums.

Planning, Policy and implementation of SDGs in Pakistan

After experiencing challenges in the previous development agenda‘s (MDGs, EFA, Polio)
or global issues fails to achieve the targets, therefore, this time Pakistan developed a
national level SDGs framework to implement SDGs see Figure 1. It is discussed and
approved at a high-level government policy and decision making forum. This framework
provides a basic foundation for the baseline and indicators against each and every
target to track, monitor and evaluate the progress. It is called the national SDGs
framework which includes five critical pathways (CPW5) that would converge to reduce
regional inequality by fostering inclusive and sustainable development. In this critical
pathway, strategy a comparative criteria model was adopted to prioritize SDG targets.
Width, depth, multiplier, level of urgency, low structural change is required, low
resources required and relevance for the provinces. Major regular data collection
instruments have been modified and aligned with the new tracking target and reporting
against targets. Apart from the above discussed framework, there are a number of
other initiatives that have been taken since 2015 to address the global agenda.
SDGs are as important as the future of Pakistan because all SDGs are targeting
contemporary challenges which are similar to Pakistan and human beings are facing all
around the world. Change of policy and enabling environment was considered as the
first step in achieving the agenda 2030. Below section is discussion about the first step
of policy guidelines regarding SDGs. Pakistan addressed all 17 SDGs in resolution
passed in its national assembly on 16 February 2016 by giving it a legislative initiative
but keeping its internal context and limited resources in mind, it prioritized the SDGs to
achieve targets. Gradually Pakistan started working on all SDGs targets on a regular
basis to map the implementation challenges. Below is the brief discussion on the
progress of Pakistan on mainstreaming SDGs into its planning, policy and
implementation. According to an official report of voluntary national review (Pakistan‘s
implementation of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development) (Pakistan's, 2019)
introduced four means of implementation:

1. Institutional mechanism for the SDGs.

2. Localizing the goals.
3. Monitoring and reporting mechanism.
4. Critical challenges.
5. The secret of success of any great nation lies in its education. A well educated
and learned nation is the guarantee of a bright and prosperous future. Material
resources and man power can only be optimally utilized with the help of proper
information and specialized education. Malik Riaz chairman Bahria Town, aims to
strengthen Pakistan‘s future by fortifying the foundations of educational sector
and providing vigilance to the masses. He strongly believes that rich or poor,
everyone should be provided equal opportunity to obtain knowledge and reap
fruits of quality education.
6. Under the banner of his prestigious company Bahria Town, he has devised free
educational plans to provide education to those who are deprived of basic
facilities of life and have no hope of bright future. Free of cost education is
offered to 4000 orphan s along with lodging facilities. A number of primary and
secondary education schools, institutes and colleges in different cities and
villages are sponsored which provide basic and specialized education to common
masses. Scholarships to more than 7000 students are granted each year. Micro
finance loans to the students of Rawalpindi Agricultural University are provided.
Millions of rupees to various government institutions and other rural institutions
are donated to facilitate the process of learning and education. Donation of over
9,400,000 to reach Public School and Kallar Syedan School has so far been
granted. Additionally coordination with many educational organizations and
institutes of remote areas is ensured to support them in the times of need.
7. The goal of objective learning can be achieved with conscientiously designed
school setup and finest team of educationist. To support this mission, the schools
built under the patronage of Malik Riaz are fully equipped with state of art
learning and recreational facilities which include science laboratories, computer
rooms, libraries and playgrounds. Apart from highest quality of teaching extra
circular activities for an all round balanced growth is also provided. These
schools not only impart quality education but have also raised the general
standards of education and they are emerging as one of the most esteemed
seats of learning, creativity, and overall grooming.
8. In the present day of advancing technology and cut throat competition the
significance of general education is undeniable but only broad education cannot
suffice in the current situation. Technical education is a must, if a nation wants
to progress and make its mark in the annals of history. Malik Riaz has keenly
analyzed this factor and has accordingly set the foundation for building two
international standard universities in major cities of Sindh, Karachi and
Hyderabad.The fees charged in these universities shall be subsidized and will be
much less than any other university. A total expense of Rs 2 Billion shall be made
on the construction of these universities. Moreover many other technical
institutes, computer centers, medical and dental college and Bahria university is
already serving the public by giving expert education to the masses.
9. All these efforts shall go a long way in mentoring the future generations as the
only key to success is through learning and education. These services of Malik
Riaz shall be written in gold not only in this world but also in the hereafter as our
religion implores us to seek education and be informed. Prophet Mohammad
(S.A.W) said ―The seeking of knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim both male
and female‖
Women Education in Pakistan:Engendered Legacy.

Astract

Knowledge as power1" has historically been a contested arena of engendered

hierarchies. The sluggish waters of women education in Pakistan run deep and the
formulation and execution of education policies at State level have been a classic case
of two steps forward one step back."2 Based on ideas developed during informal
interviews with three human rights activists3 this paper explores the question of female
inequality in education. It argues that there is no coherence in the aspired educational
goals and that State policies lack a clear vision for the future vis-a-vis women
education. Both the public and private education systems in Pakistan consist of an array
of educational institutions with divergent standards of instruction catering to the needs
of different socio-economic groups. This scenario has created varied tiers of pedagogic
hierarchies and women are the worst victims.

Introduction

Women rights activists argue: educational achievement and opportunities for women
are effected by their lower status in social hierarchy" (Saigol 2011). Historical legacies
language of instruction financing nationalist - religious agendas and gender role
stereotypes embedded within the curriculum interact to shape the educational
environment (Lyon and Edgar 2010). Historians have outlined the role of culture and
civilization in fortifying public private boundaries and relegating woman as others' within
each tier of a caste system (Greer and Lewis 2002). These findings are especially
significant for Pakistan a country having strong geo- historical links with ancient
cultures and with a civilization possessing an entrenched caste system. Though
Buddhism had risen against this apartheid Brahmanism had almost obliterated it by the
time Muslims ventured into the subcontinent and adjusted their outlook to the elements
of local culture (Iqbal 1996).

Dynamics of women education in Pakistan therefore must be seen in the backdrop of its
complicated conception in an era when the intensifying state of intellectual bankruptcy
among Indian Muslims was culminating in the finale of Mughal rule. Poetry a hallmark
of intellectual expression had become boldly women centric4 and poetic elegance a
defining feature of courtesans so shurfa5 women had to be kept pure'. British colonized
India and English replaced Persian as official language (Rahman 1999; 2004).
Colonization subverted the socio- economic hierarchy to the detriment of Muslims who
now defeated and dispossessed retreated to their private sphere and doubled its walls
for the women. Saigol describing the melancholy of those times said: For the
disillusioned Indian Muslims women became the repositories of a lost tradition that had
To be defended at all costs."
Formal education in India was introduced by the British but even Sir Syed a great
proponent of Muslim education viewed female education with scepticism albeit by
establishing Aligarh University he had unwittingly set a ball rolling when Aligarh
graduates started looking for enlightened homely wives' (Ali 2000). Saigol shedding
light on the literature written during that era said: Indian Muslim male writers glorified
Muslim women's domestic role on the lines of Colonial Victorian values juxtaposing
characters of good and bad women like in the line of Eve versus Mary' phenomenon
suggesting that in the same way as Queen Victoria ran England efficiently so Muslim
women can run their homes with similar precision."

In a bid to protect their private kingdom of heaven' and after losing the empire in the
public sphere Muslims opened zenana schools as a parallel pedagogic system
emphasizing the teaching of religion language and domestic sciences (Minnault 1982).
British educational system in India remained circumscribed by colonial compulsions.
Thus an educational apartheid6 became entrenched as its defining feature with
educational institutions reflecting a pedagogic caste system in which children of elite
classes studied in English schools totally oblivious of their cohorts in vernacular
institutions and madrassas7" (Rahman 2004).

During the British era Muslims who could afford to be educated attended one of the
following pedagogic tiers: Government sponsored elite schools for children of Feudal
and Tribal lords;

(a) Public Schools for boys on the lines of Eton and Harrow8

(b) Schools for future wives of elite on lines of Finishing schools in Europe9

Prestigious English medium schools for boys and girls run by Christian Missions catering
for the upper and upper middle socio economic classes.

Government vernacular schools for middle and lower socio economic class

Muslim NGO (Anjuman) run schools imparting vernacular/religious education

Free indigenous madrassas providing religious education only to male students.

Government colleges for boys and few girl colleges

Few Universities/Professional Colleges with negligible number of Muslim girls

Women Education in Pakistan 1947-1960

In the backdrop of a deep-rooted cultural patriarchy and a history of colonial

domination multi-faceted compulsions circumscribed the future of women education in
Pakistan. After 1947 education became a provincial subject but State remained involved
in its macro planning through control over provincial income.10 An oft- repeated
clichACopyright is that Sir Syed while laying the first brick of Aligarh College
inadvertently founded the Two Nation Theory'. Basing her argument on this premise
Saigol spoke her mind thus: State army and nationalism are gendered identities and
Pakistan from day one was geared towards establishing an identity based on difference
and till today this schism manifests in the education system."

Muslim movements for women education were launched in areas that eventually did not
become parts of Pakistan. [The] British had governed Baluchistan and [the] NWFP by
reinforcing tribal structures and Punjab and Sindh by creating a loyal class of landlords
overseeing a subservient class of tenants" (Khan 1995). Colonial education was
formulated to produce office workers trained to follow orders conveniently assisted by
educated housewives. Thus promotion of a domestic role for women evolved as a
commonly shared end for both colonists and tribal feudal elite of Pakistan and Colonial
education system remained acceptable for policy makers of the fledgling State. Formal
education is a powerful tool for controlling the mind-set of people and ethnographic
anthropological historical and pedagogical aspects of education are influenced by social
policy agendas of the State" (Lyon and Edgar 2010). Pakistan did not inherit a legacy of
education.

In 1947 there were only 8413 primary sc hools 2589 secondary schools 02 medical
colleges 02 engineering colleges and 02 universities. The number of educational
institutions was inadequate and the situation of girls' education was worse than for
boys. In 1951 the total literacy rate was 13% while the female literacy rate was only
8% (Zafar 1991). To combat this situation an All Pakistan Education Conference and a
National Education Conference were held in 1947 and 1951 respectively. Though due to
an influx of refugees enrolment apparently increased during 1947-55; however
schoolteachers were untrained classrooms overcrowded and this quantitative expansion
was gendered. Thus female participation in education in 1949 was only 4% at the
primary and 3% at the secondary level (Khan 1997; Rittalick and Farah 2004; Jalil
1998).

Pakistan movement was initiated by educated middle class Muslims of North Central
and Eastern India while feudal and tribal elite of NWFP Baluchistan Punjab and Sind
played a negligible role in it however they were the majority among those elected as
members of Pakistan's first Constituent Assembly. Most of them had attended elite
schools and looked down upon vernacular schools for masses (Khan 1997). This
pedagogic apartheid was also engendered thus while their sons were sent to English
medium institutions their daughters either remained uneducated studied at home or at
local vernacular schools though a few were sent to schools like Queen Mary College
Lahore with curriculum based in domestic sciences. In pre independence era Muslims
had justified women education as a fundamental Islamic imperative. Muhammad Ali
Jinnah declared in 1948: in nation-building women have a most valuable part to play"
(Hassan 1981).

Women had pinned great hopes on Pakistan but State's denial of women's socio-
economic rights overwhelmed the fledgling women's movement. Thus as they struggled
for their socio economic rights educational activism took a back seat (Shaheed Zia
Warraich 1998; Wilmer 1996).

Pakistan started its journey with a paucity of girl schools in rural and urban areas. Its
first Prime Minister was killed in 1951 leaving behind a dearth of politicians well versed
in the core idea" of Pakistan. For the next seven years there was a quick succession of
Prime Ministers thus bureaucracy in cohort with army trained in colonial traditions
acquired the roll of policymakers. Another factor having long- standing implications was
immigration of Deobandi Barelvi Jamaat-e-Islami and Majlis-e-Ahrar clerics who
opposed Iqbal's brand of Muslim nationalism. Having fixed notions about education they
set up madrassas linked to their own Central Examination Boards11 and their students
spread in rural and urban areas as prayer leaders of mosques.

Thus the education system saw no major change until 1958 due to a gendered vision of
the State. This apathy was reinforced by dual standards of Post-Colonial era when three
Home Economics colleges for girls were set up in Pakistan with American Aid ironically
coinciding with rise of the second feminist wave in America. As public disillusionment
with political status quo reached its climax the military stepped in to fill the leadership
vacuum under General Ayub Khan raising slogans of development. To fulfil its bid for
modernity the government formed a National Education Commission in 1959 and its
findings became known as Sharif Report (Khan 1997). It juxtaposed concepts of religion
nationalism citizenship and patriotism by emphasizing that Pakistan must develop the
idea of Pakistani nationhood with emphasis on Islamic values" (Saigol 2011).
Consequently education became a centrifuge for nationalism religiosity and control.

It also recommended Home economics education for girls at secondary and college
level to prepare them for their role as mothers' while male cadet colleges on the lines of
Dehra Dun School of British India were being set up by the military government (Farah
and Shera 2007). Ayub Khan was a British trained soldier hailing from a tribal/traditional
background and his regime's education policy was an amalgamation of regimented
modernity and superficial measures for women development within stereotyped roles.
Thus female literacy rate of Pakistan in light of a redefinition in 1961 was only 8.2%
(Zaheer 1998).

Women Education 1960-1980

The number of male and female primary schools in 1949 was 7825 and 1586
respectively which rose to 14276 for boys and 3260 for girls by 1960 (PCR 1992). This
increase was gendered and not according to the requirements of a rising population.
The Second Five Year Plan (1960-65) incorporated recommendations of the Sharif
Report and though quantitatively boasting a 96% implementation its curriculum
revisions that emphasized ideology and new concepts in scientific/technical subjects
failed to give the desired results (Khan 1997). Ayub Khan's government enjoyed
American support and passed the women friendly Family Law Ordinance 1961. However
its status was challenged when Fatima Jinnah contested against him only to be
defeated in a controversial election in 1964. With this backdrop the regime's future
policies were an epitome of gendered dichotomies. According to Saigol Despite its
rhetoric and slogans of women empowerment Ayub Khan's education policy was an
imprint of the

Sharif report based on a public/private sphere divide."

Public unrest on rigged defeat of Fatima Jinnah and an unpopular accord after the 1965
Indo-Pak war led to the downfall of General Ayub Khan who handed over power' to
General Yahya in 1968. The Second Military regime inherited the power related
compulsions' of its predecessors. It framed the New Education Policy 1970' aiming to
open separate girl schools and appoint more female teachers by relaxing rules as
women not having equal educational opportunities' could not meet required selection
criteria." Reflecting a marshal psyche this education policy also did not strive to change
the stereotypical image of women and in fact perpetuated it by providing crutches for
them as the weak Other.' Saigol believes: In the backdrop of Indo-Pak wars [the]
country's education policies remained geared towards men as protectors of [the]
educated but domesticated vulnerable women".

Pakistan was established after a democratic exercise when the majority of Muslims
voted for a Muslim state. Realizing its egalitarian underlying character the second
military regime held transparent and fair elections in 1970 and a significant feature of
this democratic exercise was an overwhelming mobilization of women in the
electioneering process. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto rose as champion of the downtrodden raising
slogans of equality and promising the upheaval of ancient hierarchies. Fareeha Zafar
expressed her opinion thus: Elections of 1970 represented the second phase12 of
feminist consciousness in Pakistan. Women hoping to end ancient hierarchies
participated in elections rallying to Bhutto's call of equality for all but apparently that did
not mean equality for women."

Bhutto's government framed the 1973 Constitution that seemingly abolished

discrimination. Education was included in the federal concurrent list empowering the
federal government to legislate and administer the key areas of educational planning
curriculum development centers of excellence and Islamic education. Federal Ministry of
education formulated the policies and provinces carried out their implementation (ISAP
2012). Bhutto's National Education Policy (1972-80) supported free/universal education
for all till tenth grade. The Policy endeavored to overcome parental resistance to co-
education by appointing female teachers at primary level convert existing primary male
teacher training institutes into female facilities and offer adult education classes in
sewing nutrition poultry knitting embroidery for rural women to enable them to become
better housewives' (Farah and Shera 2007).

Bhutto government established Allama Iqbal Open University opening vistas of

education for female students residing in remote villages and tribal areas for girls living
in strict purdah and for married women. It has established multi-media/multi-method
teaching systems offers courses from literacy to Ph.D. level and is filling the gender gap
left by conventional formal system of education to some extent (Baksh 2007). Zulfiqar
Ali Bhutto had a feudal/rural background. Thus despite professing socialist leanings his
education policy though apparently egalitarian favored maintenance of a public/private
divide specially in rural areas emphasizing that rural women' should be trained for a
domestic future13. Neelam Hussein lamented Educational policies in Pakistan have
consistently remained class based hierarchical and lack vision and cohesion."
However a significant outcome of 1970 elections was fading of a mental glass ceiling
separating ancient class hierarchies and appearance of a public urge to provide the best
possible education for children. Increased urban parental aspirations to cross
educational class divide witnessed rise of a novel phenomenon in women education:
establishment of female owned and staffed private English medium schools. Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto in his socialist spree nationalized Christian- Mission owned educational
institutions leading to depletion of foreign staff at Convent schools. Urbanization and
population explosion resulted in an increased demand for English medium schools for
girls in cities. At this juncture some educated women stepped forward to fill this gap.
They established private schools affiliated with British Secondary Examination Boards
offering Ordinary and Advanced level examinations held under supervision of British
Council in Pakistan and created another schism in the education system. Though in
view of diverse socio economic realities this period also saw the growth of private
schools in middle and lower middle income localities charging lower fees and affiliated
with local secondary boards (Lyon and Edgar 2010).

In view of the above analytical appraisal Pakistani children after the mid-seventies have
been attending one of the following parallel pedagogic systems;

Private elite English schools offering O/A level exams under British Council

State subsidized Cadet Colleges and Elitist Colleges for boys

Government English schools for middle-class under Secondary Boards.14

Private English schools for middle-class under Secondary Boards

Government vernacular schools under local Secondary Boards.

Private vernacular schools for poor under local Secondary Boards.

Freeindigenousmadrassas imparting religiouseducationwith boarding/lodging.

Women Education in Pakistan; 1980-1990

Pakistan experienced a third military rule under Zia-ul-Haq who riding on the wing's of a
reaction to Bhutto's modernist stance used religion as crutches to maintain control.
However its policies towards women were an apt reflection of Fatima Mernissi's views
on manifestations of the despotic nature of power' (Mernissi 1996). To legitimize his
coup Zia initiated his own brand of Islamization committing to build a Women's
University in 1978 and sending a questionnaire to government officials in 1980 asking
them about the type of education women should receive (Saigol 2003). In view of
regime's intention to rewind the clock of women's progress a group of thirty women
formed Women Action Forum (WAF) signifying that a nascent women's rights
movement was ready to adorn a feminist garb (Zafar 1991). Though education was not
on the agenda of women's rights organizations engrossed in fighting for women's legal
rights but Naeem Mirza15 of

Aurat Foundation16 justified their socio-legal rights approach: Education is a vital part
of Pakistani women's overall rights thus a struggle for political and legal rights of
women indirectly contributes towards attainment of equal education opportunities."

Commercialization Talibanization and Education: A Three-Legged Race America backed

resistance against Russian expansionism in Afghanistan and Islamic revolution in Iran
had its effects on Pakistani women (Haq 2004). As an aftermath 1980's saw a
mushroom growth of madrassas in Pakistan. Farhat Hashmi17 a woman Islamic
Revivalist set up Alhuda a madrassa for women in Islamabad and its graduates spread
all over Pakistan initiating a home-based chain of informal dars18 lectures .
Management of some male seminaries also started women sections some appointing
their female kin as teachers19 and issuing certificates of various durations. The
madrassa curriculums emphasize women's subordinate roles in the family and Women's
housework and childcare responsibilities are defined as equivalent to jihad20 and
sacrificing their own needs to those of husbands bestows the status of martyrdom on
women (Saigol 2011; Bradley and Saigol 2012). Neelum Hussain expressing her
concern said:

All interventions for educational development subsequent to Sharif report consistently

remained cosmetic and focused on educating the girls to be patriotic religious and
skillful homemakers."

Globalization economic and demographic change became added factors in increased

demand for girls' schools commercialization of education and mushroom growth of
private schools. The after effects of Afghan War saw an influx of foreign NGO's giving
incentives to local groups to work for women education. Girls in Pakistan were thus
attending four types of private schools.

Women owned O/A Level schools that expanded into expensive school systems
Women owned O/A Level schools charging high fees (single school not a system)

Lower fee English medium schools in middle class areas often headed by men.

NGO administered formal and informal girl schools and adult literacy classes. These
school systems have their own curriculum committees and teacher training programs
affiliated with British Universities. Teachers get reasonable pays pension benefits and
free education for offspring. These schools despite higher fees provide quality education
for girls and job opportunities for educated middle class women. Most of their school
branches are located in custom made buildings. Apart from these chains there are other
single school facilities employing trained teachers and experienced staff offering
reasonable pays and free education for children but no old age benefits. These schools
operate from hired buildings and do not have adequate sports facilities (Rahman 2004).
However education activists are skeptical about schools falling in the third category.
These so called English medium schools mostly headed by owners employ untrained
female teachers at nominal salaries taking advantage of the fact that teaching is a
preferred profession for Pakistani women.

These schools prepare their students for metric exams held under local Secondary
Boards. Despite low standards of instruction these neighborhood schools flourish
because of a dearth of Government schools for girls in upcoming urban localities. The
fourth category consists of informal schools run by international and local NGO's and
funded by foreign donor agencies or local philanthropists. They cater for children
residing in poor urban slums and remote villages and mostly offer basic literacy classes.

Women Education and Government Policies; 1990 Onwards

First female Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto had studied at elite schools and
foreign Universities. She could not do much for women education as she ruled in two
short stints. She was followed by Nawaz Sharif also for two short periods. He came
from a business background thus for him it was not education but industrial progress
that spearheaded the progress of a nation. However since globalization and mass
communication had opened vistas of worldwide change Pakistan also could not remain
unaffected. Accordingly for the first time stereotypical role of girls was not mentioned in
the National Education Policy 1992. It aimed at providing free primary education for
girls and gave incentives for enrollment and retention of girls in schools (Bengali 1999).
Stress was laid on providing increased facilities for distant education through

Allama Iqbal Open University setting up of vocational and polytechnic institutes at

district levels and introducing basic education programs for women in rural areas
(Baksh 2007). The provision of well equipped science laboratories for girls' schools and
colleges was its salient features and as a paradigm shift the National Education Policy
1992 did not endeavor to prepare girls for a domestic role.

This was a defining turn but it may have been an indirect effect of a woman's
premiership the wave of information technology and because Pakistan became a
signatory to all post 1990 international commitments against gender discrimination.
Pakistan ratified CEDAW on 12 March 1996 committing to end discrimination against
women in all forms. As a signatory to The Beijing Declaration 1995 Pakistan agreed to
ensure equal access and treatment of women in education". By committing to The
World Declaration on Education For All (2000)21 and Dakar Framework for Action
(2000) Pakistan pledged to implement integrated strategies for gender equality in
education. Pakistan signed The Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development
Goals (2000) and MDG 2 calls for commitment to achieve equality in access to primary
education for all boys and girls by 2015 (WGEBEP 2010).

A reflection of changing times was the National Education Policy (1998-2010) of the
second Sharif government. It professed to provide free/compulsory education for girls
launching of informal schools for women in rural areas construction of more schools for
girls and building women universities in the country (NEP 1998). Thus Fatima Jinnah
Women's University was set up in Rawalpindi in 1998 despite a strong protest from
human rights activists who feared that this may further strengthen the private/public
divide. Nawaz Sharif was deposed through a military coup by General Musharraf. In
view of an existing 1998-2010 education policy his government issued the Education
Sector Reform Action Plan (2001- 2004) professing equal opportunities for everyone
reduction of the gender gap at all levels' of education improved teacher training
facilities curriculum reforms and improved textbooks (Bengali 1999).

In the post 9/11 scenario curriculum reforms achieved a special relevance in Pakistan as
it became a stakeholder in War on Terror'.

Teacher Training and Curriculum Reform:

The key problems for girl's schooling in rural areas is a lack of trained female teachers
and the fact that the curriculum is mostly unrelated to their day to day life thus girls
find schooling uninteresting and their families see no benefit in educating them.
Teachers enforce harsh discipline are poorly paid and live in difficult rural conditions
leading to absenteeism and requests for transfer to towns. Thus in 1990 the
government started a policy of recruiting local teachers and training them for Primary
Teacher's Certificate via Mobile Training Units. Such programs were started in all
provinces of Pakistan but poor management low interest of education department and
lack of teacher monitoring hindered long lasting improvements. Due to a consistent
dearth of women in educational management cadres' female education officers were
recruited in 1990-2000 however many posts continuously remained vacant.

Women officers are often criticized for inefficiency and dependence on their male
subordinates but in reality it reflects an internalization of women's disempowerment"
(Shah 1978). However much more important than trained teachers is the curriculum.
Unfortunately the syllabi for government schools in Pakistan are prepared under
predefined government policies by committees lacking innovation imagination and
required knowledge to execute this task. Saigol expressing her concern says Books
mostly portrayed girls as helping their mothers and depicted boys as partners of fathers
and future participants in public life."

Greater emphasis on higher education is a major obstacle to the development of

primary and secondary education in Pakistan. There is a paucity of facilities in most
rural schools lack of classrooms textbooks and teaching aids and the level of training of
rural teachers is very low. Teachers enforce strict disciplinary measures and curriculum
is too academic and unrelated to life. Students find schooling uninteresting and parents
take schooling as a negative activity for girls due to opportunity costs. To combat this
state of affairs organizations like SDPI22 and some syllabi but there is a dearth of
thought provoking and non-gender biased books in Pakistan. There is urgent need for a
systematic change in the curriculum to make it more egalitarian ( Dean 2007) Neelam
Hussain supporting this argument says Books taught in government schools are gender
biased boring and unimaginative and will only produce insensitive/unmotivated citizens.

Thus we at Simorgh are producing gender sensitive interesting syllabi but there is a
dearth of governmental support and a dire need for raising public awareness on these
issues."

Role of Non-Government Sector: Formal and Informal Education

Agha Khan Rural Support Program has played a significant role for women education in
Northern areas and became a precursor of similar programs in other under developed
districts of Pakistan. After 1990's the government and foreign donor agencies supported
NGO's to reduce the gender gap in education in poor/rural communities. Non-profit
organizations were promoted by International development institutions for the provision
of education in Pakistan. The premise was that these organizations are more successful
than the government and the private sector in the deliverance of education. About half
of 45000 registered non-profit organizations provide education. However may be driven
by donor agendas and cannot replace the responsibility of the State. Pakistan's current
Education Sector Reform Plan emphasizes the role of education provision by NGOs to
address the problems caused by the non-affordability of private education.

However research indicates that rather than addressing the needs of the poor NGOs
may increase the demand for private sector schools (Bano 2008). Some of the
prominent Non-Government Organizations are the Sindh Education Foundation Agha
Khan Education Services Idara-e-Taraqi-o-Agahi and SAHE etc. Most of these
organizations work for female education and teachers training while Citizen's
Foundation and Committee for Advancement of Rural Education (CARE) adopt
government schools to ensure improved efficiency. Though NGO's are mostly working in
selected districts their initiatives motivate the government to reduce the gender gap.
Fareeha Zafar is of the opinion: Traditional subordinate status of girls housework
frequent pregnancies of mothers joint family system cultural practices parental
preference of sending boys to school and above all poverty are major constraints for
women education in Pakistan. SAHE works on BRAC23 model collaborates with

Simorgh Women's Resource Centre IED of the Agha Khan University and Lahore
University of Management Sciences for the purpose of improved/ innovative curriculum
development and research."

Primary Secondary and Higher Education of Women: 1990 Onwards

Number of girl students remains less than boys from Pre primary level onwards
including the students of one room informal schools. The returns to investment on a
girl's education are seen to be lower for girls than boys because of their limited
opportunities in the Job market and because of the feeling that they will marry out of
the family It is obvious that opportunity cost of sending girls to school is high in lower
socio economic cadres and thus number of girls studying in government primary middle
and high schools is much lower than boys (Sathar and Loyd 1994).---------
Pathways to the Future
Conclusion
Summary
―Pathways to the Future‖ renders a conclusion to Understanding Modern Nigeria by
providing solutions to the identified challenges of Nigeria‘s development, democracy,
and modernity. Despite increasing ethnic differences, Nigerians have collaborated to
overcome shared challenges and emerge with impressive results. These narratives of
unity continue to be downplayed while narratives of the nation‘s unstable foundations,
vices, and challenges are exalted and exploited by members of the country‘s political
class for divisive and destructive goals. This discourse identifies the following as
challenges hindering the development of the nation: lack of progressive political ideas,
absence of true federalism, bad educational system, increase in poverty and
unemployment, ethno-religious intolerance, lack of effective economic policies, etc. But
identifying the challenges is not as difficult as providing the solutions or implementing
them. Hence, necessary steps to actualize a desirable future are presented, which are
arguments not offered as an exhaustive list, but rather fundamental approaches to
achieve common goals for national development that should guide the conduct of a
multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multicultural community like Nigeria.

What Has Gone Wrong with The System of Education

in Pakistan?

OUTLINE

Introduction

 Quaid's view on education

 The concept of education - meaning and definition
 The significance of education…..a pillar of success
 Education…..an agent of socioeconomic reforms
  The spinal cord of the nation
 Thesis statement leading to the conclusion

Pakistan's Education System as per 1973 Constitution

 Educational and economic reforms in backward areas

 Removing illiteracy
 Promotion of technical education….. basic concern
 Education…..access to all
 Women participation, etc.
Factors Leading to Catastrophe

 The indecisive medium of education….English? / Urdu?

 Co-education….a social dilemma
 Lack of uniform academic syllabus
 Women education….. concept in the doldrums
 Lack of creative education methods…… cramming culture
 Political interference in education institutions….student/ teacher unions
 Political pressures/ influences
 Teacher absenteeism
 Ghost schools
 Less than 2% GDP, for education
 Crippled economy, etc.
Education Policy 2009

 The budget for education….. increased by 7%

 All primary schools upgraded to middle standard schools
 Higher education percentage to be increased from 4.7% to 15% by 2015
 Emphasis on technical education
 Establishment of residential colonies for the teachers
 Special incentives for teachers willing to work in remote areas, etc.
Suggestions

 Decentralised system/ local government

 At least 7% budget for education sector
 Accountability and transparency in the education department at all levels
 Public-private partnership
 Madrassa reforms
 Registration of madaris
 Introduction of English and technical subjects
Education Sector Reforms

 Primary education for all

 Making civil society vibrant
 Female education…. A keystone
 Promotion of technical education
 Incentives for the teachers…. Increase in salaries
 Revised and updated curriculum
 PTC/CT replaced by a Diploma in Education
 Enhancing the role of the Higher Education Commission
 Expansion in universities
 Virtual universities, etc.
Conclusion

―Come forward as servants of Islam, organise the people economically,

socially, educationally and politically, and I am sure that you will be a power
that will be accepted by everybody.'' _ Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah

The importance of education cannot be negated. Education paves the way for
advancement. It is a primary catalyst for national development and its availability
ensures accelerated growth and progress. It is a key factor that distinguishes one
nation from another. It's the education which makes a person live a better life and
more importantly contributes to his social well-being. However, it is unfortunate that
the education system of Pakistan is fundamentally flawed, thoroughly shattered and
exceedingly divisive despite the fact that Quaid-e-Azam was a staunch supporter of
educational reforms. He provided the basic guidelines for the future development
by emphasizing that education system should suit the genius of our people, consonant
with our culture, history and instill the highest sense of honor, integrity and
responsibility. He was also of the view that scientific and technical skills are the only
way forward. Pakistan today stands at the crossroads where there is a stringent need
for educational reforms based upon moral edifice. This is only possible if all creeds of
mind sit together and evolve a consensus policy in the light of Islamic ideology.

The future of education in Pakistan

The education is of great significance. Education is the only thing which maximizes
one‘s potentials. It seems right to say that a man cannot be considered having proper
senses until he gets the education.

There are two reasons for the importance of education. The first it that the training of
human mind cannot be completed without education and it makes a man right thinker
and guides him about how to think and how to take decision.

The another reason for the significance of education is that only by getting education,
one is able to fetch the information from external world; to be cognizant himself with
past history and attains all important information regarding present. Without proper
education, man seems to be in a closed room having no out way and with education he
finds himself in a room having windows open towards outside world.

In future, education is of great significance in Pakistan as the geo-economic aspects are

going to be changed in the region and new alliances are coming into being. Pakistan is
advancing toward economic progress and one of the main considerable is CPEC. When
the CPEC would start to be running in its full then Pakistan will have to fulfill the
requirement to run it fully for, a great number of educated people will be required. It
looks that it will not be restricted in some sectors such as IT and finance but it is the
conjecture that the people of all trades and sectors will be needed highly. So, the
government will have to take an appropriate step to bridge the gap which is considered
to come when these needs come. And, this is possible in only one situation and that is
when education is given due importance. There is no doubt to say that only proper
education will be able to move the wheel of progress toward success.

The above-mentioned significance of education in future is possible in only one case

when planners of government departments could realize the call of time and take sober
step for ing the importance of education.
Education Reform In Pakistan:

Two possible futures

Imagine Pakistan in mid-21st century. Currently, its population is 180 million; by

then it will be 340 million and, unlike India and China, its population will still be
rising. It will be a young population at a time when most of the rest of the world
will be ageing.
In one possible future the opportunity this offers will be seized. It is possible to
imagine Pakistan as an economic powerhouse, helping to fuel sustainable, global
economic growth. A thriving Islamic republic could exemplify what the future
holds for Muslims everywhere: a country developing its wealth to foster the spirit of
community and the generosity to the poor that have always been at the heart of
Islam. In this scenario, Pakistan could have established good relations with its
neighbours and have played a significant part in solving both regional and global
problems. It will, after all, in population terms be the fourth largest in the world.
Confident in its identity, it would be open to ideas from around the globe.
Of course, there is another possible future for Pakistan in which the size and youth
of its population become a burden rather than an asset – a threat not an opportunity.
I do not need to spell out what the implications of this might be, except to say that
there is an association throughout history between countries with a large proportion
of unemployed young men in the population and violent revolution. This second
future, it goes without saying, would be devastating for Pakistan and deeply
problematic for the global community.
What will determine which of these futures for Pakistan will unfold? A number of
factors will play a part, including regional and global geopolitics, but what has
struck me so forcibly in conversations I have had with business, community and
political leaders in Pakistan over the last year is that, with one voice, they say the
single most important factor will be education. Shortly after founding Pakistan in
1947, Mohammed Ali Jinnah said prophetically, ―Education is a matter of life and
death for Pakistan. The world is progressing so rapidly that without the requisite
advance in education, not only shall we be left behind others but we may be wiped
out altogether.‖ (24 Sept 1947). The recent devastating floods, needless to say,
heavily preoccupied Pakistan‘s leaders, but before then and now, as the waters
recede, they acknowledge that Jinnah was right. To seize the opportunity at
midcentury,
those 340 million will need to be well-educated, able to imagine and
innovate, construct and create. It is plainly the case that without a good education
system, this will not be possible. Pakistan‘s leaders will need not just to
acknowledge Jinnah‘s words but act on them if, this time, it is going to be different.
Problems and possibilities

At present, Pakistan is without a good education system. Indeed, if we are to speak

plainly – as the times require – we must admit that the current education system is
very poor indeed. Consider the following facts:
• One-third of primary age children, a larger proportion of girls than boys,
are not in school at all.
• Around 35 per cent of those children who do attend school and make it to
grade 3 cannot do single digit subtraction.
• Each day around a quarter of the country‘s teachers do not turn up to
school; each day, many thousands of schools that could be open are not –
―ghost schools‖ they are called.
• Government school facilities are very poor – 60 per cent have no electricity
and 34 per cent no drinking water.
• The low-cost private sector delivers better performance than the
government schools at around a quarter of the unit cost.
• Karachi, a city of around 16 million people and four million children of
school education age, has just 600,000 children enrolled in public schools
and up to two million more in low-cost private schools. This suggests
perhaps a million children unaccounted for; Karachi, it seems likely, can
lay claim to the unenviable title of the worst educated megacity on the
planet.
Of course, even against this desolate background, there are isolated examples of
wonderful public schools such as the one I saw in the dusty, litter-strewn Karachi
suburb, Gadap, where a principal of 17 years was sustaining high standards
through sheer force of personality. But we have known for years the individual
hero head, while wonderful, can never be, by definition, the solution to a system‘s
problems. And the system, according to global rankings, is far behind the
developed world. It ranks 163rd (out of 177 countries) on the UN‘s index of
education systems. It is also behind its own regional neighbours, some of which, at
independence, shared a similar starting point. While the floods have been
devastating socially and economically, it should be pointed out that the economic
impact of Pakistan‘s educational failure far exceeds that of the floods – indeed, it is
the equivalent of a flood like that several times every year. As Andrew Mitchell,

the British International Development Secretary, has said Pakistan faces ―an
education emergency.‖ Clearly, therefore, at this moment Pakistan is far from
ready to seize the opportunity that lies ahead.
Before turning to examine why Pakistan‘s education system is in such a parlous
state, it is worth pointing out that however poor it may be now, it would be
perfectly possible to successfully transform it over a generation. If the right steps
were taken, we could see evidence of progress within a year and substantial
progress – life-changing for millions of children – within two to five years. Either
way, it is vital to start now. To put it simply, Pakistan‘s education system does not
need to be this way. The problem looks huge – it is. And intractable – it is not.
The fatalism that grips too many of Pakistan‘s leaders when they consider the
education system needs to be swept away. Recent history provides an everincreasing
number of success stories; stories of invigorated education systems
where sustained reform has liberated and empowered millions of people and
transformed economies.
Singapore‘s remarkable story is too easily dismissed as that of a small city-state
but the equally remarkable stories of Korea, Estonia, Poland, Minas Gerais in
Brazil, and the progress over the last decade in India – particularly in some very
large states such as Rajastan – cannot be dismissed. In short, there is an evidence
base.
We know not just that it can be done but also how it can be done. I will explain
how in a moment but first we need to explain why Pakistan‘s education system is
currently so poor. Before we come to the brutal facts, we should first deal with a
plausible-sounding explanation which is sometimes advanced: that parents in
Pakistan don‘t think education is important. This I reject entirely. Islam is a
religion that values education highly. The Quran tells us that the first word
revealed to the Prophet was, ―Read‖. Moreover, there is no reason to believe that
parents in Pakistan are any less keen on seeing their children succeed in life than
parents anywhere else. Even in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA),
when parents are asked what they want most for their children, education is their
first priority and employment their second. In addition, we know that the moment
parents in Pakistan see the possibility of a good education for their child, they
seize it. The extraordinary growth of the low-cost private sector in the last decade
reveals incontrovertibly that as soon as parents in Pakistan have the marginal extra
income to afford these low-fee schools, that is what they choose to do. Nowhere
else is the world have I seen so many streets where the most commonly advertised
product is education.
Make no mistake; parents want their children, girls as well as boys, educated. As
the LEAPS (Learning and Educational Achievements in Punjab Schools) study
argues persuasively, ―Contrary to popular belief, parents know a lot about how
their children are performing…and how good the schools in their villages are…the
results do not depend on whether the parents are literate…when parents say a
school is good, it usually is…mothers know best.‖
The reason so many children are not in school is not lack of will on the part of
parents; it is a failure of provision by the state:
• Poor school facilities – of course, if a school has no toilet, parents will be
reluctant to send their children, especially girls, there;
• Poor location – of course, if children, especially girls, have to walk far,
parents will be anxious;
• Poor experience – of course, if when the children do get to school, there is
no teacher present, why would we expect parents to keep sending their
children there? And, if there is a teacher there but the quality of the
teaching is very poor, again why should we be surprised if parents‘ (and
children‘s) enthusiasm wanes?
People in poverty whether in urban or rural areas, have hard choices to make all
day, every day. The LEAPS study suggests that, ―Households with children
enrolled in public schools spend Rs 155 every month [per child] and households
with children enrolled in private schools spend Rs 231 every month. These are
large sums given that the median monthly income is Rs 4700, with, by definition,
many families on incomes far below the median.‖ Overwhelmingly then it is clear
that families will make major sacrifices to enable their children to get ahead – but
there is no sense in making that sacrifice if the school system is profoundly
dysfunctional and provides no opportunity for advancement.
So, if the poor track record is not the fault of parents, where does responsibility lie?
Once the complexities are untangled, the central explanation seems to be, simply,
that for most of the decades since Pakistan became independent, providing good
education for every child has not been a priority. A sympathetic observer might
point out that Pakistan has faced many challenges, some truly existential, over those
decades. The recent floods are by no means the only devastating crisis this
beleaguered country has had to face.
A less sympathetic observer might reply that other countries facing similar
challenges (including, for example, South Korea and Taiwan) have not neglected
education and suggest that, perhaps for much of that time, some of those who have
ruled Pakistan have not wished to see the mass of the population educated. As
Mehnaz Aziz points out, ―the problem is feudalism. People [in the elite] think that if
we educate the people, they will revolt.‖ (TES, 2 April 2010). Reinforcing the point,
the Minister of Education said recently, ―In the past, we saw our population as our
greatest liability, not our greatest asset.‖ As a result of the floods in northern Sindh
and southern Punjab, many bonded labourers and their families have fled to the
cities. Their plight may be desperate there, but for many this is a first opportunity
for their children to get an education and they will not wish to return to the
impoverished circumstances in which they found themselves before the waters rose.
These people know from their own experience what the minister meant.
It is certainly striking that Pakistan has devoted a much smaller proportion of GDP
to education than many comparable countries. While the government‘s recent
commitment to increasing that proportion to 4 per cent is welcome, the current level
remains, unacceptably, below 2 per cent and has not risen since the commitment
was made. The pitiful truth is that the state fails to collect even a fraction of the tax
revenue it should and then spends too little of the meagre amount it does raise on
educating its people. In short, the reality in over 60 years since independence falls
far short of Jinnah‘s aspiration.
Given then that the education system is very poor and that a major part of the
explanation for that is a lack of political will over several decades, what grounds are
there for believing that there is a genuine prospect of successful education reform
now? Why would anyone argue, as I continue to do even after the floods, that this
time it‘s going to be different?

The opportunity

While inevitably the floods and the security situation have dominated Pakistan‘s
attention in the last year, it has also become widely recognised over the same period
that unless progress on security is matched by improvements in the basic services the
state provides to the people, sustained development – economic, social and political –
will not be possible. Moreover, the global economic crisis has sharpened the
recognition among Pakistan‘s leaders that the country‘s economic prospects depend
more than ever on vastly improving the school system. The case is further
strengthened by the fact that the government of Pakistan and the international
community, including the major donors such as the World Bank, US Agency for
International Development (USAID) and UK Department for International
Development (DfID), share this understanding. As Prime Minister Gilani said in
May; ―The current…government is determined to promote education, to materialise
it in letter and spirit.‖ (27 May 2010). The government needs to redouble its
commitment to this sentiment in the aftermath of the floods; indeed, there is an
unparalleled opportunity right now to seize the moment, as the state of Louisiana did
after the trauma of Hurricane Katrina.
Less often stated (but in some ways even more important) as a reason for seizing the
opportunity for reform now, is the widespread and growing evidence that there are
people, schools and organisations within Pakistan demonstrating daily what can be

done. It is simply not true to say that successful education in Pakistan is not
possible; there is evidence to the contrary in every corner of the country.
The Citizens‘ Foundation, for example, runs 600 schools, free-at-the-point of use, in
areas of rural and urban poverty, serving over 80,000 students. In the US that would
be the equivalent of a large school district. The schools are well-run and the children
are learning. The Citizens‘ Foundation does not depend on government; it raises its
funds from concerned citizens and businesses and has been able to expand steadily.
The Punjab Education Foundation, another success story, receives public funds from
the government of Punjab. It uses these funds to provide places in low-cost private
schools that again are free-at-the-point-use, again for poor students. In effect, the
Foundation buys all the places in the schools that join the network. In return, the
schools agree not to take any fee-paying students and to demonstrate that the
students are making progress in regular tests organised by the Foundation. These
schools are the Pakistani equivalent of charter schools. Currently, over 800,000
students, in both urban and rural settings, across the Punjab are benefitting. This is
successful impact at scale. There are plans for continued rapid expansion.
The charitable organisation CARE, by contrast to the other two examples, does not
provide alternatives to the public schools; instead, it supports them – extra staff,
materials and professional development. Its model too is working well, helping to
improve hundreds of schools in and around Lahore. Meanwhile, the Children‘s
Global Network helps to train thousands of teachers in effective, interactive
pedagogy so that they can move away from the mind-numbing rote learning that is
the norm in so many of Pakistan‘s schools.
These are just four examples of successful programmes in Pakistan. There are also
glimmers, in places, of improved governance and administration, admittedly from a
low base. For example, with the support of the World Bank, the Punjab government
has developed its Programme Monitoring and Implementation Unit. Indeed, the
Punjab, Pakistan‘s most populous province, has begun to develop a two-pronged
strategy which funds low-cost private schools through the Punjab Education
Foundation whilst simultaneously strengthening the public sector as a whole. Along
with the enhanced regularity and reliability of its monitoring, this strategy has
brought progress, until 2007 but seems to have stalled since then.
Moreover, in August 2009 the national government, with the support of all
provinces, published a new National Education Policy which is disarmingly honest
about the terrible problems facing the country‘s public education system and sets
out a long list of proposals for addressing them. It was in this context that the
Pakistan Education Task Force, which Shahnaz Wazir Ali and I have the honour to
co-chair, was established jointly by the Pakistan and British governments. Its work
is supported and given high priority by the UK Department for International
Development. The Task Force represents a concerted effort to bring together

eminent leaders of Pakistan‘s education system with major business and civil
society representatives, donors and global experts to enhance the chance of success.
The challenge of education reform in Pakistan is not a lack of ideas or experiments;
it is one of scale, capacity to deliver and political will to tackle some longstanding
binding constraints. The Task Force has no intention of writing yet another report; it
is working boldly and persistently to assist provinces with the task of
implementation and of ensuring that intent at system level translates into results at
classroom level.

Rising to the challenge

Across a country as large and diverse as Pakistan – from teeming cities to remote
villages, from arid deserts to snow-capped peaks – successful, universal education
reform is an immense challenge. It requires sustained political will and courage, a
clear narrative of reform, a coherent strategy and greatly enhanced capacity to
implement reform at scale. I will touch on each of these in turn.
Universal education reform is never easy anywhere in the world. While, as I have
mentioned before, there are impressive success stories, the history of education
reform is littered with failed attempts. It is not just the challenge of scale, though
this is daunting enough (if the education secretary in Punjab visited 10 schools
every day it would be 40 years before he had visited every school in the province); it
is also that around any existing system, however poor, there are entrenched
interests benefiting from the status quo which can be expected to resist change
actively or passively. Experience tells us, not just in education, that it is much easier
to block change than make it happen, much easier to identify the risks of change
than the risks of doing nothing, much easier to destroy than create.
Sustained Political Will
It is these circumstances that make courageous political leadership essential for
sustained education reform. Transforming Pakistan‘s education system will, for
example, require effective performance management of teachers and principals.
The best teachers and principals will no doubt welcome it; however, the teachers
who collect a salary but rarely go to school will inevitably resist – and in some cases
they will be well-connected. Similarly, public school teachers, who often earn more
than twice their private sector equivalents, are likely to oppose government funding
for low-cost private education precisely because of the threat it poses. Moreover,
habitual political practices that stand in the way of progress, such as the
appointment of education administrators on grounds of politics rather than merit,
will have to be swept aside. Indeed, the sheer turnover of senior administrators
prevents progress. In the year I have been involved in Pakistan‘s education, there
have been three different secretaries of education in each of Sindh and Balochistan.

The phrase is easy to use but what does ―sustained political will‖ look like in
practice? For a start it is never a question of just one person; the demands of
education reform require what I have called, taking a phrase from John Kotter, ―a
guiding coalition‖– seven to ten people in key positions (for example, President,
Prime Minister, Education Minister, Finance Minister, plus top officials) who share a
commitment to reform and an understanding of what it will require including
facing up to home truths such as the need to move to appointment of administrators
strictly on merit and to tackle endemic corruption. Such leaders also need to be
willing to take risks to overcome the deadweight of decades of failure. Moreover,
sustained effort will be needed in each province as well as at federal level because
of the extent of devolution, which was further enhanced in 2010 by the 18th
amendment to the Constitution.
Above all, national and provincial leaders need to persist because, if education
reform in Pakistan is to make the required difference, it will take a decade at a
minimum. For this reason the guiding coalition needs to build ever-widening circles
of leadership; more and more people inside the system who share the sense of
mission and the understanding of what it requires; and more and more people
outside the system – business leaders, for example – willing to provide the
necessary public support, particularly when the going gets tough. It is therefore
important that the leaders of reform not only take the necessary decisions and
provide the necessary funds but also keep explaining publicly why reform is
necessary, what it could mean for the country, what progress has been made and
what lies ahead. They also need to take the risk of unlocking citizen pressure for
reform. Success will only be possible if reform is not just from the top down but also
from the bottom up. Demand must be unleashed as supply is strengthened. In short,
a key factor in the differential progress of different countries over recent decades
lies in the presence, or absence, of outstanding leadership. Unless, soon, Pakistan
summons leadership of this kind from among its political and business elite,
progress will not be possible.
A Narrative of Reform

The second requirement is a narrative: what is the mission; why does it matter; and
how will it be accomplished? In Pakistan‘s case, the mission is clear – ensure
universal access in line with the Millennium Development Goals, ensure quality,
and increase equity. Put another way, the mission is to take a very poor education
system and enable it to succeed. But why does it matter? The case needs to be made
over and over again. As I argued at the beginning of this paper, at stake is the
success of Pakistan economically, socially and politically; its place in the 21st century
world. But the case for education reform goes much deeper than this. It raises the
question of identity both for individuals and for a society as a whole and I venture
to suggest this needs to become part of the narrative.
Pakistan is a relatively young country – the very idea of Pakistan is no more than 80
years old and the country just 63 years old – with a chequered history in an

uncertain part of the world. In these circumstances, survival alone can all too easily
become a goal but it is surely not enough. Britain‘s Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks –
whom I take the liberty of quoting here – says, ―Identity is…being part of a
continuing narrative …We are the story we tell ourselves.‖ (The Home We Build
Together, 116).
What is the story we tell ourselves for people in Pakistan? Needless to say, as an
outsider, I am hardly qualified to answer this profound question, but let me
cautiously advance an observation or two. Of course, there is the important story of
the political entity, Pakistan, created in 1947 with all its accomplishments and
challenges. There is also the story of the remarkable civilisations which have risen
and fallen in the lands now called Pakistan, the Mughal Empire among them. Often
associated with the Indus, a tremendous river with, as we have seen this year, the
power to destroy as well as create, these civilisations have left their imprint on the
landscape and a rich heritage for the country‘s current inhabitants. The British
Lieutenant, John Wood, who explored the Indus in 1836, called it ―a foul and
perplexing river,‖ and in 2010 many may be tempted to agree but others, much
earlier, knew better. Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai may have used poetic licence but he
recognised a deep truth, not changed by the floods, when he said of the Indus that
―every wave is filled with rubies‖ (Empires of the Indus, 26, 79). Either way in these
civilisations and this river, the potential for narrative is immense.
There is another story too. Pakistan‘s story has been bound up from its conception
with the story of one of the world‘s great religions, Islam, a religion that has brought
to the world great art, spectacular scientific advancement and remarkable literature
and history. To its adherents, it has also bought profound insight into how life
should be lived.
Let me assert, while admitting the limits of my knowledge, that it should surely be
possible to weave for Pakistan, from these three strands, an inspiring narrative of
Pakistan‘s future and place in the world. A successful education system – one which
enabled students to learn the language and mathematical skills requisite for the 21st
century, the richness of their history, and the Islamic values of tolerance, generosity
and community – would not just assist in building a sense of identity but,
eventually, would itself become a crucial part of the story.
This is the mission – and the case for this or something like it is surely powerful –
but what about the capacity to deliver this mission? The will and narrative might
come into place but, without a strategy, success would still be impossible. As one
official in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa told us, ―Iraddaha hai, Magar Plan nahee.‖ (―The
intention is there but not the plan.‖)

Strategy

The Pakistan Education Taskforce, at its meeting in February 2010, identified seven
key strands in the 2009 National Education Policy. As a result, the plan can be
explained simply and easily both to those who work in the education system and to
the citizens who depend upon it for their future learning. Our work at national and
provincial level is guided rigorously by these seven strands. Drawing from the
global literature on education reform, the Task Force‘s account combines
accountability and capacity-building or, in simpler terms, pressure and support.
This combination, if put in place and sustained, will work.
The pressure for change will come from three sources. First, there should be clear
standards for all students in Urdu or the mother tongue, in English, and in Maths
and Science. Similarly there should be clear definitions of ―good‖ for schools,
districts and provinces. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa school report card, on which
work started before the floods, was a bold attempt to do just this for that province.
Its development now needs to be completed. Second, simple, clear processes for
monitoring performance should be put in place at every level. With USAID and the
World Bank‘s leadership, the National Education Assessment System (NEAS) needs
to be reinvigorated and become routine. Regular student assessments (as Punjab has
already embarked upon) as well as school reviews and district reviews are essential.
The outcomes of these should be public.
Third, a major national public advocacy campaign is needed so that every
community and, indeed, every parent, becomes aware of what they should expect of
the schools in their local area. They have a right to a school which is open on a
minimum of 180 school days per year, has effective teachers who are present every
day, has the necessary basic facilities and has textbooks for every child. Moreover, it
should be easy for parents and communities to complain when these conditions are
not met, perhaps, for example, via a free-phone line to an independent national
agency which would have both the power to act on those complaints and the
responsibility to publish an annual report. The Sindh Education Foundation, for
example, has signboards outside the schools it funds and, according to Anita
Ghulam Ali, the remarkable veteran educator who leads it, parents use the mobile
phone number on the sign to call her, sometimes even in the middle of the night! In
short, the pressure for change should come as much, preferably more, from the
citizens as it does from the government.
The support for change should have four aspects. First, drawing on models such as
the Punjab Education Foundation, the state should seek to expand rapidly the
number of school places in the low-cost non-government sector, whether private or
not-for-profit. Where non-government schools accept state funding certain
obligations should apply, including quality assurance arrangements. In this way,
provinces could rapidly provide many more good school places. For example, given
the dire state of affairs in Karachi and the other cities in Sindh, it is clear that there is
no solution without something along these lines; the moribund state sector has
neither the quality nor the scale the crisis demands. Of course, this would require
government and donors to move beyond the fruitless argument between advocates
of public schools, on the one hand, and those of private schools, on the other.
Rather, the central challenge is surely to ensure the right relationship between the
two sectors. Encouragingly, I find that the trend in thinking, both within Pakistan
and among the donors, is in precisely this direction. The idea of a major fund – The
Urban Sindh Fund – has, for example, won enthusiastic support in principle from
business leaders in the province and major donors, such as DfID.
The second aspect of support focuses on ensuring that teachers have the skills
necessary to teach the curriculum. This requires high quality professional
development and the curriculum materials, especially good textbooks and teacher
guides, to enable each teacher to teach each lesson well. Here again there are models
that work all over Pakistan, even while the vast majority of the provision is
ineffective. The keys to success, therefore, are to ensure that professional
development and text books are aligned with standards and assessments and that
the system learns from known successes. For example, good practical teacher guides
would really help teachers achieve basic standards of performance. Meanwhile,
successful professional development involves coaching and modelling by effective
practitioners working in classrooms alongside teachers – not sending individuals to
dreary courses unrelated to daily reality. The Children‘s Global Network has shown
this can be done, including in its support for education in the immediate aftermath
of the floods.
The third aspect of support recognises that, however much the non-government
sector may expand, the vast majority of school places across Pakistan will remain in
the traditional public schools for the foreseeable future. This makes it essential to
improve the quality of management and administration at every level from the
school, through districts and provinces, to the federal government. In the jargon,
this is a challenge of capacity-building – the capacity of head teachers to improve
school performance, of district administrators to manage quality and of federal and
provincial administrators to translate policy into practice and strategy into delivery.
Unannounced visits to government schools, even in well-reputed districts, reveal
starkly massive inefficiencies such as absent headteachers, absent teachers and
poorly managed facilities, for example.
The definitions of ―what good looks like‖ mentioned earlier, should inform welldesigned
capacity-building at each level in the system. Equally importantly,
political leaders need to ensure all key appointments are based not on patronage but
on performance. The recent shift in some provinces to the selection of teachers based
on merit alone, needs to extend to teacher transfers and, indeed, to district
administrators. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, for example, the system of 27,000 schools
has 1900 cluster leaders, 300 district officers and 24 district education officers. To
deliver effectively, each level in this delivery chain requires people of quality. No
one should underestimate the scale of transformation this requires in culture as well
as practice.
The fourth and final aspect of support is the obvious but essential provision of good
basic facilities – buildings with water, electricity, toilets, boundary walls, desks and
chairs and good text books, universally available. The absence of such basic
provision across large swathes of Pakistan in the early 21st century is frankly
scandalous. Too often this failure is attributed solely to the absence of resources; in
reality it should also be attributed to the absence of effective administration. For
instance, among low-cost private schools in Karachi, over 95 per cent have
electricity whereas, among the government schools, only 50 per cent do, even
though the capital investment in the latter is many times greater than the former.
If these seven strands of reform were advanced in combination, the performance of
Pakistan‘s education system would improve steadily and significantly. Needless to
say, setting them out on paper is the easy part; the real challenge is getting it done.
The first step is for the government of Pakistan to make a highly visible
commitment to its people – constantly reiterated – that this is what it intends to do.
A major speech by the Prime Minister, perhaps at a major international event,
committing to prioritising and funding education, would be a good way to start.
Provincial chief ministers are equally significant.
The second step should be for the entire international community, especially the
major donors, to get behind the strategy and to integrate their support. Too often
around the world, including in Pakistan, the major donors – no doubt each with the
best of intentions – have offered such a bewildering array of uncoordinated
programmes and projects to support an education system that it often seems as if, to
adapt a phrase of Michael Fullan‘s, ―The helping hand strikes again and again and
again.‖ The result is confusion and fragmentation rather than whole system reform.
If, by contrast, the government of Pakistan embarked on delivering the strategy
described here and all the major donors integrated their support behind it, the
prospects for success would be vastly enhanced. The emerging close collaboration in
support of this strategy among USAID, DfID and the World Bank is a significant
step forward, which needs to be deepened and sustained.
Only with what Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart call the ―Double Compact‖ – a
simultaneous compact between government and people on the one hand and
government and the international community on the other – can the clarity of
direction be established to make the long hard slog of delivery possible. The Task
Force is assisting government and donors to put this double compact in place at
both national and provincial level.

Implementation

The entire system should then turn its attention to the biggest challenge of all which
– to hammer home the point – is implementation, implementation, implementation.
As Michael Fullan and I say to governments around the world, getting the strategy
right is difficult but only 10 per cent of the task; the remaining 90 per cent is getting
it done. At the Federal level and in each of the provinces the basic ingredients of
driving delivery need to be put in place – clear goals and priorities, delivery plans,
trajectories, routines for monitoring performance and problem-solving capacity. The
Task Force has just begun this capacity-building task but there is so much more to
do. In addition the Federal and Provincial governments need regularly to give an
account to the public of what progress with implementation has been made and
what remains to be done. The Task Force has begun to play this role too by
developing its implementation scorecard, which enables it, in dialogue with each of
the provinces and areas, to assess progress on implementation of the seven strands
of policy listed earlier. For the first time in Pakistan‘s history, there is therefore a
census of implementation across the entire country. Provincial leaders are finding
this process of accountability both challenging and helpful in equal measure.
Crucially, because there is a common scheme now, a common language of
implementation is beginning to emerge. As a result, the provinces are starting to
learn from each other in a way which was not possible before. This may not be
exciting but it will be decisive. Plans and routines to drive their implementation are
the essence of delivering tangible outcomes.
The Task Force has also developed one further idea which will become a reality in
early 2011 – an Innovation Fund. Its purpose will be to invest in proposals which
might become the next generation of education reform in Pakistan. After all, even if
the strategy outlined above is completely successful, the quality of the education
system in Pakistan will still fall far short of those in many developed countries for
many years. But suppose it found ways to leap ahead? Suppose, for example, that
Pakistan could realise the potential of modern technology to bring education, outof-
school, to Karachi‘s slums; suppose it could find much more effective ways, again
through technology, of providing excellent materials, guidance and development to
teachers, especially those in remote, rural areas, as the British Open University has
done in Africa. All over the world, as described vividly in Charles Leadbeater‘s and
Annika Wong‘s recent report Learning from the Extremes, there are experiments, some
of which may ultimately have implications for system transformation. It is in these
kinds of innovation that the proposed Innovation Fund will hope to invest. It will
also be innovative in the way it works. Its processes will be transparent, including
its meetings which will not just be open to the public but recorded on video and
posted on a website. In this way, it can become an innovation in administration and
a forum for debate, as well as an investor.

Conclusion
All of this – the aspiration, the narrative, the strategy and the approach to
implementation – will create the conditions for change. But there is one further
barrier to overcome: the barrier in people‘s heads. The story of education reform in
Pakistan is an unhappy one. Let me give just three examples. The first five year plan
in 1956 set a target of universal primary enrolment in five years. It did not happen.
In 1979 another target of 68 per cent enrolment by 1982 was set. It did not happen.
In 1988 yet another target was set, this time for universal enrolment by 1992-93.
Again, it did not happen. And, as we have seen, universal primary education has
still not happened. With this track record, no wonder Pakistan‘s education leaders
are sceptical that this new venture will succeed. They need to suspend disbelief, to
have the courage to start and to develop confidence as early progress becomes
visible. Nothing succeeds like success.
By drawing on success within Pakistan (and in other countries) the Task Force can
help instil this belief. It has been established to assist the country‘s leaders in the
creation of the successful education system to which the people of Pakistan aspire.
The hard work, of course, will be done by teachers and principals, administrators
and politicians at all the different levels in the system. By shaping government
thinking, by influencing the international community, by building the capacity to
implement throughout the system and, above all, by creating the belief that, this
time, it really can be done, the Task Force can make a major contribution. Now the
flood waters have gone, a monumental national effort to create an education system
in which the country can take pride is required. This time it really is going to be
different.

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