Muhammad Yasir

5:51pm Sep 6

Education Development It is no exaggeration to say that education and human development are interlinked and complementary and it is a fundamental point that evaluates the nations real worth. The quality of the people is the quality of nation, the development of one is to develop the nation. Development is the expansion of choices, so how can choices be made more meaningful and effective? Awareness of the consequences made the choices effective, and all this can be achieved through education. That is the only way through which people can gain the opportunity and direct their development. Social actors at all levels must understand the fact that true development is impossible with out challenging and improving the quality of mindsets. An analysis on the progress of human development has been done, which indicates that human development is interlinked with education. Another study has been done on 83 developing countries, which indicates that 12 developing countries with fastest growth rate also had a well above average level of literacy. An increase in the literacy rate from 20 to 30 per cent is associated with a national income increase of 8 to 16 per cent. Education plays a vital role in socioeconomic factor, which ultimately form basis for democracy. Economic development improves health and societal well being. Thus education can significantly influence democracy and the development of civil society. Education participates in political processes and promotes democratic practices of multicultural and pluralism. According to World Bank, between 60 to 90 percent growth achieved by Japan and other East Asian industrialized countries is through by human capital rather by financial means or natural resources. This study also depicts that farmers and laboures with better education adjust more rapidly to technological and societal changes, which ultimately and more likely to increase their productivity at individual level, communal and nation levels. Education is an important source of empowering individuals with self awareness and confidence needed for meaningful critical discussions. It is estimated that one additional year of education can increase productivity in wage employment by 10 per cent. Seven countries ranking highest in human development associate their achievement with their commitment to health and education. Pakistan is on 125 out of 169 nations of united nation report on human development published in 2010. At the beginning 21st century only one in two children aged five to nine attends schools in Pakistan; and perhaps as many as half of primary school graduates are functionally illiterate. This gigantic task of education cannot be undertaken in isolation, it demands partnership between public and private actors. A paradigm shift in policies and priorities is required in education that accelerates the growth rate of human development. No doubt a tremendous amount of commitment is required to equalize opportunities through the creation of laws, polices and procedures that create an environment for meaningful participation at all levels. But with out education, achieving sustainable human development will remain an illusion.

This Op-Ed piece makes no claim to originality; it is a rough transcript of thoughts that flitted across the writers mind while reading a recent article in The Economist published under the title The new middle classes rise up. Citing India, China, Indonesia and Brazil as examples, the article points out that these emerging markets are experiencing the early stirrings of political demands by the growing ranks of their middle classes. India gets highlighted by the urban support Anna Hazare got for his anti-corruption crusade and China by the extensive internal criticism triggered off by the rail crash involving two high-speed trains and by demonstrations in the town of Dalian following damage to a chemical factory; protesters attributed both the incidents to corruption and official neglect. The Chinese middle class is estimated at 800 million and the Indian at 300 million with calculations based on people earning between $2-$13 a day. By the same token Pakistans middle class is 120 million strong but this engaging article makes no reference to it perhaps because Pakistans economic performance over several years has been too dismal to merit description as an emerging market and also because of the perception that its middle class is too inert to be an agent of change. Many economists have differed from the World Bank criteria and argued that in countries set on a course of economic liberalisation, growth entry to the middle class should be pegged at people earning a minimum of $10 a day. According to some studies there were 30 to 35 million Pakistanis earning an average of $10,000 a year and of these, about 17 million are in the upper middle class. Pakistans middle class should, therefore, have a more solid base than that of India. Amongst other

indices is the rapid growth of phones, internet usage and access to radio and television. Its inertia needs a different explanation. The much admired Amartya Sen claims an ancient tradition of public reasoning and argumentative heterodoxy for India that was practised both by Ashoka and Akbar. The Indian middle class resorting to action, therefore, has a hallowed provenance. Interestingly, Sen illustrates his point by recalling Arrians account of Jain philosophers admonishment to Alexander the Great during his stay in what is now Pakistan. One possible difference between the two post-1947 neighbours is that while the Indian middle class already feels empowered enough to assert a change, its Pakistani counterpart is as yet unable to convert thought into action. Pakistanis are otherwise no less argumentative (Sen) than the Indians. In fact, the passions that welled up in Pakistan when General Musharraf stretched his tyranny to the higher judiciary suggested that its middle class was more combative than that of India. The momentum influenced the general election and opened a great vista of parliamentary democracy. But a lethal combination of President Zardaris preference for ruling through cabals, substitution of economic policy by plunder and day to day interference by the two Anglo-Saxon powers subverted the democratic process. Unable to influence decision-making and confronted with 26% inflation rate, the middle class saw its lower echelons slide down the bar. It crawled back into drawing rooms to chatter and seek catharsis in inane TV talk shows. As more than one political party came under mafia style management there was regression into tribalism, sectarian tensions and linguistic and ethnic conflicts. Politically speaking, Pakistans middle class is a work in progress. It will find no messiah but the option to regenerate itself through mass action with its inherent collective dynamics still exists and awaits a catalyst.