Education in Pakistan: Working on inverted pyramid By Ismail - TopicsExpress

Education in Pakistan: Working on inverted pyramid By Ismail Mazari ,, Good Zeeshan Mujahid The Education sector in Pakistan is still crumbling under initial paradoxes as paradigm shifts and the resultant poor performance of the sector haunts policy planners. The education system, despite its impressive expansion, has failed to achieve the primary objective of universal education for multiple reasons, ranging from low community participation to a powerful lobby in the education sector vying for the maintenance of the status quo. Historically, just after the independence the Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah concentrated on educational reforms. The national goals were explicitly spelled out in his message at the first Educational Conference in Nov 1947: You know that the importance of education and the right type of education cannot be over-emphasized... we must ...bring our educational policy and program on the lines suited to the genius of our people...and having regard to the ... developments that have taken place all over the world. There is no doubt that the future of our State will and must greatly depend upon the type of education ... There is immediate and urgent need for training our people in the scientific and technical education in order to build up future economic life, and we should see that our people undertake scientific commerce, trade and particularly, well-planned industries ... Also I must emphasise that greater attention should be paid to technical and vocational education. Explaining the ideological basis for the education system in Pakistan, Jinnah said: We should try by sound education to instil into them, the highest sense of honour, integrity, responsibility and selfless service to the nation. We have to see that they are fully qualified and equipped to play their part in the various branches of national life in a manner which will do honour to Pakistan. While celebrating the 60th anniversary of this country, achieving these ideological and physical targets set by the founder of Pakistan emerge as a greater challenge. The first National Conference in its recommendations laid emphasis on an educational system inspired by the Islamic ideology; free and compulsory education (up to first five years of schooling), co-education up to primary level and more attention to scientific and technical education. These recommendations formed the basis for the first Six-Year Plan of the education, issued in 1952, which were prepared jointly by the Educational division of the Central govt in collaboration with the Provincial govts. The chief merit of this plan was its translation into money, buildings and people and in creating more employment. Unfortunately, it was not related to an overall plan for the social and economic development based on the economic analysis of the resources, thus efforts to design the education system according to the national requirements were doomed in the first attempt. The first Five-Year Plan (5YP) (1954-55 to 1959-60) replaced the Six-Year Plan. Learning from experience, the new plan strongly recommended qualitative improvement in primary education with utmost preference to technical and scientific education. But government statistics (Economic Survey of Pakistan) showed no significant improvement towards qualitative improvement and primary school enrolment remained static. The only noticeable success was technical education where the number of graduating students was tremendous. The spending of only Rs 400m out of a total allocation of Rs 580m showed administrative slackness. The National Commission on Education was appointed in 1958 to analyse the first 5YP and gave its report in 1959. Its central theme was that education be viewed as a productive activity and an investment in Human Resources. A huge sum of Rs 1323 million was allocated. The main targets were; raising the proportion of children in the 6-11 yrs age group, establishment of new primary schools in West Pakistan; increase in primary school enrolment from 36% to 56% and provision of adequate facilities to girl students. Primary enrolment however, fell short by 60%. The third 5YP (1965-70) brought further changes and primary education was given top priority. Out of the 30% total outlay for primary education, only 13.6% was spent while expenditures on secondary and higher education stood at 20.8% and 20 % respectively (govt estimated). The ambitious project of enrolling 6 million children and of achieving universal education by 1975 could not be achieved due to political instability and later due to cessation of East Pakistan. During the fourth 5YP (1972-78) only 13% development expenditures were used for primary education, 16% on secondary education and as much as 35% on higher education. The nationalisation of educational institutions sans English medium schools in 1973 jolted the country. New employment schemes for educated youth like the National Development Volunteer Programme (NDVP) were initiated to teach at higher education level. The planning commission for the fifth 5YP noted that imbalances between primary and higher education were increasing. In most countries, resources earmarked for the primary stage are the largest, with diminishing proportions on secondary and higher stages. But in Pakistan, the pyramid has been inverted. Throughout successive 5YPs, primary education was not provided enough funds and earmarked finances were not fully utilised. The fifth 5YP (1978-83) again proposed to invert the educational pyramid. A joint study Report on Primary Education carried out by the Planning Commission, Ministry of Education, Bureau of Education Planning and Management and Rural Primary Education (1977, Islamabad) claiming substantial expansion of education in Pakistan candidly conceded that despite expansion, the problem of providing adequate education multiplied and that Education system at present is not providing the skills needed for Pakistans development and is excessively geared to provide higher education to privileged few . The study also acknowledged that a powerful lobby in the educational establishment was endeavouring to maintain the status quo. The professed goals of education, such as development of full physical and intellectual capacities of the people that could make them autonomous, self reliant and help them earn a livelihood with dignity; have never become part of education strategies. Passive strategies keeping existing structure of inequalities intact resulted in the failure of policies and policy makers. Educational policies pursued by the bureaucratic elite in this country have their roots in the colonial feudal structure. Britons ruling India evolved a unique system of education designed to produce lower level government employees or clerk baboos and to develop a special elitist class with westernised cultural and social values and local language medium schools for masses and exclusive English medium educational institutions for elite were evolved. The education sector of Pakistan today is an ideal accomplishment of British Raj policy with mushroomed growth of elite foreign affiliated institutions in private sector existing side by side Peela schools government/public sector. Experimentation one after the other like opening of one room Nai Roshni schools, uniform curriculum, uniform academic calendar, combined examinations at Secondary level and then reverting back to separate examinations, non confidence in examination boards, in-ordinate, unexplainable delays in results filled with anomalies exposes weakening education system. Pakistan, the land of opportunities and bestowed with all types of resources is unfortunately lagging behind in the entire South Asian region with lowest literacy rates. Learning from the experience and analysing the models experimented so far, remedy lies in a new education strategy conforming to national ideals, aspirations and requirements and above all making serious and concerted efforts to achieve the goals and targets as were set by the founder of Pakistan. Top