Education System in Pakistan In Human development Report Pakistan is placed at 136th position for having just 49. 9% educated population. In addition to that, Pakistan is ranked at 113th out of 120 registered UN members according to the research conducted by UNESCO et. all. Some of the very basic flaws of the education system in Pakistan contribute to the economic, ethnic and sociopolitical crisis within the country. Flaws of Education System in Pakistan Firstly, the education system of Pakistan is based on unequal lines. Medium of education is different in both, public and private sector.
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This create a sort of disparity among people, dividing them into two segments. Such a distraught infrastructure is a basic cause of high illiteracy rate in Pakistan and high drop out rates in rural areas and public school. Secondly, regional disparity is also a major cause. The schools in Balochistan (the largest province of Pakistan by Area) are not that much groomed as that of Punjab (the largest province Of Pakistan by Population). In FATA, the literacy rate is deplorable constituting 29. 5% in males and 3% in females. The third major cause of flawed education system in Pakistan is gender discrimination.
The current primary school ratio of boys and girls is 10:4, which is a cause of huge concern. For the last few years there has been an increase in the growth of private schools. It is believed that Pakistan is among the most prominent states affected by gender discrimination. That not only harms the quality of education in Pakistan but create a gap among haves and have nots. Fourthly, the lack of technical education is a biggest flaw in the education policy that has never been focused before. Therefore, less technical people means low standard of education.
Fifthly, the allocation of funds for education are very low. It is only 1. 5 to 2. 0 percent of the total GDP. It should be around 7% of the total GDP. At that budget allocation, the illiteracy rate in Pakistan would not decrease but rather increase. The federal and provincial governments need to cut down their expenditures in other areas and spend a bigger proportion of income on education. Moreover, the quality of education in most of the public schools and colleges is well below par; the teachers in government schools are not well trained.
People who do not get job in any other sector, they try their luck in educational system. They are not professionally trained teachers so they are unable to train a nation. Quality of teaching needs special attention in rural areas where the teachers lack in all departments. In America, Europe and most of the developed countries, the emphasis of the states is on developing virtual education systems i. e. provision of education through online networks. The idea of online education is gathering momentum and many online institutions have been set up which offer online courses and online degrees.
The Higher Education Commission and Education ministry need to focus on developing a strong online education network so that students through out the country can benefit. Universities such as Harvard, Berkley and MIT are offering online courses and degrees. It reflects the importance of online education in today’s modern high tech world. Finally, Poverty is also another factor that restrict the parents to send their children to public or private schools. So, they prefer to send their children to Madrassas where education is totally free.
The government has to make changes to financial infrastructure to improve the situation. Bank loans for education purposes should not be interest based as it discourages the people of Pakistan to acquire loans. Education loans are offered at low rates through out the world and it enable people to acquire quality education. Social awareness regarding all these issues need to be spread and we, the people of Pakistan have to work hand in hand with the government authorities to improve the current system.
Our children should not be deprived of their basic right to acquire knowledge. All these issues contribute to high illiteracy rate, which in turn result in economic crisis in shape of high unemployment rate and below-par quality of labor. Moreover, the country suffers on social, political and technological front! There are hundred other problems which need attention but the core-issues need to be addressed as soon as possible. You can read my article Pakistan’s Educational System which is an overview of the education infra-structure within the country.
In today’s world, the benchmark for excellence is education. Moreover, if a country has a distraught academic infrastructure, the chances to survive in current competitive world are petite. The illiteracy rate in Pakistan is alarmingly high which calls for critical attention. The federal and provincial governments need to work together towards elimination of flaws of education system in Pakistan. By: APP, Uploaded: 23rd February 2011 Pakistan has one of the lowest ratios in the world, of people having access to higher education in the country. Only 5. per cent of people aged 17-23 years are currently enrolled in higher education in Pakistan. Ministry of Education in a written reply told the National Assembly on Wednesday that significant financial resources are required to increase enrolment in higher education to 10 per cent of the age cohort by 2015. It was said that the government is negotiating $ 300 million loan with World Bank (WB) to support the implementation of the first phase of higher education development programme as outlined in the second Medium Term Development Framework for Higher Education for 2011-2015 (MTDF-HEII).
The programme aims to ensure fiscal sustainability and effectiveness of expenditure in tertiary education, improve quality and relevance of teaching and research, improve equitable access to tertiary education and strengthen governance and management, it said. It was said that in terms of item 12 Part-II of the Fourth Schedule/Federal Legislative List under constitution (18th amendment) act 2010, standards in institutions for higher education and research, scientific and technical institution has been declared a federal subject.
Being a responsibility of the higher education commission, it is essential to have $ 300 million World Bank loan, $ 100 million per year for three years, due to financial crunch at the national level to address the issues of quality and relevance of teaching and research. It said that World Bank funded IDA loan has been offered to Pakistan at extremely attractive rates and will help alleviate the financial crunch while allowing progress towards implementing the education policy approved by the cabinet.
Meanwhile, Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Raza Rabbani informed the House that after the 18th amendment in the constitution the education is a provincial subject. To another question, the Ministry of education in a written reply said that the government has increased the recurring funds of the universities from Rs. 21. 5 billion in 2009-10 to Rs. 29. 05 billion in 2010-11. It, however, said that due to ever increasing enrollment, the Federal Government universities are compelled to enhance the tuition fee during the year 2009-10 to meet the additional expenses such as security consideration and inflation.
To a question the Ministry informed that Pakistan is signatory of several international covenants of education sector. Parliamentary Secretary for Education Gul Muhammad Jakhrani said that the National Plan of Action on Education for All (2001-15) sets targets for the main three components including increasing overall early childhood education net participation rate to 38 per cent, increasing overall net participation rate at primary level to 91 per cent and increasing overall adult literacy rate to 68 per cent. He informed the House that due to certain reasons the set targets could not achieved.
It was informed that the overall literacy rate in the country is 57 per cent, Male and female literacy rate is 69 and 45 per cent respectively. National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) has planned to literate 82,500 adult literacy centers in three years (2009-12) to increase the literacy rate, however so far 26,000 literacy centers have been opened. It was said that a literacy assessment survey is being conducted to assess the achievement and standards of literacy learners and to improve the quality of literacy programs.
