AbstractPakistan has everything from themineral reservoirs to the nuclear power but still it comes in the list of underdeveloped countries.
The main reason of this under development is we are farbehind in our education sector. There are many flaws in our education systemwhich needs our attention. Tremendous difference between the education ofpublic and private schools is one of them.
Moreover inefficient andunproductive teachers, gender inequality, a very small amount of countriesbudget for education sector, decreasing literacy rate in rural areas, fragileinfrastructure and unhealthy education are included in them. But with the flawsthere are some positive aspects which are present in our education system. Progresseshave been made and there is working being done for the development of theeducation system. Education is a necessity and every child has a birth right ofit regardless of the background. Education System in PakistanEducation is a form of learning in which knowledge,skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from onegeneration to the next through teaching, training, research, or simply throughauto didacticism. Education plays a vital role in the development of countries.
“It is the most powerful weapon which one can use to change the world”. Educationis a passport for a better tomorrow. Educating the youth is like an investmentwith 100% profit. Education plays an important role to ace a real goal in life.The knowingness which is obtained through education is really helpful for abetter perspective. A country without education is like a car without tiers.From the beginning of Pakistan’s history, the Government hasgiven very less attention towards the education sector. However, only 3% fundsare allocated to education sector.
There is no real life visualization of thesefunds. According to a 2016 survey the current literacy rate in Pakistan is 57%which has increased in the past few years.There are six categories in which Pakistani Education Systemis divided.1.
Preprimary education2. Primary education3. Middle education4. Secondary education5. Higher secondary education6.
University education According to theconstitution education is free and compulsory for 5-16 years children. Thisincludes primary, middle and secondary education. There are two types of schoolsystem in Pakistan.1.
Public schools 2. Private schoolsPublic schools are the schools which are owned and run by thegovernment. Whereas private schools are the independent ones, which are run bythe private organization or private individual. Education is not a privilege itis a right of every child to get educated. But unfortunately education is likea privilege in Pakistan. Public schools are very less and theones which are working are in very bad conditions. Less educated faculty, lackof stationary and furniture, critical condition of physical infrastructure andmany more factors hindering in way of children currently enrolled in public schools.
Even in the 21st century children are taking classes in the grounds.There are no classrooms or benches for the students. Children are bound to siton the sacks instead of chairs and tables. And when it comes to teachers thereis no proper criteria for hiring them. Many of them are under qualified and notfit to be teachers. Whereasin private schools the quality of education is sublime. There is a proper criterionfor the hiring of teachers. There are series of interviews and tests which notonly measures the intelligence but also the temperament of the candidates.
Insome private school even after the series of interviews and test they givethree month training before actual job starts. .The education system ofPakistan is comprised of 260,903 institutions and is facilitating 41,018,384students with the help of 1,535,461 teachers.
The system includes 180,846public institutions and 80,057 private institutions. Hence 31% educationalinstitutes are run by private sector while 69%are public institutes. Pakistan comprises of 163000 primary schools, and almost15,000 are in Punjab, 8000 in NWFP, 13,000 in Sindh and 4000 in Baluchistan. Nowhere you can see the actual difference between both of the education systems.Only 31% schools are public schools and it is not everyone’s cup of tea to haveaccess to private education. In such conditions it becomes burdensome for apoor kid to keep up with other kids when it comes to the higher education.Anotherbarrier which is a major issue nowadays is ‘use of English language’. InPrivate schools it is compulsory for the students to use English language as ifit is our native language.
And in many cases speaking Urdu is a source ofembarrassment. Whereas, In public schools even the English teacher himself cannotspeak it. Our public schools are still teaching with the methods of 19thcentury and hoping to prepare the children for 21st century. The major factor that is affecting literacy is theunavailability of quality education.
Only 3% of the budget’s total is foreducation sector which is not sufficient to provide quality education in thecountry. In these hard times many NGOs took an initiative to provide free booksand stationary in the rural area schools. Akhuwat foundation is a well-knownname which is not only providing books but also sending qualified teachers.Quality education is a right of every child regardless of his background. Another trust which is wellknown for their work to provide education to the poor children is Zindagi trustrun by Shahzad Roy.
A singer who is not only famous for his songs but alsorecognized by his welfare work. He started a campaign in 2013 known as ‘Paid toLearn’ in which children were given money for attending school. Its mainobjective was to focus on the child laborers and to encourage them to come toschool and learn something instead of going to work.
“Children should have pensin their hands not tools” He later decided that his paid to learn program isnot good enough on the large scale as there are hundreds and thousands ofchildren who needs education. He then started working for the betterment ofpublic schools. Another major issue we faceis when it comes to secondary education and higher secondary. There are furthertwo types.1. Matriculation and FSC2. A levelsWhen it comes to matric andFSC there is no conceptual study. Only cramming is a way out in these two thingsand the trend of cramming is destroying the mental power and abilities of thestudents.
Where as In O levels, they are mostly about the concepts andnot just one book. “Education is not all about learning, cramming, passingclass nor being the best in class. Is how you wisely apply those you werethought in your daily activities.”One more things which createissues are the course books of FSC and matric which were written in 20thcentury and still are the same. Thereare no amendments in those books with the time. However in O levelsinnovative ways and methods are used to teach the students.
This variation of systems issomething which makes two categories of students. This is unacceptable in everyway. The only solution to this problem is to apply one system across thecountry. New course scheme with new technological concepts should be introducedand every school and college should be bound to follow that scheme. In this wayevery student will get the equal and quality education.Quality and Quantity, thebalance between these two things is a very important issue. Sadly our educationsystem has very much lacked from this balance.
“Success orfailure in achieving education for all cannot just be gauged by the number ofchildren being provided access to education, as the main point of assessmentremains the quality of their educational experience “.This issue can beaddressed easily by making a department of quality check which goes todifferent institutes and conduct reviews about their education experience. It will help a lotin boosting the quality of the whole education sector. A quality education hasthe power to transform societies in single generation, provide children withthe protection they need form the hazards of poverty, labor exploitation anddisease, and give them knowledge skills and confidence to reach their fullpotentialGender inequality is awicked problem of all times and education sector is not any far from this. Only40,875 out of 180,846 are public schools for girls and the rest of them are forthe boys.
Even in that 40 thousand only 18% of Pakistani women are currentlyenrolled and it decreases when it comes to rural areas. There is a greatdifference in the enrollment of boys and girls which leads to gender crisis.Due to the old myth that a women does not need to get education because shebelongs to the kitchen, still rules the mind of most people. However educatinga women is like educating a whole generation. When it comes to highereducation or at universities levels where women are currently enrolled andstudies face a lot of gender discrimination, especially when it comes to thosefields such as engineering where women are a minority.
People underestimate themental abilities of girls and they have low chances to participate in theactivities and projects. Mostly people think that they are here merely for somekind of entertainment because ultimately they will be married and there will beno use of their education. Women have touched the moon and we are stilldiscussing a woman can only cook. This gender inequality at work places or ineducational institutes can be removed with the right teaching. If we tell ouryounger generation from the very start (in preschools) that men and women areboth equal and women have the same rights as men. This problem would be thenencountered easily.One more case is earlymarriages which bounds the women to stay at home and look after the childrenwhich results in the discontinuity of education.
And in many cases if a womanwill complete her education will not continue further or start a career. The main reason of this caseis unavailability of child care centers and feeding provisions. If with everygirls institutes, these major facilities were obtained this matter will beeasily resolved.One more flaw of oureducation system is, it only focuses on books but not on child’s physical ormental education. We should not be focusing on just education but on healthyeducation. In this scenario there should be certain type of activities orsports which should be compulsory for every child enrolled in the institutionnot for just a bunch of them. “Children learn as they play and mostimportantly, in play children learn how to learn.”A healthy mind leads towardsa healthy body which leads to healthy education.
One last factor I have seenthrough years that development in rural areas is way less than the urban areasand same rule goes for education. That’s why literacy rate is much less inrural areas than urban areas. Government should change their motto of “Parhalikha punjab” to “Parha likha Pakistan”. Because education is equally importantfor everyone across the country, Out of the many flaws thereare some positive factors about our education system. Literacy rate will beincreased by 10% in 2020 and there will be raise of 15% for education sector.Government of Punjab laptop scheme has also played a part in this scenario. Dueto that every child has an access to the new age of technology.
Government isworking on making more colleges and schools so that everyone has the accesstowards education.Education is not a luxury.It is the right of every child by birth. For aPakistani, education is a life and blood for us.
If we want to survive as adeveloped country then we need to focus on our education system. Countriesflourish and prosper because they have strong education system. Other countriesare making progress because they are educated. If each and every Pakistani willbe able to embark on the road of education then he or she will surely get success.And their combined success will leads to the countries success.
