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Another very important and often unnoticed reason affecting and discouraging the rural literate population is the command over spoken and written English language, as candidates with better English language skills are given preference to those who, albeit talented and educated, are rejected.
In Pakistan, formal schooling is a two-tier education system, each representing two different classes. The standard of education for the rural poor is very shabby, while urban areas enjoy the luxury from well-paid teachers to furnished accommodations. Disparity is also evident among urban-based primary schools in the shape of government's primary schools and model schools. Officers and members of the elite class usually do not want to enroll their children into ordinary schools, identified with federal government's primary schools. The building, furniture, facilities, fee structure, method of teaching and admission procedures of elitist schools and educational institutes create an inequality in our education system.
This kind of unjust dual policy can never provide a level-playing field to the poor population. Many rural-based upper middle class parents want to move to urban areas only to provide competitive schooling to their children, which further widens the rural-urban gap.
Education is fast moving towards commercialisation, as the state is also encouraging this trend. Latest reports reveal that at middle and higher secondary schooling levels, private schools' ratio, compared to public sector schools, is 49% and 42% respectively. The dropout rate after completion of public sector primary schooling is also very high. According to UNESCO report, some 73.6% dropouts are unable to get admissions to next level of schooling. Poverty and unavailability of middle schools are the reason for this high dropout rate.
It is alarming that the targets of private sector education in our country are the middle, upper-middle and higher income groups, whereas the rural population and lower classes are struggling to provide good education to their children.
Privatisation of education sector is not a negative approach because it promotes competition and it ultimately raises the standard of education and efficiency at every level. But in our society, where the economic gap between the upper and lower class is rapidly widening, and middle and low income families are forced to shrink their entertainment budgets to avail basic necessities of life, education may no longer be on their priority list.
Private educational institutions in the Punjab are bound to maintain a 2% quota for poor students at every level, but there is no check in this regard that they are following the rules. This quota should be enhanced to 15-20% with increase in fee structure to accommodate the urban-based middle and lower classes, and that amount should be spent indiscriminately. Again, the question remains how the rural education system can be improved to bring them to the standards of urban schooling.
It is criminal injustice that 95% of the population is suffering at the expense of the remaining 5%. As a result, the country is robbed of its best minds. For intelligence, of course, is not restricted to any one class or caste.
There are views that Pakistan should allocate at least 4% (Rs170bn) of GDP to education, which is more than our total defence budget (160bn for the year 2003-4). Is it time to redefine our 'national interest'?
Article 37-B of the Constitution of Pakistan states that it is government's responsibility to, "remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary education within minimum possible period." Since the formation of this constitution, successive governments have consistently failed to fulfill this responsibility.
The Late Dr Mahbubul Haq (Former Finance Minister of Pakistan and a world-renowned economist) once said, "Political commitment for aspirated campaign to universalize primary education in the shortest possible time is still lacking in the country." Policymakers seem to have interpreted the above-mentioned clause to suit their own agenda and have not defined the timeframe of the "minimum possible period" for the removal of illiteracy.
Unfortunately, Pakistan has experienced countless unsuccessful educational reform programmes costing billions of rupees, aimed to increase the overall literacy rate; yet, they remain deeply entrenched in the quagmire of ignorance and illiteracy.
Pakistan has one of the highest numbers of illiterates in the world, and the current standard of education in Pakistan is really shocking. According to a study by Oxfam International, while the proportion of children are not attending school in South Asia will fall by half by the year 2005, Pakistan will account for an increasingly larger share of children not attending school. In fact, the study warns that by 2005, Pakistan will account for 40% of the region's children who are out of school, compared to 27% in the year 1995.
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Kashif Zulfiqar
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Comments
Azeem Azeem Notta | Oct 28th, 2003
I like your article because it is very informative and interesting about the education in Pakistan. I am also from pakistan and I well know the education there because I spent all of my childhood their and the system is very strict and has a lot of expectations from the schools Know I like the term s"
hool privatization" because we don't hear that always from our teachers and you explained it very well.
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