PRIVATE SECTOR SCHOOLING IN PAKISTAN: School enrolment and literacy rates have remained low in Pakistan through the last five decades, since records have been kept. While literacy has improved somewhat (Table 1) since the early 1950s, the figures have remained abysmal. The picture is even more abject when comparing rural parts with urban.
LITERACY RATES IN PAKISTAN:
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Year Total Male Female
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1951 13.2% 17.0 8.6
1961 18.4 26.9 8.2
1972 21.7 30.2 11.6
1981 26.2 35.0 16.0
1990 34.9 45.1 20.9
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Adult literacy in 2003 stood at 47%, while net primary enrolment was 46%. These numbers compare poorly with other countries in the region and represent consistently low growth over the last 30 years or so. Moving beyond the aggregate figures, the literacy and enrolment numbers for the female and rural populations are even worse, with the obvious result that a rural female is highly unlikely to even attend school.
The education system was inherited from the British at independence in 1947. The total size of the state sector, relative to that of the private and voluntary sector, was small. Due to limited government funding, private schools cropped up in most urban centres and functioned alongside state schools as well as missionary schools (functioning since before independence).
In 1972, the Bhutto government nationalised all schools and for a brief period (1972- 1979), all schools were brought under the control, and were financed, by the government. This period was short lived and under the next government - that of General Ziaul- Haq - private schools were allowed to operate freely and a few previously nationalised ones were privatised as well.
Since independence, local governments had "played an active and major role in both financing and administering elementary level education". The role of local governments as the focus of the state education system shifted over the years to provincial and central governments. Since then education has been provided by a mix of the state, the market and the voluntary sector.
The growth in the number of private schools in Pakistan since the late 1980s can be categorised as phenomenal. A majority of the new private schools were established in the mid to late 1990s.
The increase in the number of private schools highlighted is remarkable in its magnitude, especially when compared with an average population growth rate in the same period of approximately 2.7%, which suggests an increased demand for private schooling. The total number of private institutions catering to the educational needs of children in Pakistan in 2000 was over 32,000 compared to 3,300 in 1983, a ten-fold increase over 17 years.
Gross primary enrolment has remained largely stagnant, around 70% throughout the 1990s. As the population of the country continues to grow and the need for education (simply by sheer quantity) grows with it, the state education sector seems to be stagnating. Drop out rates from state schools are growing. The overall condition of the state education system, with respect of school going age children per school and easiness of access, has actually worsened.
Total primary enrolment rates in Pakistan were at approximately 65% in 2000, which dropped down to 41% for middle school and 19% for high school. Private enrolment rates were 18%, 9% and 4% respectively, a significant proportion of the school-going population. Reference show that a significant proportion of new private schools, created in the mid-to-late 1990s, are primary schools, dealing with the 5 - 10 year old group.
Interestingly, total primary school enrolment, over the period of high growth in the number of private sector schools in the latter half of the last decade, remained approximately the same: at just under 70%, suggesting that any increase in private sector enrolment, in the same period, was a result of substitution of state school enrolment.
Reference suggests that "although the government is the dominant supplier of education, public expenditure on education only presents a partial picture of the total efforts in education. Private sector managed institutions, largely schools, have grown rapidly in recent years". Based on survey data, collected from two different studies conducted in urban Sindh (Karachi) and Punjab, respectively, in 1996, found that "54% of children of primary-school going age (70% in Lahore), from 3,500 low and middle income households, were enrolled in private schools".
Reference suggest that in 2000, approximately 6 million children (between the ages 5-19) were enrolled in private institutions as compared to approximately 16-17 million in state schools.
It also seems that an increasing number of new private schools are opening for business in rural areas of Pakistan, thus confounding the generally held view in Pakistan that private schools only cater to the elite.
This finding, however, does not disprove that there is an urban-rural divide in the provision of education, but it does show that there is an increasing number of private schools opening in rural areas and catering to the educational demand of the rural population.
The role of private sector schooling is on the rise and can be expected to increase further in Pakistan. One of the reasons for this is the inefficiency in the state system of managing schools, as well as increasing lack in credibility of provincial testing mechanisms and qualifications. Due to extremely high levels of teacher absenteeism and idleness of educational infrastructure, parents have increasingly opted to move their primary age children to private sector schools that follow the national/provincial curriculum, but are not necessarily registered.
Since there is no provincial testing until the end of secondary school (age 16), parents opt out of- state schools that cannot guarantee the presence of teachers. In the state schools where teachers are present, their general level of content knowledge and teaching methods are perceived to be very poor. Studies conducted in various parts of the country show that an alarmingly high proportion of state school teachers fail to either outperform their own students in exams, or worse yet, fail the exams all together.
It can be argued that even at the secondary school and higher secondary school levels, (where students of ages 16 and 18, respectively are examined by their respective boards of education), state school enrolment is overstated since students enrol but do not attend school. Instead 16 to 18 year olds in most urban areas are found attending lectures at 'coaching centres' that have been around since the 1980s. These privately-owned unregulated institutions provide the service of coaching students to pass the provincial board examinations to acquire secondary and higher secondary school certification.
THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR: MADRASSAS AND NGOS:
Before moving on to quality and equity issues in light of an explosion in private sector schooling, it is important to address the role of madrassas and the NGO sector in national education system. Madrassas have existed in the areas that now constitute Pakistan since before Pakistan's creation. They have, however, garnered a great deal of attention and disrepute in both the local and international press, as well as political debate, recently.
These schools generally follow their own curricula, and are not regulated by either the central or the provincial governments. Recent public opinion suggests that many children, especially in rural areas, are attending madrassas instead of mainstream schools. Reference suggests that in fact the number of children attending madrassas is quite low as a proportion of all school going children. According to their estimate, full-time enrolment in madrassas (as a percentage of total school enrolment of 5-19 year olds) was less than 1%.
The authors however, acknowledge that their figures are based on data collected before September 11, 2001. They also use a survey of some districts in the Punjab to suggest that school choice (between madrassas, private and state schools) in rural areas is affected by the availability of all alternatives in the vicinity.
Reference suggests "...that the schooling decision for an average Pakistani household in a rural region consists of an enrolment decision (should I send my child to school) followed by a private/public decision, with a madrassas possibility." Reference presents a scathing analysis of the curriculum and quality of madrassa education.
The NGO sector has had a presence in Pakistan's education system since independence. As opposed to madrassas, this presence has largely been in urban areas. However, the size of the NGO sector is schooling, as independent from fee-charging private schools, is unclear as these are often bunched-in with private educational institutions in various studies. There is much anecdotal evidence about a robust increase in the number and size of voluntary institutions. However, there is a distinct lack of clear evidence and data on the actual size and media and public claims about the size, of full-time madrassa education might be exaggerated.
EDUCATION QUALITY AND EQUITY: BETTER, BUT FOR WHOM?
In the new millennium, the role of the state in the provision of elementary education has receded to an extent. Poor infrastructure has meant that many from relatively poorer backgrounds have opted out of the state education system. The void has been filled by a growing number of private (fee charging) and voluntary sector (madrassas and NGO run) schools.
In some areas, the provincial government has handed over control of empty schools to the private sector in private-public partnerships. Based on input indicators, (pupils per teacher, expenditure per pupil, teacher absenteeism, etc) as well as output indicators (literacy and numeracy), there is some evidence that private schools, catering to the poor, are performing better than state schools.
Reference shows interesting results from their analysis of the Private Sector School census data. They show that on a number of quality measures, like teacher per pupil ratios, per pupil expenditure, teacher qualifications and number of leave days taken by teachers, that, on average, private schools perform better than state schools. The above evidence on school indicators raises two interesting points.
First, it is surprising that teacher qualifications in private schools (including the myriad small scale informal schools) should be higher than the qualifications of teachers in the state sector. Second, that number of leave days taken by state school teachers is probably an underestimation considering the extremely high levels of teacher absenteeism, even when they are supposed to be teaching at school.
They also show that female enrolment as a percentage of total enrolment per school, at private schools, is much higher than that at state schools. They suggest that this is due to the fact that most private schools are mix-gender and tend to employ a higher proportion of female teachers. Reference suggests that this shatters the myth that traditionally conservative parents prefer not to send daughters to co-ed schools.
There may, however, be other interactions that cause the higher level of female enrolment at co-ed private schools (possibly: proximity to homes and smaller sizes, locally known female teachers). Nonetheless, if true, this represents an important and crucial achievement in social objectives (an increase in female enrolment in schools).
Finally, they show that private school fees range from very high (only affordable to the urban elite) at a few schools, a large number of schools in the middle range and a number of private schools that provide schooling at very low fees. Obvious issues of equality in quality of education provided to people of different socio-economic background are dealt with here by suggesting that if parents have the information regarding the quality of education their children are receiving for the money they are paying, then there is no concern.
They prove high level of parent information by demonstrating the correlation between fee responsiveness and student-teacher ratios and teacher qualifications. This is essentially a market oriented argument, where 'you get what you paid for'.
Further evidence of the better quality of private schooling is presented, based on a survey conducted on private and state schools in 1994-95, in Lahore. Using attainment figures, based on simple math and literacy tests attempted by approximately 6,800 students, he found that a significantly higher proportion of students, attending inexpensive private primary schools (Rs 100 per month or lower), passed the test as compared to students attending state schools.
A similar study, conducted on 302 schools in 5 districts in Punjab in 1997, found similar results. Significantly, the author states that "the performance of children from lower income households, attending private schools with a fee structure that these households were willing to bear, was distinctly better than those from households in the same income bracket, but going to government schools".
The poor condition of state schools, partly a cause of extremely poor state funding, has resulted in interesting education policy decisions. One example of state recognition of the poor health of state schools and a policy response has been the acceptance of an offer from the private sector by the provincial government of Sindh to take over idle school buildings and to manage them. This, however, is not an incidental decision.
There have been calls for a 'controlled' handover of idle state school facilities to the private sector as well as 'selective privatisation' of school administration from respected academics in Pakistan, in order to improve school quality across the country. While the author acknowledges that the two goals of improving school quality as well as educational equality will be difficult to achieve, he suggests that in the current system, the gap between the well off and the poor will continue to expand.
In the poorest Pakistani province of Balochistan, the government initiated, with support from the World Bank, two (urban and rural) pilot projects to induce the creation of private schools for poor girls in 1994. The provincial government offered to provide finance and support for people willing to open subsidised private schools for girls. Alderman et al., in a review of the project, find that such public-private partnerships proved to be sustainable in the urban centre, but not in the rural areas of Balochistan.
They also conclude that the cost to the government "of subsidising these schools is a fraction of the cost of educating the students in a government school". A survey of state, private and NGO primary schools across rural Pakistan found that NGO schools showed the highest levels of attainment in tests administered to the students. However, the researchers admit that this may be attributed to the relatively better socio-economic backgrounds of the students attending most of the NGO primary schools included in the survey.
Most of the literature quoted above presents a positive and optimistic view of the 'privatisation' of basic education in Pakistan. The arguments are mostly efficiency-based and emphasise (rightly), the extraordinarily pathetic condition of Pakistan's state education system. Since the state system seems to be failing in providing quality education to its people "...as realists, we must accept that the ability of the state to provide or administer quality education has diminished to the point that it is incapable of delivering on its promises".
Therefore in the context of a state versus market debate over education, philosophical issues of parental rights and practical concerns regarding reducing inequality (like the ones discussed in section 3 have been relegated to positions behind the issue of basic quality of education.
The argument posited by a large portion of the literature, therefore, is that where the state sector fails to provide even the most basic teaching, the private sector steps in and provides a service.
Apart from quality improvements, very few other social objectives are reviewed. Therefore, while all the studies included in this paper cite the abysmally low enrolment rates, none of them suggest how private schools will help enhance the enrolment rates beyond the current levels. Only point to an improved female enrolment rate at private schools as opposed to state schools.
It is important to note here that a number of the studies, that suggest that private schools provide better quality education than state schools, are urban studies and not all of them refer to output indicators (literacy and numeracy tests). A number of them ignore the class backgrounds of the pupils and, therefore, fail to separate socio-economic class background from school type as the explanatory variable for the perceived improvement in quality.
However, Pakistan's education system has gone through a drastic marketization in the urban areas and will gradually do so in rural areas. That some indicators input and/or output have improved is a positive sign, but it does not detract from the fact that the quality of education received by each pupil is affected by the fee charged from his or her parents and therefore the social stratification inherent in the system has not been reduced. The lines have simply been rubbed out and redrawn.
CONCLUSION:
Pakistan has always had a socially stratified education system that allows the wealthy to purchase the best education and, consequently, further enhance their future earning capacities. Enrolment and adult literacy continue to languish at very low levels despite continuous rhetoric from civil society and the state for the need to reform, streamline and improve education.
The lack of concrete improvements in curriculum, physical infrastructure, teacher training and motivation, as well as half hearted attempts at curbing corruption, has seen the state education system erode over the past thirty five years or so. This erosion is witnessed in both the actual delivery of education, as well as the public perception of the state's own credibility. Since the 1980s, the private sector (and recently the voluntary sector) has grown at an increasing rate and is beginning to step into the void left by the state sector and meeting the 'growing demand' for education.
With greater flexibility and accountability, the private sector has been able to provide 'paying customers' at least some modicum of education for their children, where the state system is seen as decrepit and inflexible. This is seen in an increased number of small, unregistered schools that have cropped up in both rural areas, as well as slums. This requires a shift in the mindset of the observer from the traditional private school, catering only to the wealthy, idea.
In today's Pakistan, the private sector caters to a wide variety of class groupings and charges accordingly. It is clear that the growth in the private sector is robust and a number of studies point towards qualitative advantages (by input as well as some output indicators) of private schools over state schools. Overall, gross school enrolment does not seem to have increased greatly over the last decade of the 20th century, while private school enrolment has increased, suggesting a substitution.
In the context of a state system falling apart, this growth of the private sector has been inevitable, as demand exists and the improvement in quality is evident and important. Also, some evidence suggests that the private sector seems to have circumscribed cultural bottlenecks, such as low female enrolment.
However, there is no evidence that suggests that the long term social objectives, associated with the arguments in favour of largely state supplied education of high enrolment, high literacy and low educational disadvantage will be achieved through a 'privatised' education system.
Instead, previously existent educational disadvantage factors, previously operating through the state-private divide, are now being formalised at somewhat improved levels of quality for the poor. A revolution in upward class mobility due to privatised education is unlikely to occur. However, an improved level of literacy and numeracy is likely to result in increased productivity by providing the economy with an increased number of trainable workers.-Courtesy Journal of Independent Studies and Research.
(Concluded)
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