A timely wake-up call

Speakers at a seminar in Karachi, organised by the Aga Khan Education Service, called for bringing about a holistic change in the country's education system so that the current outdated set-up could be replaced with new advanced methodologies of teaching.
The speakers spotlighted the flaws in implementation of educational policies that have led to rapid downslide in academic standards in the country. There was a broad consensus at the seminar that social excellence, national excellence and academic excellence were all intertwined, forming well-integrated mosaic. A teacher must not only possess academic competence; he must also have commitment and teaching skills to guide the students to higher academic excellence. The flaws the speakers highlighted have arisen gradually from the contradictions inherent in our socio-cultural milieu.
There are currently two distinct education systems in operation in Pakistan. One is based on state-funded educational institutions and modern curricula, while the other is based on centuries old madrassa system. Both are inadequate to meet the educational and economic needs of Pakistan. The standards of education in Pakistan must be improved if we want our educated manpower to successfully face the challenges of the 21st century.
According to the available figures, there are nearly 50 million Pakistani children and an equal number of adults who are illiterate. This means nearly 100 million illiterates out of a population of 156 million. It cannot be denied that out of all the economic growth initiatives Pakistan has taken, none holds greater promise and the possibility of large-scale and sustainable returns than the effectiveness and expansion of higher education infrastructure in Pakistan.
Pakistan needs to invest heavily in education if it is to acquit itself well in the highly competitive environment of 21st century. A major cause of the current dismal state of education in Pakistan is that this crucial sector has been traditionally kept under-funded, which has warped its growth potential. Studies undertaken by international financial institutions have established that literacy rate and per capita of a country are closely linked.
For instance, Pakistan with its low literacy has a per capita income of 492 dollars, while Malaysia and Brazil with their literacy rates of 78% and 81%, have per capita incomes of 2,520 dollars and 2,940 dollars respectively. According to a leading educationist, from the late 1940s and up to the 1970s Pakistan had an efficient system of education, not much different from that in other South Asian countries.
It was dominated by the public sector: education departments in the provincially administered schools and colleges while a small number of public sector universities imparted postgraduate education. The public sector also had teacher training schools and colleges. Things now seem to have since gone in reverse gear. Despite government's strident claims, the budgetary allocation for education has in fact gone down from what it was in the 1980s and 1990s. During the 1980s and most of the 1990s the public expenditure on education had averaged 2.5 percent of the GDP, which has fallen to less than 2 percent since 1998.
According to the data relating to the fiscal year 2004, an allocation of only 161.1 million dollars or 1.4 percent of GDP was made for education, as against 201.6 million dollars, or 1.7 percent of GDP in the 2005 budget. Experts have attributed Pakistan's failure in achieving progress in education to its lack of implementation capacity and financial constraints.
The facts that came to light at Aga Khan Education Service seminar should prompt the government to pay proper heed to the precipitous decline in education sector. We have lagged far behind even some of our neighbouring countries. According to a leading Pakistani educationist, between 1947 and 1986 Pakistan had produced only 128 Ph.Ds, while India produces 150 science and engineering Ph.Ds in a year. We must focus our attention on three sectors on a priority basis if we as a nation want to achieve our national targets: population, health and education. Let special financial allocations be made for the three sectors.