The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Tuesday said that education policy needs to be revisited to ensure social mobility which would result in rapid social and economic progress. Educational inequality had become one of the most important social issues which needed immediate attention of the authorities, it said.
Flawed educational policies, budget cuts and lack of interest on the part of authorities had left majority of state-run educational institutions dysfunctional, said PEW President Dr Murtaza Mughal.
While, many private school chains in their race for profits were not only promoting negative tendencies but also threatening to reduce levelling effects of education, he added.
Dr Murtaza Mughal said "our education system has been reaffirming existing class inequalities far more than it acts to change them; it is serving to further widen the gap between rich and poor." He said that for a healthy society, success in the higher education for students from lower socio-economic groups should be an important policy goal. "Boosting per-pupil spending and early educational intervention in low-income children can address the problem of increasing cultural and achievement gap. Strong policy commitment is needed as countries with relatively low class inequality have prospered more than those with a greater class division," he added. He said the government could make it mandatory for private educational institutions to reduce imbalance in the society by providing free education to a certain percentage of underprivileged children.
Dr Murtaza Mughal argued that if Madressas all across the country could provide free education to millions, private schools could also provide this facility to some poor children which would prove their social worth.
Demanding continued emphasis on social mobility through education, he said that war on poverty could not be won sans quality education for all.-PR