Friday, 27 May 2016

EDUCATION BUDGETS: THE BUDGET 2015-16

Budget season is upon us. Federal and provincial budgets for fiscal year 2015-16 are being devised and will be tabled in legislative bodies in the next few weeks. In preparation for the budget season we are publishing a series of blogs on the education budget.

So far we have covered current & development budgets, education financing and achieving education for all goals, per pupil expenditures (PPE), federal spending on education, education spending in Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the economic survey 2014-15.

Budget for the year 2015-16 was presented in the Parliament last week by the Federal Finance Minister, based on a total amount of Rs. 4.6 trillion (up from Rs. 4.3 trillion in the previous year).

As a percentage of the total federal budget, education spending is 2.1% following the same trend as previous years.

The Minister referred to human development in the budget speech and regarded it as necessary for growth. Announcing funds for new initiatives he said that Rs. 20.5 billion had been earmarked for development projects in the Higher Education Commission (HEC), while Rs. 51 billion had been set aside for current expenditures of the same. This is an increase of 14% from previous year’s allocations.

In an effort to catch up with Millennium Development Goals (soon to become Sustainable Development Goals), the government will initiate small development programs in the fiscal year 2015-16 for health, education and other fields for which the total allocation is 20billion.The minister noted that the government is working towards reaching the goal of allocating 4% of GDP to education within this tenure. However, since education funding is now the responsibility of provinces hence, moving from the present allocation of 1.67% of GDP to 4.0% will require efforts from both the federal and provincial governments. The federal government will need to increase its spending from 0.34% of GDP to 0.80% and the provinces from 1.33% of GDP to 3.20%.Another initiative to promote education includes the Prime Ministers Fee Reimbursement Scheme for Students of Less Developed Areas through which the Federal Government will cover tuition fees for students registered in Masters or Ph.D programs in HEC-approved public sector educational institutions in less developed areas of the provinces. Around 42,000 (41871) students are estimated to benefit from this initiative.The Prime Minister’s Scheme for Provision of Laptops to Talented Students is set to continue on in the 2015-16 fiscal year. The total allocation in Budget 2015-16 for six of the Prime Ministers special schemes is Rs. 2 billion.In addition, the Prime Minister’s National ICT Scholarship Program will also continue on which will provide 500 IT scholarships to talented students for four years of their undergraduate degree. This scheme has a separate allocated amount of Rs.125 million.

From the Annual Budget Statement 2015-16

Budget Statement 2015-16 summarises of the budget breakup and numbers for education have been listed as follows:Current Expenditure:

Total Current expenditure amounts to Rs. 3.6 trillion while development funds are just shy of Rs. 1 trillion in the newly announced finance bill.

Under the head Education Affairs and Services Rs. 64,014 million were allocated in the year 2014-15, and in the recent budget, after an 18 per cent increase, the amount has increased to Rs. 75,580 million. This is 2.1% of the total current spending (=75,580/3,615,274)

1: In relative terms, most out-of-school children are in Balochistan

2: More than half of the country’s out-of-school children live in Punjab

3: Across the country, it is harder for girls to go to school

4: Girls make up more than half of all out-of-school children

5: A majority of girls’ parents do not allow them to study, while boys are mostly not willing to go to schools

6: Older children are more likely to be out-of-school

7: Around 70% of children out-of-school have never been to a school

8: Girls mostly drop out of school to help with work

9: Children from poor families far more likely to be out of school

10: The education system is unable to retain enrolled students

10 alarming statistics about Pakistan’s out-of-school children

The Constitution of Pakistan states that every child has the right to free and compulsory education, yet millions of children in the country remain deprived of their Constitutional right, says a new report by Alif Ailaan, a local alliance for education reform.

The report titled “25 Million Broken Promises” says that there are currently 25.02 million boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 16 who are not in school.

“What’s worse, the proportion of out-of-school children (OOSC) increases as the level of education rises so that by the higher-secondary level almost 85% are not in school,” the report reveals.

Below are 10 alarming statistics about the education crisis in Pakistan, as highlighted in the report.

Thursday, 26 May 2016

budget for education

Moreover, the quality of education in most of the public schools and colleges is well below par; the teachers in government schools are not well trained. People who do not get job in any other sector, they try their luck in educational system. They are not professionally trained teachers so they are unable to train a nation.Quality of teaching needs special attention in rural areas where the teachers lack in all departments.

In America, Europe and most of the developed countries, the emphasis of the states is on developing virtual education systems i.e. provision of education through online networks. The idea of onlineeducation is gathering momentum and many online institutions have been set up which offeronline courses and online degrees. The Higher Education Commission and Education ministry need to focus on developing a strong online education network so that students through out the country can benefit. Universities such as Harvard, Berkley and MIT are offering online courses and degrees. It reflects the importance of online education in today's modern high tech world.

Finally, Poverty is also another factor that restrict the parents to send their children to public or private schools. So, they prefer to send their children to Madrassas where education is totally free. The government has to make changes to financial infrastructure to improve the situation. Bank loans for education purposes should not be interest based as it discourages the people of Pakistan to acquire loans. Education loans are offered at low rates through out the world and it enable people to acquire quality education.

Social awareness regarding all these issues need to be spread and we, the people of Pakistan have to work hand in hand with the government authorities to improve the current system. Our children should not be deprived of their basic right to acquire knowledge.

All these issues contribute to high illiteracy rate, which in turn result in economic crisis in shape of high unemployment rate and below-par quality of labor. Moreover, the country suffers on social, political and technological front! There are hundred other problems which need attention but the core-issues need to be addressed as soon as possible. You can read my article

Pakistan's Educational System which is an overview of the education infra-structure within the country.
In today's world, the benchmark for excellence is education. Moreover, if a country has a distraught academic infrastructure, the chances to survive in current competitive world are petite. The illiteracy rate in Pakistan is alarmingly high which calls for critical attention. The federal and provincial governments need to work together towards elimination of flaws of education system in Pakistan.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world

Nelson Mandela. Education is the backbone of every society. Without education no country can survive. Education plays an important role in the development of the country. Education builds the nations and brings the prosperity and development in the country. We are the citizens of Pakistan, where there are many education systems. There are different mediums of education. There is English medium school system, Urdu medium school system and madrassa system. These all different education systems are giving the different kind of education to the students. Diversity in syllabus offered to the students. No doubt that English medium schools are offering good quality of education. They are offering the oxford and British syllabus. They are different from the traditional schools.The students of these schools are aware of latest technologies. They are able to survive in the modern technological world. They get best jobs opportunities, companies prefer to higher the people whom schooling is from beacon house or city schools etc. The students of these schools are more confident and independent. The students of these schools are unaware of teachings of Islam.All languages are necessary to read and learn.There are Urdu medium schools which are usually under the government. The students of these schools are belongs to middle or lower middle class. The students are unaware of modern technologies. Computer education is not necessary at primary level. They could not pay attention on the extracurricular activities which made the students dull and boring. The students are less confident than students of English medium schools. Teachers of these schools are not able and hardworking they do snot pay attention to enhance the abilities of the students.People who get their education from these schools find difficulty in getting good jobs. Companies preferred people who are coming from English schools. It causes inferiority complex in the people. There are plus points of the Urdu mediums schools. They are providing very cheap education that everybody can afford it. They are not putting the burden of education on the students.

the other is madrassa system in Pakistan. They are giving the Islamic education to their students and ignoring to giving the modern education. Most students studying in the madrassas belongs to poor families. Poverty is an important factor that strict the parents to sent them in madrassas because they are providing free of cost education. The students of the madrisas are timid and shy they do not actively participate in the activities. They are unaware of modern technologies. They are unable to survive in the modern technological world. They do not find the jobs opportunities because they do not get the modern or technical education. After completing their education they have only one opportunity to earn money is becoming the Imam of any mosque.Maddrisa provide education and guidance of lifeThese different mediums of education are producing different classes in the society. They are creating huge gaps between the people. We should spread awareness in the people that modern education is important as well as Islamic education is concerned. It is an alarming situation of education system in Pakistan. The government should take initial steps to make a unique education system in Pakistan. The quality of education is needed to improve. Professionally trained teachers should be higher in government schools especially rural areas of the country.

It is the Government’s duty to approve uniform curriculum for all institutions and then make sure that institutions must follow it. Uniform curriculum will be a bridge between the poor and the rich class and will eliminate the gap and unite them.

Essay Cable T.V

Essay : Cable T.V

Essay:

CABLE T.V

   There have been many inventions of science for the purpose of the entertainment of man. We have radio, the cinema, the Television and many other items. Now it is the Cable T.V. As Cable T.V has provided all entertainment at people's homes, the cinema halls have suffered a great setback. Many of them have shut down. It has given a big jolt to the film industry as well.
   The Cable T.V is not only a means of recreation, but also means of knowledge. There are many programmes which are educative, informative and constructive. Many serials like “Discovery”, “Animal Kingdom Life”, “Under Sea Life” are educative and for the enhancement of knowledge.
   There are some serials which throw light upon the corrupt nature of modern society. Even children can come to know there are many people on this Earth who wear white clothes but have black hearts and poisonous tongues. These children can know the reality of men and their evil nature. They can keep away from the evil and can make efforts to cure and reform the society. Thus the Cable T.V is serving a great purpose.
   Like other industries, it has also become a small industry. It provides employment to people, though on a very small scale. It gives encouragement to small investors to have a sort of self-employment. They are also a source of income to the government. Through taxes the cable operators have to pay to the income tax department. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting rent out the channels to different T.V productions and this earns money.
   Cable T.V has many disadvantages too. The students waste their precious time in watching movies on Cable T.V. Thus they ignore and neglect their studies. Parents have to repeatedly remind their children to switch off the T.V and devote time to studies. They always under tension because instead of progress, their studies suffer. Another evil is that youths adopt evil ways and habits easily to which they are exposed through the various serials. The children are innocent and they fail to understand the real and the unreal, true and untrue. They want to do what they see.
   Our serials have adopted some what westernized trends in showing some scenes. The children are affected and influenced by these serials. They do not fit into the Pakistan context. Most of

Education System in Pakistan

EDUCATION SYSTEM IN PAKISTAN

OUTLINE:
1.            Meaning of Education
2.            Education is the light of life
3.            Education in the light of Islam
4.            Education is vital for the development of a country
5.            Education in Pakistan                                (A)          System of education in Pakistan
                                (B)          Article 25-A of Constitution of Pakistan
                                (C)          Literacy rate in Pakistan and other developing countries
                                (D)          Human Development report
6.            Problems of education in Pakistan                                (A)          Inconsistent and conflicting policies and political interference.
                                (B)          Low education spending
                                (C)           Corruption
                                (D)          Blind imitation of western curriculum and modes of teaching
                                (E)          Private sector's lukewarm participation
                                (F)          Teachers related issues
                                (G)         Examination system
                                 (H)         Gender discrimination
                                (I)           Lack of technical education
                                (J)           Politicization
                                (K)          Poverty
7.            Impacts of these Failure                                (A)          Failure of democracy
                                 (B)         Degradation of society
                                (C)          Hampered the economic progress
                                (D)          Agriculture and industrial sectors have suffered
8.            Government's attempts to amelioration of this sector                                (A)          Increase in spending on higher education
                                (B)          Establishment of HEC
9.            Reforms made by HEC                                (A)          Faculty improvement programs
                                (B)          Tenure Track System for faculty remuneration
                                (C)          Provision of laboratories, equipment and scientific material
                                (D)          Alignment of academic degrees with international norms and standards
                                (E)          Exploitation of the potential of distance learning
                                (F)          Provision of scholarships
                                (G)         Accountability in universities
10.          Impacts of these reforms                                 (A)          Enrollments experienced a robust growth
                                (B)          Recruitments on merit
11.          Suggestions for improvement                                (A)          Implementation instead of projecting policies
                                (B)          Education Spending should be increased
                                (C)          Promotion of primary education
                                (D)          Maintain balance between public and private institutes
                                (E)          Hiring of talented and qualified staff
                                (F)          Higher Education-A Panacea for Pakistan
                                (G)         Infusion of technical education
12.          Future of education in Pakistan                                (A)          Global Monitoring Report
13.          Conclusion
Essay
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”  (Nelson Mandela)
The word "Education" has been derived from the Latin term "Educatum" which means the act of teaching or training. A group of educationists say that it has come from another Latin word "Educare" which means "to bring up" or "to raise".
All these meanings indicate that education seeks to promote the good qualities in man and draw out the best in every individual. Education seeks to develop the distinctive inner capacities of man.
Education is the light of the life. It frees an individual from misconceptions and blind beliefs. It enhances human status and leads everyone to respectability.
Education has been accorded great importance in every religion and society. Islam also attaches utmost importance to it.
The first word of the Holy Quran was IQRA (READ) and Holy prophet (S A W) said
“Education is mandatory for men and women.”
The above Hadith does not discriminating gender that means it is not only mandatory for men but also for women. Holy prophet (S A W) also said
“Seek knowledge even you have to travel to China.”
Muslims ushered an era of glory only with education but when they renounced it, they fell into the depths of gloom and dejection. The west, today, dominates the world only because it realized education’s vitality to development. Article 26 of the UNs ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ reads: “Everyone have the right to education”. It is the second objective in UNs Millennium Development Goals (UNMDGs) which requires education for all (EFA) by year 2015. However the state of education in Pakistan is far from satisfactory.
The education system in Pakistan is generally divided into five levels: primary (grades one through five); middle (grades six through eight); high (grades nine and ten), leading to the Secondary School Certificate or SSC; intermediate (grades eleven and twelve), leading to a Higher Secondary (School) Certificate or HSC; and university programs leading to undergraduate and graduate degrees. Education in Pakistan is overseen by the Ministry of Education of the Government of Pakistan as well as the provincial governments, whereas the federal government mostly assists in curriculum development, accreditation and in the financing of research and development.
Article 25-A of Constitution of Pakistan obligates the state to provide free and compulsory quality education to children of the age group 5 to 16 years. “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such a manner as may be determined by law”. Pakistan produces about 445,000 university graduates and 10,000 computer science graduates per year.
Despite these statistics, Pakistan still has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world and the second largest out of school population (5.4 million children) after Nigeria.
The literacy rate for age 10 years and above in Pakistan, according to World Bank, is 55 percent (67 % for males and 42% Females). This is the lowest rate in the developing nations of Asia. Silence has 90.7%; Indonesia has 90.4%, while literacy rate in Vietnam, Iran and India reach 90.4%, 82.4% and 61% respectively. In contrast in developed countries it is almost 100%.
In the sphere of higher education only 3.7% of Pakistani youth of 18 to 23 age group is enrolled this is also very low as compare to other developing countries as India has 7% while Malaysia has 12%.
In Human development Report, Pakistan is placed at 134th position out of 177 countries of the world and education is a major indicator in human development index. We may be conclusive about the ground reality that people in the 6th largest country of the world have no access to the basic education even.
This is because Pakistan is still struggling with its problems of Education system. At the first place, the problems have arisen due to lack of commitment and inefficient management on the part of state. The policies lack long term vision and its implementation strategies are being affected by unnecessary political interference. Over the span of 66 years, the nation has been given the 23 policies and action plans but we could not start the march towards success and are waiting for a savior who could take the system out of confusion. The National Education Policy (1998-2010) was developed previous to Dakar. It has a clear cut vision and direction to support the education department. Since the 2001, the Ministry of Education has developed a number of policy documents including that of National Education policy (2009) but the activities remain focused on paper work more rather than the operationalization. The simple reason is that the coordination is missing between the federal and provincial governments which cause strong problems in the policy implementation.
The policy formulating, planning and implementing bodies work in isolation as the water tight sections. The government's consultation is very much restricted and does not go beyond its specific quarters. It should have to be extended to non-state sectors to initiate and mobilize the action. Teachers does not normally form the part of policy making process, hence the process of sharing and consultation remains missing. It leads to implementation of educational policies without consultation, thus the efforts go in vain. In addition to it, the measures taken are not evidence based and geared by the assigned interests of the authorities. Whatever strategies have been applied failed to promote the rational and critical thinking skills amongst the students. Because there is a need to continuously update the syllabus because if it goes old, it does not prepare the beneficiaries with the salable skills and expertise.
Secondly the allocation of funds for education is very low as it never went beyond 1.5 to 2.5 percent of the total GDP. Even this amount was not utilized and had to be surrendered back to the government as about 10 to 30% of education budget remains underutilized.
In spite of allocation, the amount is not spent for what it was meant for as the corruption is found in all the levels of education. Corruption causes the educational policies, plans and projects to fail because of being the major contributing factor. There is no accountability and transparency in the system, the salaries are low, the incentives are too less to be accounted and even those are uneven.
Thirdly the system of education in Pakistan is working in match with the local needs and ground realities. It is almost a key factor that the education in the mother tongue surrenders more dividends but we have the system more separated and expanded just opposing to our requirements. A good example of it is that we fail to decide about the Medium of education over the span of 64 years. Different mediums are operational in both, public and private sector. This creates a sort of difference among people, dividing them into two segments. In the elite private schools where the quality education is offered, a heavy fee is charged that continues to be a problem. These private sectors schools are meant only for a special sector of the population and are out of the reach of general masses. The quick growth of private schools and academies of teaching reflect the people's lack of trust in the public sector schools coupled with a deficiency of sufficient educational institutions to cater to the needs of the fast growing population. However, there are certain private schools which are slightly better than the public ones. Private Schools in Pakistan enroll more students than in other countries of the region. They least problem about the capacity and facilities available, they rather over burden the teaching staff. Education has been followed by these people as an industry and they fail to cope up with the required standards. The leader with vision spoils the mission as well as the projects undertaken. Their only committed is money making that has caused the decay in the standards, introduction of sub-standard staff, and inexpensive the deserving to grow. They don’t want to catch with the move of success but they try to be good businesspersons.
Fourthly, Shortage of qualified teachers is main cause of less interest of young students towards education. Only 25% of university teachers are of PHDs and only 20 % of them are active researchers Student-teacher ratio is very high in Pakistan. So the teacher cannot properly treat students. Teachers are not given any motivations for dedication to the profession. Salary and other facilities especially at the lower levels are very disappointing. Training and refresher courses are also insufficient. New techniques of teaching and facilities needed for good teaching should be provided to the teachers.

Fifthly, Examination System remained a problematic issue in Pakistan. How to judge the performance of students is a difficult question. Instead of comprehension and depth of knowledge importance is placed on test of memory. Learning is geared to passing the examination. Some people work only at the end of the year and get good marks due to fault in the system. Some of they use unfair means. Students have were little knowledge of how the papers are actually graded. This becomes a serious problem at the higher levels. Still there is a debate that whether Annual system or Semester system should be adopted.

Sixthly, the gender discrimination is a cause that is contributing towards the low participation rate of girls at the basic level of education. The male and female participation ratio is projected at the primary school in the shape of ratio of boys & girls as 10:4 respectively. Only 22 percent of girls, compared to 47 percent boys, complete primary schooling. Female literacy in rural Baluchistan is only 32 percent compared to high urban male literacy rates.

Seventhly, We could not attract the general masses towards technical education making them to earn of their own and make their living without being the burden on the government. Education system is needed to be restored making a space for the science, IT, management, and pupil with the excellence to go to the higher education following the education of their own choice. Lesser importance on technical education means the lesser manpower for industry and hence the lesser.

Eightly, Student groups have political links with outside groups. Political parties have their sub units in educational institutions, which result in use of violence and threats. This also damages the educational environment.

Lastly, the increase of poverty has restricted the parents to send their children to tasks for child labor. Poor parents are forced to send their children to madrassas where the education is totally free. Madrassas are preparing people who finds very difficult to adjust in the modern society. Sometimes it seems that they are from another planet.
A madrassa student can’t compete even in our country then the World is so far from him. He finds very difficult to even speak to a school boy. It is crystal clear that Islamic Education is necessary for Muslims but it is also a fact that without modern education no one can compete in this world.
There are many examples of Muslim Scholars who not only study the Holy Quran but also mastered the other subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy and many more, with the help of Holy Quran. On the other hand, the students from the leading class have little or no awareness of their religion and culture whereas those passing out from Urdu medium schools are usually designed to work in religious and lower level positions. We have to find a way to bridge this gap between school and madrassa.

The above mentioned problems affected our society in many ways like failure of democracy, bad governance, and degradation of society and also hampered the economic progress. Due to lack of education, our work force consists of only tiny part of population. Agriculture and Industrial sectors have also suffered because of lack of research.

The governments of Pakistan have taken some steps for the betterment of education system which includes the establishment of HEC and increase in spending on higher education.
HEC introduced many reforms in the education system. The effective reforms include faculty improvement programs, tenure track system for faculty remuneration, provision of laboratories, equipment and scientific material, alignment of academic degrees with international norms and standards, exploitation of the potential of distance learning, provision of scholarships and a culture of accountability in universities.

These reforms resulted in the robust growth of enrollments. Recruitment procedures for academic staff are now explicitly based on merit due to the efforts of HEC.

In spite of these results still education system of Pakistan needs to be improve and following measures can be taken for the improvement of system.

In the view of importance of education, the Government should take solid steps towards implementation instead of projecting policies. In this regard, the allocations should be made easy and timely from provinces to districts and then to educational institutes.

Allocations are supposed to be made to the aspired levels as UNO suggests a country to allocate at least four percent of its GDP towards education there is also a need to justify the share at the different levels not ignoring any.

Primary education should be made compulsory. The textbooks and uniforms should be provided free of cost to the indigent children and rewards may be offered to them on passing examinations.

There should be a balance in dependence on public and private for enabling education to reach the general masses in its true shape. Government should strictly check all private educational institutions for keeping a balance of standards and level of practices.

Hiring should be made from amongst the highly qualified and the teachers should be paid not according to the level of education but the qualification of the staff. Efforts should be made to bring down the student-teacher ratio to 15:1 in lieu of current 40:1. Therefore, the number of teachers will have to be enhanced, leading to the rise in number of teachers and enabling the competent persons to be inducted to the system of education. Workshops must be arranged for teachers as a continuous feature for learning.
It is advised that the Universities should be the research centers and must not be allowed to act as the examining bodies for graduate or post-graduate examinations.
Higher Education deserves serious attention in this regard. Steps should be taken to attract youth to higher education. The investment is this sector should be increased to meet demands of universities.
Technical education should be filled into the regular system stream. As the education board of Punjab has projected a plan to give tech- education to the children of industrial workers. Introductory technical subjects should be taught at the middle level to enhance awareness and encourage interest of students.
With a surprising 5.4 million children out-of-school, Pakistan is likely to miss the Education For All (EFA) target that was set to be achieved by 2015, according to EFA Global Monitoring Report.
Projecting a grim future, the report states that if the country moved at current pace the adult literacy rate (15 and above) by the year 2015 will be 60 per cent of which female at 47 per cent and male 72 per cent. Besides, the adult illiteracy rate by 2015 also seems to be estimated at an appalling 51 million of which 65% will be females.
The report reveals that if Pakistan were to halve the inequality in access to education to the level of Vietnam, it would increase its economic growth by 1.7 percentage points.
Alarmingly, Pakistan is ‘very far’ from meeting the 2015 deadline and ranks among nations like Mali, Niger and Lesotho in the countries list away from achieving the education goal, the report further states.
Highlighting the dismal progress in education sector, the report states that around 59 per cent of women would remain disproportionately affected by illiteracy by 2015.
Commenting on the issue State Minister for Education, Trainings and Standards in Higher Education said that Pakistan would be unable to achieve the EFA goals within the deadline. However, the government was taking measures like National Plan of Action to include all the out-of-school children with special focus on girls of rural areas.
It is an established fact that education serves as the backbone for the development of nations. The countries with the effective impressive need oriented, saleable and effective system of education comes out to be the leaders of the world, both socially and economically. It is only education which can turn a burden of population into productive human resource. Pakistan's current state demands that the allocations for education be doubled to meet the challenges of EFA. We have to reconsider our priorities to keep the country on the track of progress. As education is the only cure of disability of the state and for bringing revolution through evolution and by eliminating the social evils through education.

Solutions

Solutions

There is a need for implementation of national education policy and vision 2030 education goals. An analysis of education policy suggests that at the policy level there are several admirable ideas, but practically there are some shortcomings also.

It may not be possible for the government at the moment to implement uniform education system in the country, but a uniform curriculum can be introduced in educational institutes of the country. This will provide equal opportunity to the students of rural areas to compete with students of urban areas in the job market.

Since majority of Pakistani population resides in rural areas and the access to education is a major problem for them, it seems feasible that a balanced approach for formal and informal education be adopted. Government as well as non-government sector should work together to promote education in rural areas.

The government should take measures to get school buildings vacated which are occupied by feudal lords of Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab. Efforts should be made to ensure that proper education is provided in those schools.

The federal government is paying attention to the vocational and technical training, but it is important to make the already existing vocational and technical training centres more efficient so that skilled youth could be produced.

Since education is a provincial subject, the provincial education secretariats need to be strengthened. Special policy planning units should be established in provinces’ education departments for implementation of educational policies and formulation of new policies whenever needed. The provincial education departments need to work out financial resources required for realising the compliance of Article 25-A.

Federal Government should play a supportive role vis-à-vis the provinces for the early compliance of the constitutional obligation laid down in Article 25-A. Special grants can be provided to the provinces where the literacy rate is low.

Pakistan is not the only country which is facing challenges regarding promotion of literacy and meeting EFA and MDGs commitments. Education remains a subject which is paid least attention in the whole South Asian region. UNDP report 2014 suggests that there has been an improvement in other elements of human development such as life expectancy, per capita income and human development index value (in past 3 years); but there has been no progress in the number of schooling years. The expected average for years of schooling in 2010 was 10.6 years but the actual average of schooling remained 4.7 for all South Asian countries. In the year 2013 the expected average of number of years increased to 11.2 but the actual average of years of schooling of South Asian countries remained 4.7. Regional cooperation mechanism can also be developed to promote literacy in South Asian region. Sharing success stories, making country-specific modifications and their implementation can generate positive results.

Recommendations

Technical education should be made a part of secondary education. Classes for carpentry, electrical, and other technical education must be included in the curriculum.
Providing economic incentives to the students may encourage the parents to send their children to school and may help in reducing the dropout ratio.
Local government system is helpful in promoting education and literacy in the country. In local government system the funds for education would be spent on a need basis by the locality.
Corruption in education departments is one of the factors for the poor literacy in the country. An effective monitoring system is needed in education departments.
For any system to work it is imperative that relevant structures are developed. Legislation and structure should be framed to plan for the promotion of education in the country. After the 18^th amendment the education has become a provincial subject, therefore, the provinces should form legislations and design educational policies which ensure quality education.
Unemployment of educated men and women is a major concern for Pakistan. There should be career counselling of the pupils in schools so that they have an understanding of job market and they can develop their skills accordingly.
Counselling of parents is required, so that they can choose a career for their child which is market friendly.
There are two approaches to acquiring education: First, which is being followed by many in Pakistan is to get education to earn bread and butter. The second approach is to get education for the sake of personal development and learning. This approach is followed by affluent and economically stable people who send their children to private schools and abroad for education. The problem arises when non-affluent families send their children to private schools, and universities. This aspiration for sending children for higher education is wrong, because the country does not need managers and officers only. There are several other jobs where people are needed. Hence the mind-set of sending one’s children to university only for becoming officers and managers needs to be changed.

Conclusion:

The reforms required in the education system of Pakistan cannot be done by the government alone, public-private participation and a mix of formal as well as non-formal education can pull out majority of country’s population from illiteracy. Similarly, to make the youth of the country an asset, attention should also be paid to vocational and technical training.

- See more at: http://www.ipripak.org/education-system-of-pakistan-issues-problems-and-solutions/#sthash.QHKeK20P.dpuf

issues

Issues

A) MDGs and Pakistan

Due to the problems in education system of Pakistan, the country is lagging behind in achieving its MDGs of education. The MDGs have laid down two goals for education sector:

Goal 2: The goal 2 of MDGs is to achieve Universal Primary Education (UPE) and by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. By the year 2014 the enrolment statistics show an increase in the enrolment of students of the age of 3-16 year while dropout rate decreased. But the need for increasing enrolment of students remains high to achieve MDGs target. Punjab is leading province wise in net primary enrolment rate with 62% enrolment. The enrolment rate in Sindh province is 52%, in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KPK) 54% and primary enrolment rate in Balochistan is 45%.

Goal 3: The goal 3 of MDGs is Promoting Gender Equality and Women Empowerment. It is aimed at eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005 and in all levels of education not later than 2015. There is a stark disparity between male and female literacy rates. The national literacy rate of male was 71% while that of female was 48% in 2012-13. Provinces reported the same gender disparity. Punjab literacy rate in male was 71% and for females it was 54%. In Sindh literacy rate in male was 72% and female 47%, in KPK male 70% and females 35%, while in Balochistan male 62% and female 23%.

B) Education for All (EFA) Commitment

The EFA goals focus on early childhood care and education including pre-schooling, universal primary education and secondary education to youth, adult literacy with gender parity and quality of education as crosscutting thematic and programme priorities.

EFA Review Report October 2014 outlines that despite repeated policy commitments, primary education in Pakistan is lagging behind in achieving its target of universal primary education. Currently the primary gross enrolment rate stands at 85.9% while Pakistan requires increasing it up to 100% by 2015-16 to fulfil EFA goals. Of the estimated total primary school going 21.4 million children of ages 5-9 years, 68.5% are enrolled in schools, of which 8.2 million or 56% are boys and 6.5 million or 44% are girls. Economic Survey of Pakistan confirms that during the year 2013-14 literacy remained much higher in urban areas than in rural areas and higher among males.

C) Vision 2030

Vision 2030 of Planning Commission of Pakistan looks for an academic environment which promotes the thinking mind. The goal under Vision 2030 is one curriculum and one national examination system under state responsibility. The strategies charted out to achieve the goal included:

(i) Increasing public expenditure on education and skills generation from 2.7% of GDP to 5% by 2010 and 7% by 2015.

(ii) Re-introduce the technical and vocational stream in the last two years of secondary schools.

(iii) Gradually increase vocational and technical education numbers to 25-30% of all secondary enrolment by 2015 and 50 per cent by 2030.

(iv) Enhance the scale and quality of education in general and the scale and quality of scientific/technical education in Pakistan in particular.

Problems: The issues lead to the comprehension of the problems which are faced in the development of education system and promotion of literacy. The study outlines seven major problems such as:

1) Lack of Proper Planning: Pakistan is a signatory to MDGs and EFA goals. However it seems that it will not be able to achieve these international commitments because of financial management issues and constraints to achieve the MDGs and EFA goals.

2) Social constraints: It is important to realize that the problems which hinder the provision of education are not just due to issues of management by government but some of them are deeply rooted in the social and cultural orientation of the people. Overcoming the latter is difficult and would require a change in attitude of the people, until then universal primary education is difficult to achieve.

3) Gender gap: Major factors that hinder enrolment rates of girls include poverty, cultural constraints, illiteracy of parents and parental concerns about safety and mobility of their daughters. Society’s emphasis on girl’s modesty, protection and early marriages may limit family’s willingness to send them to school. Enrolment of rural girls is 45% lower than that of urban girls; while for boys the difference is 10% only, showing that gender gap is an important factor.

4) Cost of education: The economic cost is higher in private schools, but these are located in richer settlements only. The paradox is that private schools are better but not everywhere and government schools ensure equitable access but do not provide quality education.

5) War on Terror: Pakistan’s engagement in war against terrorism also affected the promotion of literacy campaign. The militants targeted schools and students; several educational institutions were blown up, teachers and students were killed in Balochistan, KPK and FATA. This may have to contribute not as much as other factors, but this remains an important factor.

6) Funds for Education: Pakistan spends 2.4% GDP on education. At national level, 89% education expenditure comprises of current expenses such as teachers’ salaries, while only 11% comprises of development expenditure which is not sufficient to raise quality of education.

7) Technical Education: Sufficient attention has not been paid to the technical and vocational education in Pakistan. The number of technical and vocational training institutes is not sufficient and many are deprived of infrastructure, teachers and tools for training. The population of a state is one of the main elements of its national power. It can become an asset once it is skilled. Unskilled population means more jobless people in the country, which affects the national development negatively. Therefore, technical education needs priority handling by the government.

Poverty, law and order situation, natural disasters, budgetary constraints, lack of access, poor quality, equity, and governance have also contributed in less enrolments.

An analysis of the issues and problems suggest that:

The official data shows the allocation of funds for educational projects but there is no mechanism which ensures the proper expenditure of those funds on education.

The existing infrastructure is not being properly utilized in several parts of the country.
There are various challenges that include expertise, institutional and capacity issues, forging national cohesion, uniform standards for textbook development, and quality assurance.
The faculty hiring process is historically known to be politicized. It is because of this that the quality of teaching suffers and even more so when low investments are made in teachers’ training. As a result teachers are not regular and their time at school is not as productive as it would be with a well-trained teacher.
Inside schools there are challenges which include shortage of teachers, teacher absenteeism, missing basic facilities and lack of friendly environment.
Out of school challenges include shortage of schools, distance – especially for females, insecurity, poverty, cultural norms, parents are reluctant or parents lack awareness.

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