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Any nation can prosper with bright minds steering it in the right direction. However, in Pakistan, while there may be many bright minds, they are not directed rightly so as to raise it economically and financially. Even after 70 years of its existence, the debate on the quality of education is a much-praised topic and will seem to remain so for a couple more years or longer, if not tackled right now.
Pakistan allocates 2.2 percent of GDP as public expenditure on education which is one of the lowest in the region. The statistics of out of School children are quite alarming with almost 25 million children not attending school between the ages of 5-16. More than half of the out of school children are girls and mostly their parents do not allow them to study, whereas, for boys, they are not willing to go to school. This is the crucial age in a child’s life when they are developing and the most important for capacity building.
Considering these statistics, it almost seems that we ourselves are mocking our education system. What is more interesting is the fact that we have but not one factor to boost about in our education system. There are 47 million students facilitated through only 303, 446 institutions and 1.7 million teachers, together they seem to fail our students.
The purpose of education is not just to impart knowledge and memorization which is the more popular method followed in our matric and inter examinations, but the practical impaction of concepts that help solve real time problems. In a nation where students are forced to remember facts and dates, where science experiments are mostly about just learning the practice without understanding the reasoning behind it and memorizing the different theories and theorems, how does one expect that students would develop an interest in education?
Education is also but a means to groom a child’s personality and to allow them to think and ponder for themselves, which would enable them to take calculative and informed decisions in their lifetime.
From proper infrastructure to a more developed curriculum, schooling seems to have failed the children of the nation. We as a nation look down upon the teaching profession, however, if you come to think of it, it is in the hands of teachers that the future of your children lays. It would suffice to say that we are failing our students on this front as well because very little is being done to acknowledge, train and groom those in the teaching profession. In government schools, teachers are very low paid. How then can you expect that the standard of teaching in government schools would even come close to that of private schools?
Today, if we talk about private schools, they seem to have become a money making machine where the number of children seems to matter more than the quality of education imparted. The same case would be of universities that are passing out students in hundreds each year who are completing their graduate degrees or their masters. Is our economy really ready to absorb all these graduating students every year? Aren’t we failing our students who come out of prestigious universities only to find out that their knowledge is outdated and their skill set is no longer required in the workforce?
According to recent studies, tech and robotics are soon going to replace mundane, machine and computer oriented jobs. Are our institutions really preparing students to fulfill the job needs of the future or are we still teaching them methods of last century just so that they can memorize and move on and be able to say that they at least have a degree?
From the level below to the top, the education system in Pakistan needs a revamp. There is a dire need to install logical, analytical and critical thinking skills in students keeping in mind the demand of the changing nature of jobs. If schools realize their importance and the importance of quality education we can sure produce leaders of the future who will be ready to fight on every front for their self, their home, and their country.
