Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world -Nelson Mandela
By Pirkash Kumbhani
The word education is derived from the Latin word “Educare” which means “to bring up”. Education is the life long journey, it accompanies with struggles, failures, achievements and successes. Education plays the pivotal role in the development of any society and leadership. There is a close link between the education and development because it develops the people intellectually, morally, ethically, spiritually, psychologically and socially. Moreover, it is the most valuable tool that helps in achieving all of the things mentioned above.
Despite such a great importance of education, nobody has given a serious thought to education sector in Pakistan. According to last census, the population of Pakistan was over 200 million and the country is considered to be on fifth number in the world with large population of youth, as it has about 52 million children aged between 5 to 16 years. But it is irony that Pakistan is also considered having second highest “out of school children” population in the world – The 44 percent of 52 million is out of school.
According to Economic Survey of Pakistan 2018-19, the literacy rate of Pakistan is 60 percent, compared to the other developed and advanced countries, like Russia, Greenland and China having above 90 percent literacy rate.
The statistics proves that our country is among the countries having poor educational system. Because of this Pakistan is facing a number of problems such as, poverty, unemployment, insecurity, terrorism. The list goes on and on.
Motley factors spring out in this sorry state of affairs. To begin with, our country spends around 2 percent of its GDP on education. If we look averagely and compare to other states, Pakistan has the lowest spending on education in the region. According to UNO standards, the government should spend 4 percent of its GDP on education.
Without any doubt, teachers are the backbone of education system but regrettably, UNESCO has reported that the quality of teachers is low in Pakistan. I myself believe that many a teacher cannot produce a single page of creative writing, especially primary school teachers and they even cannot read lessons in English. They are appointed as teachers through the source of MPAs and MNAs quotas system. Their careless behavior towards students induces corporal punishment which is leading cause of high dropout rate, especially at the primary level. Beside this, poverty and child labor are also major reasons of the dropout from schools.
Apart from this, because of different syllabi, different mediums of instruction, outdated syllabus, outdated teaching methodology, lack of teacher training, lack of quality of education, no proper planning and policymaking can be mentioned in the list.
By and large, the vital role of education has been neglected in Pakistan which has led to low development in all fields.
At present Pakistan has no uniform education system. Different systems of education are simultaneously working in the country such as Cambridge education, Pakistan secondary education system and Maderessah education system. The available education system does not offer the needed environment and an equal opportunity in education institutions. This system has created a huge difference among the nation and it will lead to the disparity among elite and marginalized classes, and social schism in society.
Our educational curricula are not updated to compete with the rest of the world in modern education. Being old and traditional, the syllabus doesn’t meet the demands of current challenge times. Because our textbooks emphasize theoretical work rather than practical work and the government is also emphasizing on quantity rather than quality, it may worsen things for the upcoming generation.
To uplift the education system, the government should allocate four percent of its GDP on education and the curriculum should be made originative and it should also be reviewed and revised on a regular basis. Computer education and native language should be incorporated in the curriculum. Most importantly, free and compulsory education should be provided on equal basis up to secondary level and the government should begin to see education as a right, not as a favor. Government should support the intelligent student and also should give more scholarships for the poor one. Besides these, effective education policies, promotion of research culture, abolition of feudalism, eradication of corruption, teacher’s training and an appointment on merit basis will also lead towards the bright future and shall improve the quality of education and the educational system. Let us hope for the best.
[author title=”Pirkash Kumbhani” image=”https://sindhcourier.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Pirkash-Kumbhani-Sindh-Courier.jpg”]Pirkash Kumbhani, hailing from Tharparkar, is final year student at Department of English Language and Literature, University of Sindh Jamshoro. [/author]
