1. Chapter 10
Education in Pakistan
TO EDUCATE OR NOT TO EDUCATE
I have been teaching Pakistan Studies as well at Faculty of Engineering Sciences and
Technology, Hamdard University, since many years. I observed that whenever I would mention the
name of our Nobel laureate, Dr Abdus Salam and would ask students as to the theory on which he got
the Nobel and every semester I received the same wrong answer: on Grand Unification Theory. I was
surprised by the consensus and confidence of all successive student batches carrying the mistaken
notion. I therefore asked a senior student to bring the Physics book produced by Sindh Textbook
Board, which is being taught at our Intermediate level classes. So poor was the quality of paper,
printing and binding that a careless reading about Dr Salam’s Nobel achievement would definitely
reveal that he received the prize on Grand Unification Theory and not on Electroweak Theory. Greater
blame goes to the college teachers who remain unaware of this national pride or are unable to explain
it properly to the students. This is a glimpse of the educational institutions where a great number of
students are enrolled.
It is good that scholars like Rafia Zakaria are keenly interested that children of Pakistan must
not be left uneducated. Thus appeared her article The education emergency in Dawn on 29 Oct 2014
with the concern: “Twenty-five million children of school-going age are not currently enrolled in any
educational institution. This figure was released in a report developed by ALIF AILAAN, an alliance
that proposes to address Pakistan’s education emergency, it signifies, in numerical terms, just how
little the country, its policymakers, its government officials and its people care about the task of
educating the young or believe in the power of learning to deliver Pakistan from its current quagmire
of ignorance.”
2. What are those 25 million children doing then? Are they not tending sheep or growing crops?
Are they not working with elders to learn a craftsmanship or to learn to run one or the other businesses
of their forefathers? Let me tell you frankly, if no books are present in the world and no institutions of
formal education, people will survive somehow but if there is no crop nor food, survival will not be
possible. The question arises, what do they mean by education or what conquests could be made by
equipping oneself with the so indispensable education?
Hopefully, the Matriculates, the Intermediates and the University Graduates are rightful in
calling themselves educated. There is a good bulk of these educated to be found in Pakistan’s custom
houses, income-tax departments, the judiciary, health, education, airlines, etc. None of these houses
and none of these departments is free from high level incompetence, corruption and nepotism. The said
houses and departments have been conquered by the educated of Pakistan, not the uneducated. And I
can bet if each and every child of school-going age is enrolled in the existing educational institutions
of the country even then Pakistan won’t be delivered from the quagmire of ignorance as imagined by
Ms Zakaria. The reason is that many of us are suffering from selective perception about our education,
our population and our religion, while many more are suffering from great confusion about our
country and its future.
Real true education means development of intellect, enlightement, skills and social harmony.
Approximately there are 200 million people living in Pakistan who know their own culture as well as
the cultural diversities within the country. There could be millions of sub-sets of our larger society,
each woven in its own fabric. Their approaches towards our politico-economic system may definitely
be different but their majority’s inbuilt nature of altruism and familism carries the potential to place
the sub-sets onto a larger canvass in the most beautiful manner. For that matter a skillful artist in the
shape of popular leader is required to do the needful. I have observed a fifth of a million people
assembled at one place to attend religious gathering. There were two hundred rows each with one
thousand worshippers standing shoulder-to-shoulder: standing; bowing; and prostrating on the call of
the leader in complete alignment and harmony. The entire nation can thus be blended and molded into
one strong nation provided they are governed by true and sincere leaders, and not stooges.
Modern world with a life full of luxuries is, truly speaking, a zero-sum game. A smaller
segment of human population is enjoying high living standards at the cost of a bigger segment of
3. humans that are the real source of producing those luxuries. There could have been and there should
have been a sense among Pakistanis who deem themselves educated that why the craftsman of Sialkot
who produces surgical scissors at dollar-one-a-pair which is bought by the end-user in Germany for a
price equivalent to eighty dollars while the craftsman earns only a quarter of a dollar on that pair of
scissors. Are the Matriculates, Intermediates or University Graduates of Pakistan aware of shear
injustice with and exploitation of this country’s craftsmen? Who is earning the remaining sixty-plus
dollars if we deduct eighteen dollars as handling charges, cartage, value-added tax, etc? There is a
supply chain handled by organizers of international business – the MNCs. Sometimes the influence of
these MNCs over a country’s economy is stronger than the influence of that country’s own
government. They are earning a minimum of sixty-dollar profit on each pair of surgical scissors, on
which its craftsman, the producer of that pair of scissors, is receiving not even sixty cents. Until and
unless the educated of Pakistan are aware of such unfair practices against our talented people, steps
towards their remedy will remain out of question. Media will have to highlight such problems if they
feel they have to fulfill their true responsibility.
Surgical goods in the world are either handcrafted or machine made. Not many countries are
able to produce handcrafted surgical goods like Pakistan. There could have been renown and fair play
for our craftsmen had the wisest and most educated of Pakistan, especially the civil servants, guided
the government on our craftsman’s rights. The question is: is a craftsman – who has taken education
but not the formal one and produces goods which earn foreign exchange for us – better or the so-called
educated officer spreading corruption and ignorance all across the land?
Zubeida Mustafa, a seasoned journalist writes: “Since 2008 the Annual State of
Education Report (Aser) has emerged as an annual exercise…It is now recognized as a fairly
accurate assessment of the quality of education. Aser tells us that 45 percent of class 5 children could
not read a class 2 story in Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto. In…English, 51pc of class 5 children could not read
sentences of class 2 level. The children’s arithmetic skills are no better. Aser says 50 pc of class 5
children could not do two-digit divisions…What should be the aim of education?...While we focus on
imparting literacy and numeracy…there is need to rethink the content of education.” [Zubeida
Mustafa, ‘Asering’ education, Dawn, 25 Dec 2015]
4. Dr Ishrat Husain, Dean and Director, IBA Karachi, says: “Thousands of unemployable
graduates produced by the universities are either attracted to terrorism, crime or suffer misery and
deprivation…Technical and vocational enrolment is less than 1 pc while the country needs five times
more technicians…” [Ishrat Husain, Dawn, Pakistan’s daunting deficits, 16 Jan 2016]
Dr Adil Najam, former Vice Chancellor LUMS, stated at a seminar in Islamabad on 28 Apr
2016: “I am also worried about the children who are already in schools because they are not getting
quality education. Those who have graduated and even those with post-graduate degrees cannot find
jobs. Skill based education should be encouraged.” [Dawn, If not educated,Pakistani youth
can become a liability, 29 Apr 2016]
However,the National Secretariat of Child Rights Movement stated that over 12.5
million children – half the number declared un-enrolled in educational institutions by Ms Zakaria and
ALIF AILAAN – in Pakistan are involved in child labor. The statement further says that legislation
relating to child employment is still not aligned with Article 25-A of the Constitution which gives each
child a right to education. It may also be noted that all over the world 168 million children of school-
going age are involved in child labor. [Dawn, 13 June 2016]
Nadia Naviwala: former Pakistan desk officer at USAID was also a National
Security aide in the US Senate; and a teacher of foreign policy at National Defense University in
Islamabad. She interviewed dozens of officials and experts involved in the effort to reform education
in Pakistan. The picture that emerged from the said survey, published in Dawn of 4 July 2016, is
presented in the following paragraphs:
Is it more tragic that kids are out of school or that they are in a school and yet
illiterate? Asks Dr Faisal Bari an economist based in Lahore…In another school in Pehlwan, the
teacher has a master’s degree and holds a USAID teachers guide in her hand. Both USAID and
Beaconhouse have trained her to teach literacy. But eight months later her third graders cannot identify
the first letter in ‘Pakistan’ in any language.
5. The problem in Pakistan is not that the country is not spending enough. In fact, it is spending
too much and not getting enough in return. Debate should focus on how the education budget is being
managed rather than chasing abstract international standards. When Sindh recently
digitalized teacher employment records, 3000 teachers were removed from the payrolls. If digitization
is completed, and accountability measures are put in place to address closed schools and ghost
employees, Sindh’s savings in one year could equal what USAID has set aside for Sindh education
over five years.
But if one uses other international standards, Pakistan is at risk of overspending on education.
UNESCO recommends that a government spend 15 to 20 pc of its budgets on education. Provinces in
Pakistan allocated between 20 to 27 pc of their budgets on education in 2015-16, according to ALIF
AILAAN. Pakistan is not only meeting UNESCO recommendation, but exceeding it. Parents privately
spend another $8bn…About half of this goes to private schools and the rest goes to the shadow
sector…such as tuition centers…That doubles national spending to over $15bn.
A great misunderstanding is that the years spent by a child in Madressah classes are not
counted as a proper or standard way of education by many. Generally speaking, most of children who
enter their forefathers’ fields of professional activity, especially in rural and tribal areas, are Madressah
educated. The main teaching over there is that of Quran and Sunnah. What has to be taken care of on
the part of federal and provincial governments is of the teachers who are teaching them at the
Madressah. Whether they are equipping the children with true Quranic wisdom? Are the actions of
these teachers corresponding with their convictions? In fact, the practical demonstration of Quranic
preaching is found in the life of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) also called the Sunnah. Even in the pre-
Islamic days, the Holy Prophet was fondly called Sadiq and Ameen by his people (meaning truthful
and trustworthy). Are all Madressah teachers regarded as truthful and trustworthy by their pupils and
by the society at large? The spirit of tolerance in the Holy Prophet was equally superb. The woman
would throw garbage at him on a daily basis but his tolerance never allowed him to retaliate. However,
the day she abstained due to illness, the Prophet paid a visit to the ailing lady. This act of the Prophet
revolutionized her feeling and she became one of his ardent followers. Can we expect even a much
reduced level of tolerance from present day Madressah teachers? His obligations, his dealings and his
courtesies all were excellent. Following in the footsteps of the Holy Prophet is the bedrock of real
Madressah education. The misconception that 24 million Pakistani children are not going to schools
6. may be corrected in view of the fact that they are receiving education however. If schools are places of
learning, Madaris are also places of learning.
Even in this digitalized world, the importance of books remains high. If the President, the
Prime Minister, the provincial governors and chief ministers shun their royal living and divert the
amount, being wasted on their luxuries, towards the production of quality textbooks much of the
darkness clouding our education system will be wiped out. We have to develop spirited teams of
writers and educationists to produce attractive and illustrated books for school children. When
sufficient funds are accumulated for textbook production thorough and outstanding personnel could be
attracted into a pool of writers and educators to do the needful. The existing textbook boards all across
will automatically be purged of undesirable and incompetent members.
A young lawyer writes: “…seven million Pakistanis are residing in about 140 countries around
the world…This exodus includes the highly skilled stratum of society…governments (on the one)
seemed keener on managing remittances from abroad rather than undertaking some fruitful effort to
secure the return of highly qualified Pakistanis…educated Pakistanis (on the other hand) are riding the
bandwagon of clichéd norms coming up with all sorts of justifications – ‘we do not get the desired
defere-nce’, ‘the government is not doing anything’ …are mere excuses…the educated strata of
society will have to step forward, taking up the responsibility of moving this nation forward, realizing
that their country is in dire need of their talent and expertise.” [Tufail Hussain Malik, Brain drain,
Dawn, 25 Dec 2015]
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