Education of Pakistan analysis, reports, SDG'S and MDG'S

 The education system was envisioned by the founding fathers as the driving force behind all national goals. It was decided in the first national education conference 1974 held at Karachi that the education system would work according to the national aspirations of Pakistan. The education system would be truly related to the needs of the people of Pakistan. The father of the nation Quaid-e- Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah the main goal of the education system of Pakistan was to develop national character of Pakistani generation .This national character would contain high sense of responsibility, social integrity, selfless service to the nation and morality on the part of the people of Pakistan.

Education is an important part of the constitution in Pakistan. In 2010, the Pakistan Assembly overwhelmingly approved the 18th constitutional amendment, which rephrased article 37-B to make it gender-neutral. In the 1973 constitution, "State assumes the responsibility for eradicating illiteracy and providing free and compulsory education up to secondary level, as soon as possible” (Article 37-B, 1973 Cop). According to the constitution of Pakistan in pursuance of the right to education in Article 25-A: “The State shall provide compulsory & free education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such comportment as may be determined by law

The system of education includes all institutions that are involved in delivering formal education (public and private, for-profit and nonprofit, onsite or virtual instruction) and their faculties, students, physical infrastructure, resources and rules. The education system of Pakistan is comprised of 260,903 institutions and is facilitating 41,018,384 students with the help of 1,535,461 teachers. The system includes 180,846 public institutions and 80,057 private institutions. Hence 31% educational institutes are run by private sector while 69% are public institutes.

Education lays the foundation for political, social and economic development of any country. A viable education system enables the nation to achieve its national goals. Pakistan as a developing country has faced critical problems of education since its inception and therefore, the system of education has failed to deliver according to the aspirations of the nation. A review of the education system of Pakistan suggests that there has been little change in Pakistan’s schools since 2010, when the 18th Amendment enshrined education as a fundamental human right in the constitution. Problems of access, quality, infrastructure and inequality of opportunity, remain endemic. The lowest budget has been awarded to the system of education since the establishment of Pakistan which has weakened the foundation of the quality in the education system. The education system, hence, has failed to raise the nation economically, politically and socially. After lapse of half a century years and adoption of more than 25 educational polices, still the education system has badly failed to take the nation out of the increasing economic, political and social quagmire

Education is the road to national development. It creates sense of responsibility among the people. On the basis of education people not only realize their duties but also know how to achieve their national, societal and individual rights. One of the goals of education is to enable the people by enhancing their general consciousness regarding their national and international position as global citizens. This realization creates an atmosphere of trust and cooperation in the society. Education promotes economic development and consequently people become prosperous and play their respective roles in the overall national development. Pakistan has expressed its commitment to promote education and literacy in the country by education policies at domestic level and getting involved into international commitments on education. In this regard national education policies are the visions which suggest strategies to increase literacy rate, capacity building, and enhance facilities in the schools and educational institutes. MDGs SDGS and EFA programs are global commitments of Pakistan for the promotion of literacy.

SDGS MDGS and education of Pakistan 

Pakistan has the second largest population of out of school children in the world this population makes up of 22.8 million children being out if school in Pakistan who are between the age of 5 and 16 this also means that 44 % of the population in this age group is out of schools 

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%.

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%.

For strengthening the role of education, various educational commissions were formed and committees were constituted. But it is ironical to see that the implementation has been very poor, Because of this the quality of education in the country has suffered badly instead of making progress. Another problem which has affected negatively the system is the widening gaps and distance between the educational institutions and community. Parental involvement in the education process is vital for ensuring the quality aspect.

 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% and 7% 

(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 to 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

Pakistan is not the only country which is facing challenges regarding promotion of literacy and meeting EFA and MDGs SDGs 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

Findings 

1. Political unstable circumstances were the main reasons due to educational policies failing. 2. Since independent educational policies were made, they were not fully implemented and failed to achieve objectives. 3. After the distribution of expenditure, it was not adequately compensated to ensure that school programs were not completely enforced. 4. in consideration with Facilities (buildings, furniture, dispensary, sporting facilities, etc.) Teaching, instructional resources. Curriculum exercises. AV supports, etc.) For secondary school education, education has not been spread uniformly throughout the country. 5. Budget allocation for education is not fulfilling the requirements of quality education. 

Recommendations

1. It is recommended that government budget allocation for education should be increased/enhanced. 2. It is recommended that educational institutes are free from political interference. 3. It is recommended that the government should implement the educational policies properly for the effective running of educational institutes. 4. It is recommended to the head of the institute that arrange the in-service training for the teachers. 5. It is recommended to curriculum developers design some social justice concepts in the curriculum of social and Pakistan studies.

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.