Education in Pakistan: Issues and Challenges
Education plays a key role in the development of society. The purpose of educational institutions is to develop the public physically, mentally, psychologically, socially, and spiritually. It changes the economic, social-political, and cultural life of a nation. However, in Pakistan, the education system has been facing certain issues due to which education shows negative results on the indicator. These issues are lack of education budget, the different medium of instruction, different syllabi, outdated syllabus, lack of teacher training, outdated teaching methods, lack of quality education, failed education policy, corruption, and violation of meritocracy, other social problems.
The share of education expenditure in the national budget is not a priority of our government. The share is increased in many countries but it has been declining in our country. We spend less than two percent of our GDP on education which should be at least 4 percent of the GDP. Unfortunately, the share allocated for the development of education, most of the time remains underutilized. The major reason for this underutilization is red-tapism’s lack of release of funds and complex financial allocation.
Further, there is no single medium of instruction in educational institutions, especially at the lower level. Some intuitions teach the entire course in English and other teachers the students in Urdu. Some institutions teach in native languages. That is why our education system does not provide the environment and equal opportunities of one and equal education system. We have a very divisive education system which has created a huge gap among the nation and penetrated deeply into our culture. Thus different mindsets have been created in our education system over a period of 70 years.
Our education system contains different syllabi. There is a foreign education system with an English medium that is exclusively for the rich of the country. So the students from the elite class follow the “O” and “A” levels curriculum instead of Pakistan’s domestic, the poor quality curriculum. Due to this reason, such students get better opportunities than other students. They get admission to the top ranking and prestigious institutions in Pakistan and abroad. Later, while seeking jobs such candidates get higher jobs easily while the poor students remain outside in such a competition, and this cycle repeats. The poor become clerks, cashiers, salespersons in shops, workers in the factory or any other work which comes their way.
Lack of teachers’ training to keep them updated on the modern challenges and issues is another problem in our education system. Learning by memorization is a common practice both because of the educational tradition and of teaching material. Teachers rely on such methods or lecture methods. Another chronic problem is that the number of students is increasing per teacher in an institution and there is a huge gap between teachers and students ratio. In most of the government institutions, the courses taught are outdated. They do not provide the latest information about modern science, modern social problems, information technology, new discoveries, and many other arising issues. We can improve this situation by providing adequate training to the teachers to keep them up-to-date with the modern way of methods and new ways of knowing.
Moreover, there is not a single system of education that results in social division and conflict. For example, we have English medium institutions, Urdu medium institutions, and religious madrasas. Therefore, there is no uniform education system which is the need of the hour to end the division and conflict in society. There should be modern education especially computer education in Madrassas and religious education in the educational institution to keep them balanced.
Finally, corruption has rotten the education system like the system in our country. There is an embezzlement of educational funds at different levels. The allocated funds do not reach fully to the deserved places. People are entering illegally into the education system. There is no meritocracy as teachers are hired through bribery and corruption which hampered the development further. There is a lot of political interference in the appointments and transfer of teachers which is a violation of merit. Pakistan has not developed basic administration and infrastructure for effective planning.
In conclusion, the above-mentioned problems can be solved by increasing the budget, adopting a uniform education system, updated and research-based knowledge, teachers training, effective educational policies, eradicating corruption, and reforming the examination system.