Topic: The current education system in Pakistan does not lead to learning.

Outline

Introduction: Pakistan’s education system is severely curtailed by a plethora of factors, such

as lack of access, discouragement of proactive research, commercialization, parallel systems
of education etc., all of which amalgamate to create a system that is not conducive towards
learning.

Current Structure of Pakistan’s Education System:

· Lack of funds
· Corruption and vested interests of the ruling elites
· Polarized systems of education catering to variegated socio-economic classes
· Urban-rural divide
· Mushrooming of low-cost private schools

Pakistan’s Education System; Lacking in Learning?

· Parallel systems of education

· Madrassahs; a continuing imprint of colonialism
· Decaying, outdated curriculum
· Lack of access to education
· Stifling of original thought and lack of research-oriented culture
· Patriarchal, feudalistic culture
· Commercialization of the education sector

Improving the Education System – Ways Forward:

· Take all stakeholders on board

· Efficient budget utilization and allocation
· Harnessing the power of technology
· Incorporate global best practices in education sector
· Bring madrassahs under the umbrella of public sector
·Regular review and revision of curricula
·Discouragement of rote learning

Conclusion

A sound education can be likened to a solid foundation of a building; both permeate through
all crevices of the structure and provide the strength, resilience and support needed to
withstand both external and internal pressures. In Pakistan, the fabric of the education system
stands torn and muddied; strewn across from one end to another, the fabric gets flung
carelessly wherever the wind blows. Stakeholders from both the private and public sector;
academics, NGOs, think tanks, bureaucrats, politicians, students, businessmen – all have tried
to chip in their two cents on how to stitch back this fabric. In order to delineate upon why the
current education system in Pakistan does not lead to learning, it is imperative to expound
upon the underlying reasons behind the stagnation of the system. Different systems of
education cater to different socio-economic classes, thereby creating binaries within the
populace. These fissures are deep-rooted and exist due to a plethora of cultural, religious,
social and patriarchal reasons. Resultantly, the system as it stands today is one that is marred
by outdated curriculum, difficulties in accessing education, lack of innovation, stifling of
original thought, silencing of dissent, discouragement of proactive research, limited market
opportunities, financial constraints, vested interests of the feudal elite, primary and secondary
socialization, corruption, commercialization of education etc. Therefore, the education
system in Pakistan is currently decaying from within and needs to be overhauled through
various measures undertaken in a sustainable manner, whilst taking all stakeholders on board.

It is imperative to expound upon what the current structure of education in Pakistan looks
like, in order to ascertain why it is not conducive towards learning. The public education
system faces a significant paucity of funds and resources. Only 3% of the country’s budget is
spent on education, of which funds allocated to public schools are pilfered across each level
as they trickle down to the actual schools (Human Development Index 2019). Approximately
90% of the budget allocated for public schools is spent on paying the salaries of teachers and
school staff; the reason behind that chronic teacher absenteeism and lacklustre performance
was thought to be fixed by increasing salaries. As a result, only 10% or so of the education
budget for public schools is actually meted out for the development of the schools. The
urban-rural divide between public and private schools can be ascertained by gauging literacy
rates; Islamabad stands at 85%, whereas the Torghar District stands at 23%. The reason
behind this is that posh, private schools provide teaching, curriculum and environments that
are conducive to learning thereby having a tangible impact on the significantly high literacy
rate (Ahmed et al., 2013). Cities all over Pakistan have higher literacy rates and score higher
on the Human Development Index primarily because of good quality private schools (Human
Development Index, 2019). With one of the lowest literacy rates amongst all countries in the
world, and approximately 23 million children out of school (second largest out of school
children in the world), it is easy to correlate the link between poor quality of education and
lack of learning. Therefore, Pakistan’s current system of education stands at the precipice of
disaster and is not churning out students who engage in a meaningful learning environment.

Firstly, three parallel systems of education exist within the confines of Pakistan; public,
private and the madrassah system, and this lack of uniformity in impartment of education is
one of the reasons behind the abysmal state of the education system. All three systems cater
to a different set of students, depending upon two main factors; socio-economic background
and cultural values. Scores of students within rural areas particularly tend to gravitate towards
the madrassah system of education because it tends to be extremely low cost, often times free
(Ahmed et al., 2013). Even though the advent of modernity and westernization has cascaded
upon Pakistan with a vengeance, the microcosmic pockets of culture that many brew within,
especially in rural areas, tend to encourage enrolment in the madrassah system. The system
provides social protection, employment guarantee in the system or mosque after graduation,
adherence to traditional values and social mores, inculcation of religious education and so
forth. It is a system older than Pakistan itself, and many choose not to question its merits. The
public education system consists mainly of government-run schools that face a severe
shortage of resources and faculty, are poorly monitored and prone to corruption by those
occupying the upper echelons in the governmental ladder. The buildings are decaying, the
boards are rusting, the teachers are napping and the children are suffering; such is the state of
affairs within most public schools. Within the private sector, there tends to be a bifurcation
between low-cost private schools and more expensive schools. Recently, Pakistan has seen a
sharp rise in the mushrooming of low-cost private schools with poor quality of education
being imparted. Higher-cost private schools tend to remain outside the reach of almost 98%
of the country and impart a British curriculum of O and A Levels (Fair 2008). Therefore,
these different systems of education are continuing to cement stark differences within
learning outcomes of children, depending on who they are catering to.

Secondly, the aforementioned systems of education, particularly the madrassah system, are
part and parcel of Pakistan’s inheritance, and have blossomed in the recent years due to a
multitude of reasons. Religion continues to play a significant role in the sustenance of the
madrassah system, whereby enrolling children in public or private schools is seen as akin to
blasphemy. The madrassah system discourages questioning teachings, using creative thought,
indoctrinates students into blind obedience, often employs corporal or psychological
punishment and consists of an outdated system which renders its students unfit for
employment in the job market (Ahmed et al., 2013). These systems exist because they attract
large funding from religious outfits, scholars, religiously inclined political parties, politicians
looking for patronage etc. Militant outfits also encourage the maintenance of the madrassah
system because they provide them with a steady stream of fighters. Another reason for the
existence of these different systems is the perpetuation of the class divide in Pakistan. The
elite have no qualms paying exorbitant amounts of fees to give their children foreign degrees
whilst sitting in their posh neighbourhoods. The simple logic of supply and demand ensures
that these schools continue to charge increasing amounts of fees, citing administrative costs,
because they know that there will always be a steady stream of students willing to pay. The
middle-class resorts to enrolling their children either in public schools or low-cost private
schools, due to access, means of available transport and school fees (Ahmed et al., 2013).
Therefore, the different systems of education exist in Pakistan due to a multitude of reasons
that primarily amalgamate to cater to the different socio-economic classes in the country.

Thirdly, the lack of updated, relevant and progressive curricula being used in majority of
public and low-cost private schools, as well as the madrassahs is one of the most significant
reasons behind the current system of education in Pakistan. Majority of madrassah in
Pakistan continue the practice inherited from the times of the Mughal era, whereby dogmatic,
militant, jihadi and largely patriarchal ideology is spewed to the younger generation (Fair
2008). They are taught to view only one particular sect of Islam as the rightful one, engage in
jihad against the loosely interpreted concept of the ‘enemy’ of Islam, and view themselves as
the property owners of the female who are dependent on them. These children result in
viewing the society in terms of binaries; us versus them, and are intolerant towards the views
of others, and view science, the English language, social sciences etc. as products of the West
and imprints of colonialism. In public schools, regular review and updating of curriculums is
not done on a regular basis, is largely arbitrary and sometimes is done on paper but not
implemented (Ahmed et al. 2013). Ladybird books depicting Peter playing outside and Jane
playing with her dolls inside the house continue to be taught to younger children, which
perpetuates gender role socialization in them. Despite being banned in the UK, such books
feed into a patriarchal mindset that views the rightful place of women within the four walls of
their homes. Such insular ideas of pedagogy along with prejudiced perspectives ensconced
within textbooks leads to children who do not socialize effectively and maintains fissures in
society. Therefore, outdated and dogmatic curricula are one of the reasons why the current
system of education in Pakistan is not leading towards learning.

Fourthly, another reason why schools do not lead to learning is the lack of access to
education continues to plague scores of children across Pakistan, particularly those living in
rural areas. Despite Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan stipulating that access to
education is a constitutional right of every child aged between five and sixteen, actually
ensuring that these children enrol and regularly attend schools is a deep-seated issue in the
country. A myriad of reasons exists as to why children have difficulty accessing education;
extensive physical distance between residential localities and the school, lack of public
transport especially that which is safe for girls to travel on, ‘ghost’ schools which only exist
on paper, lack of proper infrastructure within schools such as chairs, boards, desks, running
water, bathrooms, ‘ghost’ teachers who continue to collect salaries but do not show up to
teach. Other reasons include increasing cost of school uniforms and text books, abuse of
power and blatant bullying by those who are in positions of authority or the fact that they turn
a blind eye to such behaviour, cost of transport and stationery which can add up when a
family has to send multiple children to school, corporal punishment etc. With multiple
children and added costs, it comes as no surprise then those parents prefer to opt to send their
male children to school., It comes as no surprise then that Pakistan has a population
comprising of the second largest amount that is out of school (Fair 2008). Therefore, lack of
access to education is one of the reasons that the current education system of Pakistan does
not lead to learning.

Fifthly, within schools, the culture that tends to exist, especially within public schools and
madrassahs, is one that does not encourage innovation, research, original thought and largely
tramples upon dissent and critique and does not assess a child’s performance adequately.
Within madrassahs especially, studies have shown that children are spoon fed dogmatic,
bigoted teachings which instil hate in them for members of different religion sects, ethnicities
or cultures and make them into intolerant adults. The education that is imparted is one that
discourages students from questioning or critiquing the teachers or what is being taught,
encourages rote learning and scoring high on exams rather than actually learning things, and
does not provide opportunity for students to undertake original research. Students are not
given the opportunity to write research papers, conduct scientific experiments, field
observations etc. in order to engage in primary research so that they have the ability to
critically analyse the world around them, and implement what they learn in books onto the
real world. This is a trend that researchers have observed in most schools in Pakistan, where
scoring high in terms of grades and numbers is prioritized over actually ascertaining whether
the child has gained useful knowledge or not. The means of assessing a child’s performance
is severely lacking in most schools within the public and low-cost private sector, where many
inefficient teachers tend to grade in an arbitrary or biased fashion, and the tools of assessment
themselves do not adequately ascertain a child’s learning. Researchers have found that 45%
of fifth-grade school children in Pakistan cannot read English sentences and 41% cannot read
a story in Urdu (Fayyaz et al. 2014). Therefore, the current system of education in Pakistan
does not encourage learning due to lack of research opportunities, innovation, stifling of
dissent and inadequate assessment mechanisms.

Sixthly, another reason why schools in Pakistan do not lead to learning is due to the prevalent
patriarchal, feudalistic culture that exists. The sociologist Emile Durkheim, who hailed from
the functionalist school of thought, posited that people undergo primary socialization in their
homes and secondary socialization outside of their homes, whereby the social mores, norms
and values of their prevalent culture are instilled into them. Within Pakistan, such
socialization leads parents, especially those hailing from rural areas or lacking in literacy, to
prioritize the education of their male children over female (Lyon, Edgar and Khan 2010).
Within schools, studies have shown teachers to adopt a similar attitude, whereby male
students are given higher grades and praise, whereas female students are made to feel that
their rightful place is in their homes as dutiful wives and daughters (Fayyaz et al. 2014). This
discourages girls from engaging in meaningful learning and causes the education system to
institutionalize patriarchy. The feudal elites themselves do not prioritize the development of
public schools or madrassahs in their localities, because an illiterate populace serves their
vested interests and makes them into a docile, subservient constituency (Fayyaz et al. 2014).
Therefore, patriarchal attitudes and the feudal elite are two reasons why the current education
system in Pakistan does not lead to learning.

Seventhly, the mushrooming and commercialization of the education sector in Pakistan is

corroding the very foundation upon which this system stands and is one of the biggest factors
behind declining learning outcomes amongst schoolchildren. Within nearly 70,000 low-cost
private schools sprouting across the country, Pakistan has witnessed a large influx of these
schools due to franchising of schools and viewing them as nothing more than businesses
(Haider and Shaheen 2015). The aim of these schools is to increase the number of students
enrolled in order to earn maximum profits. Teachers are hired without proper vetting,
classrooms are overcrowded, children do not receive individual attention, assessment of
children’s schoolwork is not done fairly or adequately and a grades-oriented rather than
learning-oriented approach is adopted. The unique selling point of these schools is that their
fees are comparatively lower than those of other private schools, but they cash in on their
profits by admitting large scores of students (Haider and Shaheen 2015). Therefore, the rapid
commercialization of Pakistan’s education sector, with its emphasis is on quantity over
quality of students produced, is one of the reasons why the sector does not lead to learning.

It is imperative to take all stakeholders on board and carve out strategies and engage in
proactive remedial measures in order to stitch back the fabric that is Pakistan’s education
sector. All hope is not lost and much can be done to improve the situation so that it leads to
meaningful learning for students. Firstly, it is critical that the government remain cognizant
of its duty under Article 25-A of the constitution and make education the top-most priority of
public policy. A higher amount of budget needs to be allocated for the education sector, and
better monitoring needs to be conducted on how the money is spent on the sector. Stronger
checks and balances need to be implemented in order to weed out ghost schools and teachers
and reduce the menace of corruption. Secondly, technology needs to be harnessed by way of
introducing biometric attendance systems for teachers. Thirdly, best practices from countries
that have managed to overhaul their education system, particularly in Africa, need to be
adopted with the help of NGOs, academics and the private sector. Fourthly, whilst Pakistan
has engaged in various commendable educational reforms in the past, many have failed due
to their contradictory nature. It is imperative to ensure harmony in the various reforms being
introduced so that they do not end up contradicting each other. Piloting reforms prior to
rolling them out on a larger scale is one mechanism that can be introduced. Fifthly, the
madrassah system needs to be brought under the umbrella of public education so that the
curriculum can be modernized and the children can be taught knowledge which is necessary
for today’s world and job market. Regular reviews of curricula all over the country need to be
undertaken to ensure that they are leading to meaningful learning for students. Rote learning
needs to be discouraged and a culture that encourages primary research, dissent and critique
needs to be harnessed. Therefore, a number of remedial measures need to be taken
immediately by all relevant stakeholders in order to ensure that the current system of
education in Pakistan leads to higher learning outcomes.

In conclusion, the current system of education in Pakistan is decaying from within due to a
number of reasons, all of which amalgamate to create a system that is not conducive towards
learning. An outdated curriculum, bigoted and dogmatic teachings being taught especially in
madrassahs, financial constraints, commercialization and mushrooming of schools especially
low-cost private schools, gender role socialization, vested interests of the feudal elites, lack of
access to education, infrastructural issues, ghost teachers and schools etc. are some of the
reasons why the current system exists the way that it does. Though a number of
commendable reforms have taken place within the education system, much more remains to
be done in order to ensure that the children actually engage in meaningful learning. Remedial
measures need to be undertaken whilst taking all stakeholders onboard and should not
contradict each other. Curricula should be updated, the power of technology should be
harnessed, best practices from different countries should be adopted, rote learning should be
discouraged, tools of assessment should be improved, a culture of research and dissent should
be encouraged etc. A sound education system that encourages learning holds the power to
metamorphose an entire nation into productive, proactive citizens and catapult the next
generation into creating a better Pakistan.