Critical Analysis of Education Infrastructure of Pakistan For a State, which dreams of itself being termed as a welfare one for

its citizens, toping the list of its several priorities should be education inasmuch as nothing poses a bigger threat to a state than the ignorance of its members. Case for Pakistan is the other way round. Said that, the states pocket runs short of cash and it focuses on matters that those eating the bigger slices of the cake in policy making speciously believe to be more important ones for national security. To add further, Education in Pakistan has been infected parasitically by the low levels of budgetary allocation on the part of authorities, and the utter lack of political will on the part of political parties and the commitment on the part of those who execute policies. Orthodox cultural mentality, stigmas attached with womens education, socio-economic problems, language conundrum, poor exploiting curriculum and the lack of infrastructure, research facilities and proper planning are some other straws that have broken the camels back. Therapy for such parasitic diseases requires that the management of education, its content and its execution should be the domain of the technically trained experts, particularly educationists. Equally important would be the citizens participation in treating the malady as education is the cause of concern for every one. Besides increased budgetary allocation in education sector, its smarter spending on the part of government would also help ensure a speedy cure. Said that, a system for improved financial planning which identifies and prioritizes projects for funding should be implanted. Maladies Enrolment d and Retention: Article 25-A of constitution Achieving the MDG target of ensuring the availability of primary education to every child irrespective of sex by 2015 appears a hard nut to crack for Pakistan. Education emergency declared by government in 2011 stated that 25 million children remain out of school. Though the public awareness programs conducted by various such forums as media, NGOs and the government itself have flown high in increasing the enrollment rate, only a smaller portion complete the primary schooling making the authorities scratch their heads on the retention of those once enrolled. Quality of Education: Just would it be to use the terms shocking and unfortunate for the state of education in the country as it has so far been incapable to equip the students with levels of learning that would enable them to compete in international or even local labor markets. Even though the private sector institutions in the country certainly provide high quality education that produces world

class professionals who can compete with the products of the best universities the world over, only a small minority has right and hence access to this education (Fingers crossed). The majority has to make do with the mediocre education that leaves them incapable of reaching academic level it is expected to. This has a grave dimension. Said that, ignoring the quality in education and the propagation of socio-economic divide would be no less than showing a red rag to the bull of grave social changes, many have manifested themselves in the form of radicalizations and increased violence. Exploiting Curriculum: The education system in countries ranging from America to Europe to East Asia has been used as a tool for national integration and building a sense of citizenship and civic responsibility. However, Pakistan has failed to deliver on this account either. Pakistan education system and curricula were specifically crafted to promote the sense of unity and nationhood coined from the common Muslim Identity. Ironically, while doing it so through an imposed and figurative sense of religious unity, the syllabi in Pakistan has ignored and failed to celebrate the religious and ethnic differences in the country. This short sighted policy has resulted in a deeply divided state rather than a united one. Sectarian and ethnic tensions are on the rise and often resulted in violent clashes. The biased syllabi have conversely resulted in marginalization of religious minorities and sects and hence the sense of alienation in them. However, marginalization and alienation are not merely what the production of this sort of curricula; it has also given birth to ethno-religious divide by the insinuation of intolerance towards the minority religions and sects, and disrespect towards religious diversity. Said that in another way, such a syllabi has led the country to an ever increasing polarization of Pakistani society making it more susceptible to violent conflict. The Loosening Gap between Academy and Economy: It is an established fact that academy can not exist in isolation from the broader political and economic context in the nation. Said that, article 25-A of the constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan makes it incumbent upon the state to provide education to every child under the age of 16; the provision of employment, however, is not the explicit duty of the state. With the major portion of youth graduating from universities and entering into the labor market which offers limited employment opportunities to only a fistful of youth, Pakistan is likely to confront the greatest challenge; providing suitable employment to the youth in sync with their education and preventing them to resort t violence or extremism in pursuit of their goals. Infrastructure and the State of Education in Public Sector Institutions: Public sector institutions present a gloomy picture in providing the quality education to the major portion of the population. The poor infrastructure, high teacher to student ratios, lack of highly qualified faculty and the high level of teacher absenteeism have the made these schools

unattractive for discerning and well-to-do parents to send their children to private institutions which provide an environment conducive for learning. Eighteenth Amendment: 18th amendment in the constitution of Pakistan devolves the Education portfolio to provinces from the centre. What worries the experts in this matter is that the provinces may run short of capabilities to administrate the system of education in their capacities and that all the provinces will have different and unequal level of resources at their disposal for the management of education sector which may result into different sort of and unequal provision of education in all the federating units of the country creating provincial divide in this sector as well. The Administration of Education: Administration of education by the bureaucratic setup other than the educationists is no less than a stupefying fact. It is what happens in Pakistan, and has built up strong barricades for the progress of education. The Language Conundrum: Considered as a major fence in the countrys dream of quality education, English and/or Urdu as the mediums of instruction in education have gravely blocked the capacity of education in Pakistan to produce high class professionals. It is unfortunate that most students do not develop the basic concepts of their subjects of specialization even after their masters because they are taught the compulsory subjects not in the languages that they speak at home or converse in (mother tongues), but in the languages that they barely understand or speak (English and Urdu). When a student is taught the language or in the language which is not commonly spoken in his society or home, he will rapidly lose the ability to use his mother language in its pure form -even in the home or social context. Consequently, he will use different-languages mixture of his mother tongue in his social interactions. In my case, for instance, I speak Urdu and English mixture of my mother tongue Pushto during conversations because both Urdu and English were thrust upon me as mediums of instruction in my schooling. Lack of Research: The economists would certainly contend that the countrys cultural, socio-economic, agricultural, industrial and geopolitical prosperity is inherent in the type, quantity and quality of research being executed in that county and the amount of budget being allocated in the research projects. The case for Pakistan, however, presents a gloomy picture in terms of research conducted in the universities of the country. That is, the natural sciences laboratories are inadequately equipped with the instrumentation required for the conduction of quality research. However; if available, the research students and/or technical staff in the laboratories are insufficiently trained for the use of such technical instrumentations. Furthermore, lesser (inherent) tendency of the students in

Pakistan to execute research in social sciences, history and literature has further held the country in a weak position in terms of political, sociological, economic and cultural progress. Adding another layer to the already complicating situation is that a very minute portion of the students graduating from the universities every year opt for research as their professional career inasmuch as the financial constraints in the time of research conduction and the lack of scholarships make research very unattractive for the graduating students. Lack of university-industry partnership; absence of research institutes in the rural, suburban and underdeveloped regions of the country (with particular reference to the whole of Balochistan, interior Sindh, South Punjab, the whole of Gilgit Baltistan and Fata); and interest on the part of authorities in terms of investment in the research and establishment of research institutes are some other straws that have broken the camels back. All such factors have conversely unified in constructing an impregnable wall for the countrys progress in terms of prosperity. Polarity in Education: Another hallmark of Pakistans education system is that three parallel education systems, Public and non-elite private schools; elite-private schools and the religious seminaries or madrasahs, operate simultaneously in the country. These systems are broadly stratified along three different dimensions: socio-economic, qualitative and ideological. Major portion of madrasah students, if not all, hails from socio-economically poor background. In terms of quality, they fly high in producing the cadre suitable only to clerical jobs. Ideologically, they produce graduates with narrow-minded biases. The students of public sector and non-elite private sector institutions represent the lower middle and middle classes. Such students also run short of the capacity to compete in labor market as a result of distorted and biased education system and curricula. In terms of ideology, they are more than the students from madrasahs. Though representing only a minority elite portion of the population, it is only the elite-private schools that produce high class professionals capable enough to compete in the international labor market. Such parallel lines have done more harm than good to the country in that the students in these lines hardly ever engage in intellectual activities with one another resulting in the decreased exchange of ideas and knowledge. Remedies: The critical analysts of the education systems will, for sure, pen down agreeing notes on the following prescription manual for the remedies of the education system:

Pakistan not only needs to increase the budgetary allocation for education, but it also has to fabricate a priority order for the projects, with topping the list the more important ones and at the bottom the trivial ones. A massive-level public awareness program should be launched with the aim of directing the cultural and social attitude of the masses towards the enrollment of their children, if not already enrolled, and then their retention in education by acquainting them (the masses) of the socioeconomic and mobility benefits inherent in the acquiring of education. Equally important would be the formulation of a viable education policy on the part of legislators and educationists, in particular, which may lead towards improving the standard of education in the country so as to produce the competent individuals on par with the demand of international and national market. Furthermore, an ever-widening gap between the public and private, or to be more specific and precise, the elite and non-elite educational institutes needs to be squeezed by such efforts as wellthought out legislative measures, merit appointment of teachers and the erecting of proper infrastructure in public-sector institutions, identifying the ghost schools and making them operate etc. Equally important for improving the health of education sector in Pakistan is the regulation of private sector whose unregulated mushroom growth with no quality control could lead to a disaster of educational quality in future. Besides, reform measures need to be introduced, making it incumbent upon the ulemas at the helm of affairs of madrasahs to ensure the teaching of mathematics, computer and social and natural sciences in madrasahs. Such measures would surely produce individuals well-aware of the modern economy, socio-economic and political changes in the national and international arena and, hence, competent enough to get into the international market. Though one such effort had been taken in 2001by the establishment of Pakistan Madrasah Education Board with a view to developing the reformed curricula, there was a strong backlash from the ulema curtailing this effort. In addition, the existing exploiting syllabi and textbooks need extensive revamping for the reason that they so far have exacerbated the religious and ethnic divide instead of bridging. Moreover, as the academy and economy can not exist in isolation with each other, serious efforts need to be geared towards bringing an end to the disconnection between educational achievement and employment. Post 18th amendment scenario requires that inter-provincial coordination needs to be setup and maintained to allow exchange of information and ideas across the provinces. Likewise, the scope of work of the centre and the provinces has to be clearly defined.

Bolts and nuts of the education system, which are entirely technical and specialized subjects, should be handed over to educationists. Only the educationist should have the right over bigger slice of the cake of the ministry of education. Laboratories in the universities should be fully equipped, more funds should be allocated in research, lucrative scholarship opportunities and allowances should be provided to the research students and/or they should be provided with BPS 16 or 17 so as to make the research a magnetic and viable option for career. Above all, education up till primary level should be conducted in the respective mother languages of the respective regions. Or to be more specific, such subjects as Science, Mathematics, Social Studies and Islamiat should be in the respective mother languages. English and Urdu should be taught as second(ary) languages.