Waheed Malik February 19, 1998

Tags: education

href="/tag/policy">policy, teacher training,
private and governmental schools, and students in my discussion. This
article was inspired by readings from Chowk and from authors like
Eqbal Ahmad, Abbas Hussain, Wajeeha Malik, and Sarfaraz Ahmad. I
don't want to take any personal credit for this authorship but am only
interested in drawing some attention from readers who feel we should
spend some time discussing the education system in Pakistan.



The foundation of our educational system was laid by an Englishman named
Lord Thomas Macualay in the 19th century. The idea behind it was not to
produce any leaders of our own native society but to create a hybrid of
sorts, a Brown Sahib for lack of a better word, a class of persons,
Indian in blood and color, but English in taste and opinions, in morals
and intellect, a class who may be interpreters between us and the
millions whom we govern (Minute on Indian Education, Lord Thomas
Macaulay). These words still seem so true and alive in the Pakistan of
1998. It lends more credibility to such a well thought and laid out
framework of an educational system which has and is still breeding
generations of colonial bureaucracy and military officers corps and is
thriving well with all its might. It meets its expectations of long term
planning by rendering us as interpreters between post-colonial South
Asia and the West - an impressive testimonial to the long lasting
impact of a very well thought out educational system.



If we probe our current system of education, we can find fairly quickly
and with ease some of the following observations.

Absence of a conceptual frame work pertaining to our education policy
No clear vision to as what education is really all about and what
are its primary objectives
Completely unmotivated teaching community
Absolutely disorientated student community
Lack of a comprehensive interface between educational institutions and
the real world
Poor quality of teaching and continuing teacher education and training
Emphasis on different levels of education i.e. primary, secondary etc.,
in the scheme of structure
Poor resources, both in terms of public and private investments
Non-existence of some constructive programs for graduates, life
after college and poor job prospects
Presence of nepotism, corruption, lack of merit, and other social
contradictions
Practically powerless University Grants Commission


I can go on but I think these above noted pretty much cover what I intend
to discuss here and I am open to any other suggestions or additions from
all of you.

Conceptual Framework and Education Policy

Education policy in Pakistan seems to be drafted or devised by people who
probably have no idea what the term education policy actually means. It
is a poor and hastily put together vague document by some
bureaucrat who is far away from a school. The idea behind an education
policy is to identify the requirements for current and future
developments, syllabi/curriculum including text material, permeability of
such a system, general frame work of vision for growth and evolution,
open debate carried out in public forums such as colleges and
universities and local assemblies, result oriented objectives,
fundamental concepts for new development both in terms of teaching and
technology in the economic and social environment in general, and most
importantly the involvement of the teaching community. Our education
policy is a badly crafted political instrument which tries to accomplish
a whole lot even in its entire vagueness and inefficiency and still
doesn't even come close to the value of the paper it is written on.


Our system of education fails to address the complex cultural social,
religious, and ethnic background of over 115 million people. A
country which is hanging on its ideology with a very weak link needs to
develop a social class which carries the task of economic well being of
this sick country at the very least. Our governments have repeatedly
shown their incompetence by little or no effort both in terms of thought
and resources when it came to defining, designing, or implementing any
policy regarding education. One can observe this by looking at the
profitability and the efficiency of any government run organization.
It's about time that this task should be handed to those who do it best,
i.e. teachers.


The government should invite teachers and students to come together from
different regions and levels of educational systems and backgrounds to
open dialogue on this problem. Experienced educators form various public
and private schools could be invited as a start. This will help assess
the situation at the current level and would form the basis of some
future path. Also, organizations and entities which have been in
the education business for a while even with the sole intent of
turning a profit should be invited to such a forum. These private
individuals, entities, and organizations have proven their management
skills over and over again, in fact it's their schools which earn a
profit and have a higher rate of enrollment than their counterparts in
the government run shams. This should accomplish the most important goal
at the very least, it will bring the educator, investor, and government
at the same table at the same time.


A concise plan can be accomplished between the private sector and the
government while giving most incentives to the educator, because any
policy or a plan which does not have the educator at its core will be
useless. Such a forum needs to be created fairly quickly because we are
far away from that road to bliss. The government should strike some deal
with the private investor of a reasonable profit margin and then work the
governmental end by providing subsidized land for education purposes,
hardware, tax incentive, some minor checks, and
above all some autonomy for the private sector to operate with its full
functionality and freedom in the management of such institutions.