Gulsher Ali
Education is a key driver of a nation’s progress and prosperity; without it, the nation remains stagnant in the dynamic nature of the world. It offers a tool to uplift individuals out of poverty, empowers the population with technical and vocational skills, addresses the deep-rooted inequalities, fosters economic growth, cultivates the culture of peace and tolerance in the society, and compels superstitions, ignorance and extremism. In essence, the world has come from Stone Age to Metamodernism through education, co-operation and shared experiences. However, the state of education in Pakistan is still dim due to various factors such as overemphasis on quantity over quality, political interference, lack of budget, parallel education systems, outdated syllabus and fractured infrastructure.
The most pertinent failure of state of Pakistan in education is its overemphasis on quantity over quality. The state has established long and beautiful buildings and has increased the number of universities, programs, courses and degrees, while it lacks interest in the quality of education. Quality, here, means that the skills which are acquired through education must align with modern needs. Moreover, HEC provides greater funds to those who produce a significant numbers of academic research papers, journals and articles, often overlooking their quality.According to educational experts, these researches have negligible impact on the society, technology and economy of Pakistan. Thus, the state must rethink its policy of numbers and divert its focus to the quality of education.
Secondly, political interference directly impacts the state of education in Pakistan. These are the politicians who make educational policies. For example, the syllabus of history, social sciences and humanities is designed in a way to promote the state’s narrative and fabricates the truth. Moreover, the administrative structure of education is completely centralizedand intentionally influenced by the government officials. For example, the position of vice chancellor, rector or adminofmany educational institutions isdeliberately influenced by higher authorities. Subsequently, an incapable person holds higher position, which results insignificant consequences. Also, different governments introduce different educational policies and neglect the previous ones which significantly impacts education system.
Thirdly, there are three educational systems running in Pakistan simultaneously: Government, private and madrassah education systems. These operate differently, therefore, have different repercussions. Article 25 (A)of the constitution holds the state responsible for ensuring education to all school-aged children, but it seems that it has been overlooked. Moreover, they have different mediums of instruction such as government in Urdu-medium, private in English-medium and madrassah in “religious-medium”; therefore, it creates social divisions in terms of knowledge, thoughts and skills. However, it is also considered as a major factor behind intolerance, extremism, incompetence, and lack of technical and vocational skills in the Pakistani society. As Tariq Banuri, a renowned educationist, notes that these parallel systems erode state’s legitimacy and maintain status quo instead of promoting quality education.
Fourthly, developed nations spend significant amount of their budget in their education; however, Pakistan spends only 0.8 percent of theGDPon education according to Economic Survey of Pakistan 2024-2025—which is less than the international recommendation of 4-6% of its GDP.It highlights the priority of the state. This is a very low percentage spent on education in terms of population of Pakistan which is gradually increasing day by day. Even within this percent, a significant portion becomes the mouth piece of corruption and mismanagement while the remainder does not meet educational needs. In essence, the state needs to change its priority from a security state todeclaring an educational emergency in the country.
Last but not least, what is being taught to the students is outdated curriculum, which hinders timely information, critical thinking and necessary skills, while it encourages rote learning and dogmatism. In the contemporary world, along with theoretical aspects, practical implications and skills have become a driving force of prosperity and development in the world. The developed nations are continuously changing their syllabus according to the modern needs; however, Pakistan is still stagnant on the century-old education system. Therefore, it needs to diversify educational system in atimely manner. The state needs to empower youth with necessary skills, update thecurriculum with contemporary needs, intervene to ensure inclusivity,and must exclude elements of intolerance and extremism in the curriculum of government, private and madrassah education systems.
In conclusion, a nation cannot progress until it focuses on the education of its citizens. All progressive and developed nations give first priority to the education and Pakistan has to follow this model. There are different flaws in Pakistan’s education system, from curriculum to teacher training, from budget to quantity metrics, and from parallel education systems to political interference. All of these can be timely sorted out if it changes its priority and focuses on genuine education.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Islamabad.
