Failed education system

Focus should be on promoting local languages

A recent report in The New York Times astutely highlights core aspects of Pakistan’s education crisis that have been sidelined as a result of the hype created by private and public entities, domestic and foreign, over the lack of funding in the sector. As images of young Malala Yousafzai at Oxford University spring up on social media and we reflect on how her life transformed from being a naïve girl in a backward province subject to primitive Taliban rule to attending a top institution ready to broaden her horizons, we must not forget the millions of children who are where she once was, trying to make something of themselves in an education system that does not facilitate them.

It is an extremely sorry state of affairs that 23 million children and their parents have given up on this country’s education system. A significant portion of the population will have limited literacy and numeracy skills heading into the future. These are the people in whose hands we will entrust the future of this country and the outlook appears bleak.

The attention that has been paid to the education sector in the way of increasing budgets and checks on teacher attendance and ghost schools is hardly praiseworthy. Being a government department, we know the additional funding was usurped by unethical teachers who allegedly make students do personal chores instead of learning. There is no end to this trend in sight and the solution cannot depend on the private education sector, for that has its own problems of ethics and charging exorbitant fees, with teachers who carelessly teach a few lessons, then require students to attend private after-school tutoring sessions for additional fees. Emphasis needs to return on relaunching the public education system. Considering the sheer desperation of the situation, it would be worthwhile to hire expert help to revamp the system and an initial goal should be to stop the glorification of English and teach in native tongues to deliver basic concepts across subjects.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2017.

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