A change in approach

Education is recognised as one of the country’s most pressing challenges and yet no government, past or present, has shown the wherewithal to promote education at all levels and for everyone. The government seems to have happily relegated that role to private schools, charitable institutions, and religious seminaries in the vain hope that these institutions will somehow fulfill the education needs of 50 million children. At the last count, 20 million children were still out of school — a sad statistic that mocks both the work and nationwide presence of 220,000 schools. Hefty increases may have been made to education spending since 2010 but these have had minimal impact thus far because of the sheer magnitude of the crisis.

Our schools continue to lack the necessary infrastructure. Another critical but less spoken of issue is the existence of an army of untrained teachers who neither understand the needs of students nor the demands of their profession. The government ought to focus more on teacher training and that too on a priority basis. After all, higher standards and teacher training can do wonders for our students. In the last few years, tertiary education has been the focus of most government efforts. But this approach seems to be flawed because more universities cannot improve the situation on their own. It is far better to strengthen primary education and ensure that they provide quality education.

If the authorities do not work on narrowing the widening gap between rich and poor, Pakistan is unlikely to resolve its education challenges anytime soon. No matter how difficult it may sound, the government should make primary and secondary education free and accessible to all. It needs to ensure quality education to all through the proper channels, including appropriate curricula, teaching strategies and proper teacher training. There should be less focus on rote learning and more emphasis instead on developing the knowledge base of students.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2017.

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