Steady decline: Academia suffered multiple setbacks during preceding year in K-P

The education department was marred with issues such as paucity of funds and cheating allegations

Like other departments, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) education department’s preceding year was marked with more lows than highs as both teachers and students alike developed major grievances.

With a caretaker government holding the reins of the province, 2023 was a year to forget for academia. A majority of the province’s higher education institutes were found to be in financial deficit, which resulted in staff employed at the universities not being paid on time; and thus led to protests en masse.

And the protests were no one-day affair. Employees, whether it be teachers or support staff, protested for more than 6 months during the preceding year, with many demanding increases in salaries and other benefits, on top of what they were already owed, so that they could combat the rising double-digit inflation, which had battered the populace.

Commenting on the plight of academia in K-P in 2023, Shahnawaz Khan, an educationist, termed the preceding year as “terrible for education.”

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“The province’s major universities like University of Peshawar, Agriculture University, University of Engineering Peshawar, and Islamia College, remained in a deficit and their employees have been demanding wages and increases. It is a truly sad state of affairs,” remarked Shahnawaz.

“After the 18th Amendment, it is the provincial government’s mandate to release funds to the universities but clearly they have been occupied with bigger things than education,” the educationist added.

Shahnawaz further said that due to the paucity of funds at universities, there had been a decline in the student population at public universities. “Whoever takes charge of the province this year will realise what a sorry state the education department is presently in and how much that is impacting the students.”

Nevertheless, higher education institutions were not the only source of students’ grievances in K-P. The popular Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT), conducted by the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA), had to be taken multiple times by students, on the orders of the Peshawar High Court, due to the examination being plagued with complaints of cheating. Even though an investigation into the cheating allegations led to arrests of several students, the ETEA was criticised heavily by students for its failure to prevent cheating.

Be that as it may, Imran Takkar, an activist based in Peshawar, while talking to the Express Tribune, was of the view that the overall standard of education had been declining for the past few years. “Presently, the provincial government needs billions of rupees to improve the educational situation. Only an abundance of money can lead to reforms such as provision of free uniforms, stationery and bags, second shift programmes, construction of schools, and establishment of alternative education methods.”

Takkar further said that education standards in the merged districts and rural parts of the province were an even bigger cause of concern. “If the government cannot improve education standards in urban areas, then it very well cannot impart quality education elsewhere,” the activist asserted.