Every year, around this time, nervous students wait for a piece of paper that they have been conditioned to believe will define the rest of their lives — their ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level results. Over the last decade, there has been a steady rise in the quality of the results, although some believe that grade inflation may have played a part in that. Ambitious parents, wanting the best for their kids, have poured money and even more effort to ensure that their grades guarantee them a spot in the best colleges. But we have become so caught up in the rat race that we rarely consider whether these exams are truly as valuable as we think they are — both for students and the education system at large.
An estimated 180,000 children took their ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level exams this year, a number that seems quite considerable until you realise that the majority of Pakistan’s population is under 25 years of age. Still, there is clearly a demand for these and other similar foreign exams. Basically, just about anyone who can afford to do so decides to take their children out of the Matric and Inter system, in favour of foreign systems that have greater credibility in the West. Our local system of education has been so thoroughly discredited that such alternatives are being considered by more people every year.
Essentially, Pakistan has ended up with a dual system, one for the elite and one for the rest of the country; this creates a kind of educational apartheid in the country. The solution isn’t, as some have outlandishly suggested, to immediately impose one system on the entire country, as that would unfairly hurt those who give foreign exams. Having a uniform educational system should be a goal we aspire to work towards, not by demonising those who sit foreign exams but by matching our local system to the same quality. The aim should be to provide every Pakistani child the opportunity to excel by having a level playing field. We may not be able to achieve that in the near future but we certainly shouldn’t give up on the idea.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 15th, 2012.
COMMENTS (7)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1713268762-0/Netflix-(3)1713268762-0-270x192.webp)
There is no question that resource allocation towards education needs to be increased on war footing. However, to your recommendation, I think it is a bit too ambitious to assume that state will be able to scale resources to provide O levels / A levels education to millions of Pakistani kids (many of whom don't even have the resources to fund themselves through basic education). Solution requires in designing and enforcing a core curriculum. Otherwise, education apartheid in the country will perpetuate social class inequity creating a host of other problems.
Pakistani education lags behind most nations. In UK there are several statistics available for how Pakistani children do in GCSE ('O' levels). They continue to lag behind partly because of madrassa emphasis amd brain washing by their elders who are mostly illiterate. These children who dont end up with good education then live on social security. Often they end up in crime. This article explains it all why Pakistani children lag behind Chinese and Indian children: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1261415/Chinese-Indian-pupils-grades-GCSE-British-children.html In UK there is currently a debate going on whether madarassa should be closed. I would not be surprised if they are closed. In Rome you have to live like the Romans - if you dont like then you are free to live.
@comentator what has newspapers got 2 do wd d students opting for O&A levels
You can have either the global education OR madrassa education.
"An estimated 180,000 children took their ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level exams this year, " can you tell us where you are quoting this statistic from? This is a very low number. My cousin is a press printer, he told me that the print local circulation of english newspapers is very low in karachi, around 1,00,000 to 3,00,000 which is just crazy, for a city of 33 million people.
Why would the deep state allow the country to take money away from them and spend on poor students? While the elite get all the education they want, there are madarsas for the poor masses. While the deep state has all the expensive war toys, nuclear bombs, missiles, parallel economy the poor are free to eat grass. Everybody knows the solution but who can dare start it. The president of Egypt did the right thing and took control of the govt from the deep state. There is money for DHA, golf, clubs, private trips, and all the perks for the deep state, there is no money for education, basic healthcare, electricity, bridges, roads, jobs, agriculture to name a few. There is no problem finding money for WMD but not lifesaving drugs. Happy birthday Pakistan.