The writer is professor of political science at LUMS
At last, we have a national law that makes education free and compulsory. The question is: can we do better in the public education sector by making laws alone and will it make any difference to the present situation of apathy, negligence and poor governance in the field of education? I will support any measure that has even the slightest intention of bringing more children to schools and making schools true places of learning. Hence, I laud this effort by parliament to create a sense of urgency and show political commitment to public education. However, the real issue is how we go about implementing it in spirit and go beyond any law to enrol and keep all our school-going age children in the public education system.
The law will apply persuasion more than any punitive measure against parents who refuse to send children to school. That persuasion will be through the school councils. I have interviewed teachers and members of school councils in nine schools of Punjab. I believe the councils in each school can do a great deal in enrolling kids, providing missing facilities, solving teachers’ problems and making school the centre of the community’s attention. Even a single motivated leader within a community can make a big difference. An activist or a person with a sense of social obligation can mobilise the community and his absence would leave the school at the mercy of the district bureaucracy. The school council initiative of Punjab, it appears, has died down; its revival here and also activation of school councils in other provinces — not just on paper but also on the ground — will create the right atmosphere for the implementation of compulsory education law. I feel there is a need to create two-way linkages. One necessary linkage is between the local school and the nearby community that sends its children to that neighbourhood’s school. The second linkage is between the community and the district educational bureaucracy. The bureaucracy works above the community and its relationship with the absentee teachers and ghost schools is that of facilitation — not of supervision and accountability.
The district administration is the real hub of governance and service delivery. Until education is genuinely owned and effectively delivered at the district level, no other remedy is going to work. We have already a vast network of schools and even colleges. The issue is that they are not delivering according to the capacity. There are two important reasons for that. One is that for long, the public education system of the country has been in decay mainly because of the unions of teachers and political intervention. The absentee teacher is protected both by the political elements and the educational bureaucracy, which by itself is not independent of political influences at the district level.
The second reason is the general pessimism among the people about the public education system. Even the rural middle classes have started sending their kids to private schools. That is a big show of no confidence in public schools. The private schools in the same locality are functioning well even with far lesser pay for teachers than the public schools. The reason for this is not so difficult to find; it is a lack of governance and accountability in the education system. We must change this by placing public education before anything else. Our stability, social order, progress and security in broader terms rest on this.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2012.
COMMENTS (10)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Pakistan need to give to preference to technical DAE and masters education. Even in low rated private universities the fee is un bearable. LUMS used to offer good financial assistance to middle class which it has withdrawn for masters/MBA. VC must be told that all students are not lucky to get sponsorship. Therefore instead of reducing the deficit, he should focus more on fund raising from new resources and give less time to be in lime-light now. This happens when a kid is appointed on a v senior position. Did he served as Dean of a university or just jumped from PTV to lecturership to VC LUMS.
@Observer: wheels are turning in the right direction alibi rather slowly, as momentum gathers we will have things done faster we need to build momentum buddy.
@Observer:
"India has a long way to go in providing quality free education and upliftment of the economically backward kids."
Poor people in India were constrained to prefer to employ the children as labour force to support earning rather than sending to school. , Mid day meal scheme ( coupled with free books and stationary) helped solve this problem to a great extent. Free bicycle to every girl student from class 5 7 on wards( in Bihar & jharkhand states) helped to coninue the education l . But it did not help to impart quality education . Now all Private schools ( including elite schools like convents) have to admit (certain percentage of seats) poor students in their classes from the nursery to upper classes on a nominal fee or free to impart quality education. This has certainly helped the poor students to receive better education .
Dear Prof. Rais, I hear that the same Dean who had kicked out Dr. Hoodboy is now leading revolt by other conservative faculty to have the VC Dr. Najam also kicked out. Is that true?
The only way to provide quality education for all the children in the country and level the playing field is to follow the example of the desegregation efforts in the US. In third world countries such as India and Pakistan, it is necessary to go even farther. Schools should be nationalized and a ratio of poor and rich kids should be forced upon. This the only way to improve the overall quality of education and provide an equal opportunity to all children.
Imagine when a general's or the top politicians' kids have to attend the same school along with the poor kids. That is a sure and only way to force these power-wielders to improve quality education for all children.
@Mirza: While the meals program that you pointed out and the Right to Education Act have been important cornerstone in eradication of illiteracy, the Indian government has done very little to improve the quality of government schools offering free education. The rich kids who can afford private schools get quality education while the poor kids who go to free public school get very low quality education that does not help them later in life to compete for well-paying jobs. As a result, the poor are getting poorer and the rich are advancing further while the politicians use caste, religion, reservation etc vote catching strategy. India has a long way to go in providing quality free education and upliftment of the economically backward kids.
Professor Sahab- Good article. It would be interesting to see your thoughts on why School Councils have failed? Was it lack of interest on the part of locals or their disappointment in general with the lack of effectiveness of this mechanism?