Human Behaviour by Doctor Jafri

Education system

TopicWhy education in pakistan is becoming expensive but its standards are declining.

WHY?The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan says,

The state of Pakistan shall remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary education within minimum possible period.Education systemAccording to the Pakistan Education Statistics handbook, most recently available for 2006-2007, the total number of students enrolled in all types of educational institutions -- beginning from age three, and including students at the university (all the way to the PhD) level is less than 37 million. Between ages five and 19, only 27.9 million are enrolled in schools.In Human Development Report, Pakistan is placed at 136th position for having just 55%educated populace. The primary completion rate in Pakistan, given by Date Center of UNESCO, is 33.8% in females and 47.18% in males, which shows that people in the 6th largest country of the world are unable to get the basic education.

Since there are nearly 70 million kids in that age group out there, Pakistan has 42 million kids between the ages of five and 19 that are not in any kind of school, representing 60 per cent of all kids in that age group. That is the total burden on the system -- private, philanthropic, NGO, madressah, government. All the efforts combined therefore currently address only 40 per cent of Pakistan's needsThe scale and scope of the education challenge can only be addressed by the state. It doesn't matter how good reading Three Cups of Tea makes us feel, or how good donating money to our favorite philanthropic school makes us feel, or how good sending our children to private schools makes us feel. The education debate cannot be about how good we feel. If we are to spare only one area in Pakistan of our overwhelming capacity to be emotional and irrational, it has to be education1 of every 10 childrennot in school in the world lives in Pakistan..Only23%of Pakistani children under the age of 16 attend secondary school.Almostone-third of Pakistanislive in extreme educational poverty having received less than two years of education.10.5 millionsuch children are forced to work in menial jobs to support family income.According to UNICEF,over 17%of Pakistani children are working and supporting their families.Most of the10.5 millionare completely illiterate and some even live on the street, finding itdifficult to integrate into mainstream society even if they are given the opportunity.19 millionchildren in Pakistan cannot afford to go to school.Over85%children of school-going age in Pakistan only have access to government schools.

Of course, establishing the need to retain public services in the education sector -- without which 87 per cent of all kids would be left out of school -- is not the end of the discussion; it is just the beginning. The real challenge is to make sure that public service in education is indeed a service, rather than a disservice. That's where the education debate gets interesting, and where it encounters resistance from the government and the feudal and military establishments.Of the recurring expenditures in education, more than 95 per cent goes toward teachers' salaries. Average government teacher salaries are dramatically higher. Researchers at the Institute for Social and Policy Sciences in Islamabad have calculated average primary school teachers' salaries at Rs12,000, average middle school teachers' salaries at Rs15,000 and average high school teachers' salaries at Rs19,000Number of educational institutes by Level and Location

Number of Teachers

Reasons of Expensive Education System

Increased influence of business or corporatization in Higher Education(Privatization)The most significant change has been higher educations attempt to become a lean and mean money-making industry instead of an institution with an important social and educational mission that served the nation and the world. (end of Public University)The business attitude that has become a part of the daily life at most institutions. Today we dont worry so much about educating students, as providing service to a consumer. When the customer is always right, how do you give the customer what he/she needs instead of what he/she wants? How can we put the integrity and accountability back into education?Its about the money and the schools reputation.

Increased use of a business model for leadership and strategic planning I see this as a positive.What do you think? Is the increasing focus on the business aspects of higher education a positive or negative change? What makes you say this?

Learning levels

Children By type of School

Change in Literacy Rate In Pakistan

The private schools facilities were found to be better off than the government schools on most variables. . An interesting situation needs to be noted; the state of private schools is somewhat correlated with the government schools facilities in the respective province.Problems in education System As a Whole Medium of education in public and private sector is totally differentRegional disparityThe ratio of gender discrimination isa cause which is projecting the primary school ratio of boys & girls which is10:4 respectivelyThe allocation of funds for education are very low. It is only 1.5 to 2.0 percent of the total GDP.The teachers in government schools are not well trained.

Continued Poverty is also another factor that restrict the parents to send their children to public or private schools. So, they prefer to send their children to madressas where education is totally free.substandard evaluation systemlow enrollment and high dropout rate at the primary level,The changing governments in the countryDivided into different categories according to the class basis.

Why standards are Declining ?The parents are equally responsible for the falling standard. Home plays the most important role in shaping the thinking and character of children and youth. In fact, a mothers lap is the first school for a child. Parents are over indulgent with their children. They are allowed to do as they please. Lack of proper upbringing of children is a main cause of poor discipline. Parents have no strict control on youthThe teachers, in general, are the product of our corrupt society.

ContinuedAt college and university level, very few teachers are devoted and dedicated.The heads are rather helpless before the political appointees.Examinations have become more a test of unfair means and dishonesty than of attainment and proficiency.Teachers in general fail to engender the vital habit of inquisitiveness among our students.Higher education is in an expensive muddle with too many useless degrees

Heads as BasketsStudent is just like cramming the boys head with a lot of disjointed facts poured into the head as into a basket, to be emptied out again in the examination room, and the empty basket carried out again into the world.

Governmental Solution to expensivenessStudent Loan Schemes

Practical demonstration of Loan In America today,approximately two-thirdsof all college students graduate with student loan debt.In 2010, the average college graduate had accumulatedapproximately $25,000in student loan debt by graduation day.According tothe Student Loan Debt Clock, totalstudent loan debtin the United States will surpass the 1 trillion dollar mark in early 2012.The total amount of student loan debt in the United Statesnow exceedsthe total amount of credit card debt in the United States.

Continued According to recent Pew Research Center polling,75% of all Americans believe that college is too expensive for most Americans to afford.College has become so expensive that it is causing many college students to do desperate things in order to pay for it. For example, an increasing number of young college women areactively advertising on the Internetfor sugar daddies who will help them pay their college bills.

continuedOver the past 25 years, the cost of college tuition has increased at an average rate that isapproximately 6% higherthan the general rate of inflation.The cost of college textbookshas tripledover the past decade.The student loan default ratehas nearly doubledsince 2005.Approximately 14 percentof all students that graduate with student loan debt end up defaulting within 3 years of making their first student loan payment.

If this happens in Pakistan than what would be the future of OUR youth and Education System?ConclusionThis doesn't mean the answer is to privatize education. We've already established that the quantum of demand is so heavy that non-state actors cannot possibly address it. The solution to the education challenge, therefore, lies in fixing government schools and the place to start is teachers' incentives. That task begins with the delinking public school teachers from the Basic Pay Scale framework -- a cancerous construct that has destroyed institutional and personal accountability in the Pakistani government.Those who believe that non-state solutions can address the problems of more than 60 per cent of Pakistani children are welcome to continue to believe in their fairy tales but the price tag for such fairy tales is the more than Rs132 billion that the government spends annually on a public sector system that is broken. And beyond the money, the real price tag is the question mark over the future of the 42 million Pakistani children that aren't even enrolled in school. Like all good fairy tales, belief in NGO and private schools as the solution in the education sector must be about making believers feel good. Does it feel good?