Pakistan Must Fix Primary Education Crisis

In a recently published guest post on Haq's Musings, the author and Teach For India Fellow Rakesh Mani talks about his experience of volunteering with India's primary and secondary schools during the last six months.

Mani argues that "there has to be something wrong with Indian society for it to allow its children to be among the most deprived and malnourished in the world".

Mani laments the fact that "young kids are forced to submit to rote learning" and "they lose the critical consciousness they will need to intervene and transform their country in the years to come."

The author questions the wisdom of focusing exclusively on producing more scientists, doctors and engineers at the expense of focus on primary and secondary education in India, and asks "how can we sustain these specialized programs without building sturdy foundations at school? Or rather, what quality of engineers and scientists must we be producing at these institutes of excellence? Excluding the IITs, what percentage of Indian graduates are able to compete effectively in the global economy?"

This article focuses on the state of India's children, and raises fundamental questions about society's values. However, I find Mr. Mani's thoughts to be equally, if not more, applicable to Pakistan as well.

Under former President Musharraf, Pakistan followed India's lead by focusing on tertiary education with the higher education budget rising 10-15 fold in a short period of time.

Unfortunately, there was no commensurate increase or focus on primary or secondary education, where the rates of return are known to be higher. As a result of the long neglect, Pakistan's primary and secondary public education is in shambles with insufficient funds, rampant corruption and ghost schools that exist only on paper with fictitious staff drawing salaries and perks.

Ranked at 141 on a list of 177 countries, Pakistan's human development ranking remains very low. Particularly alarming is the low primary school enrollment for girls which stands at about 30% in rural areas, where the majority of Pakistanis live. In fact, the South Asia average of primary school enrollment is pulled down by Pakistan, the only country in all of Asia and the Pacific with the lowest primary enrollment rate of 68 per cent in 2005. This is 12 percentage points lower than that of Maldives, which, at 80 per cent, has the second lowest rate in Asia and the Pacific. Low primary enrollment rate and poor health of children in Pakistan raise serious concerns about the future of the nation in terms of the continuing impact of low human development on its economic, social and political well-being.



This lack of focus on access and quality of children's education has resulted in the proliferation of madrassahs, some of which are highly radicalized, that fill the vacuum by offering a one-stop shop for poor children needing food, clothing, shelter, healthcare and basic education. Parents simply drop their children off at these madrassas, and essentially let these institutions raise their children, and brainwash the children in some cases.

As Pakistan now fights an existential battle against extremely violent radicals, many from the radical madrassas, the nation is now paying a heavy price for years of neglect.

Upon the urging of saner elements in Pakistan, and pressure from the alarmed world, a new education policy has recently been announced that will more than double education spending in Pakistan from about 3% of the GDP to 7%. If it is done correctly, instills proper values, and with transparency, then there can be hope for light at end of the tunnel for Pakistan's younger generation.

As a volunteer for "Teach For India", Mr. Mani is inspiring others by personal example. Teach For India is a nationwide movement of outstanding college graduates and young professionals who will commit two-years to teach full-time in under resourced schools and who will become lifelong leaders working from within various sectors toward the pursuit of equity in education.

While there is no Pakistani equivalent of "Teach For India", there are a number of organizations such Human Development Foundation (HDF), Development in Literacy (DIL), Greg Mortenson's Central Asia Institute, and The Citizens Foundation which are focusing on improving primary education and promoting literacy in Pakistan.

Here's a video report about Pakistan's decrepit public education:



Here is a video about global child slavery:



Related Links:

Teaching Facts Versus Reasoning

Regional Facts: South and Southwest Asia

Education, Society and Development

Pakistan's Children's Plight

South Asia Slipping in Human Development

Is Pakistan Too Big to Fail?

Food Clothing and Shelter in India and Pakistan

Can Slumdog's Success Improve Children's Lives?

Persistent Hunger in South Asia

Quality of Education in India and Pakistan

Pakistan's Education System and Links to Extremism

Developing Pakistan's Intellectual Capital

Madrassa Cricket Condemned

Madrassa education critics in Pakistan have long argued that the madrassa life and curricula are too narrow and inadequate to prepare graduates for life in the modern economy and the kind of jobs young people need to fill. There have been some efforts and steps taken recently to broaden the syllabus to add more secular education such as science, math and computer literacy. The most welcome news recently is the organization of an inter-madrassa cricket tournament in Islamabad.

The BBC's Haroon Rashid reports that "batons have been replaced with bats and balls.
It looks as if the seminaries are trying to salvage their badly-dented reputation by holding this tournament - the first of its kind."

"We wish to bring them into mainstream," event organizer Tahir Inayat of Eclat Concepts told the BBC. "We have been organizing different sports events for regular schools and colleges. But we thought that we needed to do something for these uncared-for students of religious madrassas."

Twenty-four teams representing as many seminaries in Islamabad are vying for the top slot in the eight-day floodlight tournament.

The final is being played April 12, 2008

However, this tournament has not been without controversy among the Pakistani clerics.

The Urdu newspaper Daily Jasarat quoted the leaders of Wafaq-ul-Madaris Arabia Pakistan and Jamiat Ahle-Sunnat as saying that a move by an Islamabad-based NGO to organize a cricket tournament between madrassas is a conspiracy against the religious seminaries. The Wafaq-ul-Madaris Arabia controls the largest number of madrassas in Pakistan.

According to the report, the madrassa leaders said, "None of our madrassas will take part in the cricket tournament and if anyone did, we will take action against it as per the rules." These views were expressed during a press conference by the Deputy Secretary of Wafaq-ul-Madaris Arabia Pakistan Maulana Qazi Abdur Rashid and several Ulema.

While this cricket tournament represents a positive change, it is clearly not going to be easy to continue in this direction. The fundamentalist clerics will oppose anything that changes the status quo. They fear the loss of power from changes that help the poor madrassah students focus on anything other than their brand of Islam based on suspicion and intolerance of anything they see as foreign or different. It seems that the Hadith of Prophet Muhammad about "seeking knowledge even if you have to go as far as China" does not carry much weight with these self-styled ulema.

New Deal: Food, Clothing And Shelter For All

Food, Clothing And Shelter For All
Pakistan Peoples Party has revived "Roti, Kapra Aur Makan For All", first successfully introduced by Late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the late 1960s as a popular slogan, and made it a part of its platform for the upcoming elections in Pakistan. These planks by the PPP elicit a range of reactions among Pakistanis ranging from strong enthusiasm to total skepticism. Among the poor and the dis-enfranchised, the desire and the need for food, clothing and shelter is so great that they receive the PPP manifesto with enthusiasm. The skeptics ,on the other hand, argue that "Roti, Kapra Aur Makan" is just an impractical slogan designed to win votes, with no sincerity or substance behind it.

Bhutto's Five E's
While explaining her party’s agenda to ensure equality in every segment of society, the assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said in December 2007, that in line with the PPP’s slogan of “Roti, Kapra aur Makan”, her party would take specific policy initiatives. “Our policy is based on five E’s - employment, education, energy, environment and equality,” the former premier said.

US Experience
In the history of the United States, similar policy platforms have had mixed results. Looking back at the history of the political platforms that have succeeded, what comes to mind is the name of President Franklin Roosevelt and his "New Deal" , as well as the successive US Presidents' policies on "The American Dream" of home ownership for all. These policies helped reduce poverty and enhanced education and housing for a large number of people in the US.
Among the failures, US President Herbert Hoover's slogan "A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage" stands out. President Hoover's presidency ended in the Depression of the 1930s which was inherited by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Specific Programs
A quick examination of the successful policies for promoting better living standards shows that, in each case, there were specific programs launched in public-private partnerships. For example, the government worked with the private sector on jobs and training programs to enable people to make a decent living to provide for themselves and their families. An effective public schooling system with school breakfast and lunch program was funded. GI bill was passed to help the returning soldiers from WWII who wanted to go to college. Social Security Administration (SSA) was set up to provide safety net with food stamps and welfare payments for those who could not find employment or were disabled. Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was set up along with FNMA to provide affordable mortgages and the tax code was modified to provide income tax breaks for home owners to promote home ownership. In order for the PPP vision of "Roti, Kapra Aur Makan" to be realized, it is very important that this vision is backed by specific plans and programs with clear objectives and measurable results over a period of a decade or more. The question is: Where would the resources and expertise come from to make it happen?

"New Deal" For Pakistan
Seeing it in the context of the current global war on terror, it is in the best interest of the world to have the FDR style "New Deal" for the poverty-stricken, illiterate, unemployed youths in countries such as Pakistan to address the underlying causes of terrorism. For example, the "radical" madrassahs often accused of promoting terror, are currently providing food, clothing, shelter and education for many of these youths. In this role, the madrassahs are very influential. If Pakistan (with the help of the US, EU and the Saudis) can replace what the madrassahs are doing while teaching tolerance instead of hatred, then there is hope for a more moderate and enlightened Pakistan free from terror. I think this will be good bargain for all. It will cost a lot less than the war on terror and have more durable results than the current strategy. The stakes are very high for Pakistan, South Asia, the United States, Europe and the rest of the world. Let us all help turn the PPP slogan of "Roti, Kapra Aur Makan" into reality for the sake of the world peace and our future generations.