Education System in Pakistan

Education System in Pakistan

Laila Ahsan

      Problems in the Pakistani education system are manifold, they start from dysfunctional schools at primary level to lack of basic facilities in almost all levels of government schools and thousands of non-proficient and ghost teachers are further damaging the system. Nowadays, the pattern of our education system is not up to the global education standards, it lags behind and mainly focuses on only the improvement of examinations. We are ignoring the basic spirit of education. The main target of education should be enabling students to gain knowledge and learn fundamental skills instead of focusing on cramming and getting good results in the examinations. The education system must be learning-based, knowledge-oriented, it should train the students' minds and make them intellectuals.

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 Unfortunately in our education system, students are only taught to get maximum marks, teachers only focus on covering their syllabus well in time and providing an environment of cramming and rote memorization of the chapters, that’s why the students avoid learning knowledge and practicable skills which may then lead them to get a good source of earning as well.

On the other hand, if we have a look at some of the leading private school systems, they stress reasoning and comprehension, especially those schools which are based on the foreign education system, they charge extraordinary fees but they impart practical and problem-solving education.

       The learning system followed in government schools and many low-standard private schools unable the students to know their worth, abilities, and potential. The students are only interested in passing exams, they can not comprehend the topics of science, General Knowledge, Math, and the basics of Islam. They are not able to write a short paragraph on any topic and solve simple equations of Physics and Chemistry as well.

This is the first time that a new political party Pakistan Tahreek e Insaaf has come to the power after winning the general elections 2019; party chairman and Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan had vowed to bring the big change to the prevailing systems in different departments of the country, education is also one of the priorities PTI government has set to work on. The government had announced to launch Single National Curriculum (SNC) in all educational institutions of the country but there has been enormous pressure on the government, various local and foreign factors have opposed the plan and asked the government to change its decision. Some sources say that the decision has been made that at least no foreign education system will be touched concerning the implementation of SNC.

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Prime Minister Imran Khan wants to remove the inequalities in Pakistan’s school system and form an improved uniform education system, we already have vast gulf created among various school systems of the country. Government schools have a uniform system but it’s outdated and lacks needful modifications, different private schools follow a separate curriculum, and foreign school systems like the Cambridge system, use a very different methodology. Sex disparity in our education system and educational institutes’ jobs is another problem that needs to be addressed, female literacy rate at different stages of school levels is very low as compared to the male literacy rate.

Single National Curriculum is aimed at providing an equal and fair opportunity to students of all segments of the society to get a high-quality education. But to some sectors of this society, the proposal does not seem to be justified; some of them say that fee structure of the elite school system is based on the high-quality education being provided to the students, with the SNC, it would surely be affected, so can not be compromised, others are of the view that their curriculum is uniform and taught in other countries as well. Some secular influential elements oppose the initiative because it includes basic teachings of the Quran and Sunnah.

In the past, all governments of the country have emphasized on constructing more school buildings, increasing enrolment of the children, and providing edibles and some cash grants to the children but none have bothered to improve the dwindling education system of the country by introducing and implementing on new modernized methodologies which could produce adept professionals in the future. Learning programs should enable students to understand the concepts of the subjects and their application.

We have better education systems of different countries like Finland, the USA, and Australia, etc. in front of us, we can follow their paths in terms of adopting the same modus operandi. Besides Pakistan is a Muslim-majority country, so the teachings of the Holy Quran, Sunnah, and Hadith must be included as the Single National Curriculum contains. Teacher training is another important factor that is required to be considered on a priority basis, intense training sessions are needed to make our teachers competent. Ghost teachers need to be sacked without any delay if we are loyal to save the country’s education.

     There is an urgent and inevitable need to upgrade and modernize the education structure. The teaching-learning Method should be like a learning approach and critical thinking. The students should be trained to be observers, analyzers, creators, makers, learners and they should be able to apply concepts of whatever they have been taught, educated, and trained. The education system must be updated so that students may learn new and useful things, they may be able to face upcoming challenges.

The purpose of our education should make students broad-minded and make them able to bring new ideas, creativity, and skills development that ought to be focused. The objective of imparting education should be character building, moral and spiritual growth, ethical development, and training them to be patriotic, helping, and good citizens.

 No doubt, our education system has turned out to be a cancer-like disease but yet it can be cured with the will power and sincere execution of government’s education policies. It is high time for the Pakistani government to understand the seriousness of the matter, take some immediate steps towards the implementation of the new education plan, and also come up with further new ideas to mend the damaged education structure.