Little does the world know that 39% of Pakistani children don’t have access to education. Ironically, this may also not be apparent to most Pakistani’s themselves. Like other systemic crises that haunt Pakistan, the “education emergency” is a part of the reality today.The facts speak for themselves. First, 26 million children are out of school ; two, 43 million children in school are not learning as much as they should. Thus, the education system is suffering badly on the fronts of enrolment and learning outcomes due to learning poverty and “decades of deliberate underinvestment and disregard”. The existence of this crisis was lamented publicly by none other than the Prime Minister of Pakistan himself recently. Reform of the system is probably difficult due to the indifference of most governments and the heavy accent on private schools. Persistence of this challenge will create enormous long-term problems for the growth of Pakistan.
Let the facts speak for themselves. In 2022, the government spent only 1.9% of its GDP on education compared to 2.65% in 2015, lying behind other South Asian and sub-Saharan countries, despite knowing that 26.2 million children are out of school. Additionally, the lack of investment in the public provisioning of education has paved the way for the privatization of education at a massive pace, making education again accessible only to the rich. Experts opine that it is not the budget that is the problem but how the budget is spent on education. The education system suffers from severe misspending, which cannot be addressed without reforming the education system. Any increase in the education budget is subjected to leakages through crony capitalism and corruption, making it futile. Moreover, teacher absenteeism and teachers-politicians’ linkages, where political parties are involved in the recruitment of teachers, are rampant across Pakistan. There is a clear patronage politics in which teachers act as political workers for the political parties in return for their recruitment.
The Pakistan Institute of Education in a recent study (2021-22) reported that the number of out-of-school children in Pakistan had increased from 22.02 million to 26.01 million. Despite a decrease in the percentage of out-of-school children from 44% in 2016-17 dropping to 39% in 2021-22, absolute numbers have surged from 22.02 million to 26.21 million in the same period. The distribution of children without access to education is concentrated in rural areas; 70% live in villages and the remaining 30% in towns and cities. Limited access to school education is a challenge. Notably, 58% of the children are females. Greater priority continues to be attached to the education of the male child.
The various surveys by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, especially the Living Standards and Social Measurement Surveys, highlight the differential access to education of children belonging to different household income quintiles. The enrolment rate of children in the top income quintile is over 150% or twice as high as children in the bottom quintile, depending on the level of education, from primary to high school. Further, the regional disparities are well reflected in access to education as well. Baluchistan, with all its underdevelopment and instability, has 65 percent of its children out of school. The system, therefore, requires swift and multi-dimensional reform across its length and breadth. Increasing the number of schools, reforming the examination system, which heavily depends on rote learning, reforming curriculum, and better enforcement so that the problem of ghost teachers is eliminated. There is a need to address both the demand and supply side challenges to the education system, including accessibility and affordability of education, education infrastructure, and regional and gender disparities.
According to the World Bank, ‘learning poverty’ in Pakistan can be eliminated by focusing on policies tailored to the needs of diverse groups of out-of-school children. This implies that teenage children who have never been to school need to be provided with special assistance instead of being sent to regular schools. Besides, there is a dire need to enhance efficiency and target public expenditure where education outcomes are the poorest. Given the condition of education, children not only need to be brought to school, but they also need to be provided with a congenial learning environment to bridge the learning gaps. However, given the sheer lack of commitment to the reforms and lip service in the name of calling out the rhetoric of a “nationwide education emergency,” it is pertinent to see if the ruling elite would take massive actions to ameliorate the ailing education system and the masses.
The crisis in the education system in Pakistan implies that a generation without access to basic education, to get employment, are being left to be exploited and subjected to poverty. The impact of a dysfunctional education system is large and prolonged, given that education has larger marginal social benefits. Without sufficient education, Pakistani youth are not fit to be inducted into the labour market, making them susceptible to placements in militant organizations. This is the real long-term challenge for the Pakistani state to tackle. The willingness and ability to take on this challenge head on remains moot.
