Articles by "Education"
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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Education Muhammad Atif claims that education has been a priority area for budgetary allocations since the coalition government assumed power after the 2013 general elections.
“The KP government is the only provincial government in the country which has continuously been increasing budgetary allocations for education for the last three years,” claims the minister, while talking to Cutting Edge at a seminar held last month in Peshawar.
This year, too, he adds, the provincial government allocated a huge sum of Rs. 143 billion for education. The share of school education has increased from Rs. 104 billion in 2015-16 to Rs. 119 billion in 2016-17, representing an increase of Rs. 15 billion. During each of the last two years, an 11% increase in the Elementary and Secondary Education Department (EandSED) budget was recorded.
But in 2016-17, this budget was increased by 14%, the highest during the last three years, which showed government’s commitment to provide free and quality education to all across the province.
The break-up of allocations shows that Rs. 12.453 billion has been given for 72 education projects. Rs. 10.030 billion will be spent on 64 ongoing projects and eight new projects will get Rs. 2.422 billion.
According to the minister, major targets of the new budget are provision for special initiatives, establishment of 200 smart schools, first-ever Girls Cadet College at Mardan, Cadet College at Swat, 1,300 girls community schools, 160 new primary schools, 500 IT labs in high and higher secondary schools, up-gradation of 50 primary, 50 middle and 50 high schools on need basis, and standardization of 200 higher secondary schools. Also, stipends to girl students from class 6 to 10 at the rate of Rs. 200 per month will continue in the current academic year, promises the minister.
Referring to Alif Ailaan comparison, the minister says that education received a 20% share of the provincial budget in Sindh, Punjab allocated 19% of its budget for education, Balochistan earmarked 17%, while KP allocated 24% of its budget for the sector, which is highest among the all four federating units.
However, the minister fails to mention that the development budget for EandSED was revised from Rs. 16 billion to Rs. 11.5 billion in 2015-16. Therefore, if the department did not get its complete share at the end of the year, the allocation might be reduced, like in the previous year.
The budget document shows the highest increase in the EandSED’s non-salary component i.e., the budget that is used for operation, maintenance and for routine activities of the department and its subordinate offices. At the school level, the non-salary budget includes allocations for items like classroom consumables, repair of furniture and other petty repairs in schools.
The minister believes that if there is an inadequate non-salary budget for schools, they will be unable to provide quality services to students. Keeping this in view, the KP provincial government increased the non-salary budget for EandSED from Rs. 8 billion in 2015-16 to Rs. 14 billion in 2016-17, clarifies the minister.
However, the minister could not give a satisfactory reply to a question about effectiveness of the non-salary budget. He was told that the non-salary component did not align with international and national best practices. For 2015-16, it included a block allocation for conditional grants worth Rs. 3 billion. The per classroom rate structure for classroom consumables and petty repairs was quite low. Annually, schools are provided with a budget for classroom consumables at the rate of Rs. 5,000 per classroom and for petty repairs for Rs. 6,000 per classroom, which is quite insufficient.
Educationists believe that if the EandSED does not come up with a robust strategy that departs from previous practices of spending of non-salary budget, this year’s increase might not bring about any good to the students of KP.
The education budget document also mentions construction of 100 primary and 100 secondary schools at a cost of Rs. 11.52 billion. Also, Rs. 1.69 billion has been reserved for special education in the financial year 2016-17.
The minister regrets criticism of even appreciable projects. He says allocations have also been made in the education budget for converting 100 madrassas into primary schools. A big chunk of Rs. 1,970 million has been reserved for human resource and technical education and, for the first time in the history of the province, a stipend will be given on monthly basis to 500 artists, poets, and intellectuals.
The budget document says that as per the Local Government Act, 2013, the elementary and secondary education, along with adult education and literacy functions, has been devolved to the local governments. Therefore, a major portion of the current education budget, Rs. 99,857 million of Elementary and Secondary Education has been devolved to district-level entities.
The allocation also includes Rs. 8,000 million for providing for the missing facilities in the government schools, while additional Rs. 6 billion has been allocated for creation of 16,960 posts to improve access to, and quality of, primary education. The main focus of new projects is to promote education at primary level, create a gender balance, and fulfil the infrastructural requirements of existing institutions including staff, equipment, furniture, teachers' training and essential repairs, adds the education minister.
Allocations for higher education have also been increased from 2015’s Rs. 4 billion to Rs. 6 billion in 2016-17. The government also plans to install open WiFi in public places and universities, promotion of academic research and a culture of science among the youth, development and innovation, and a portal for IT scholarships.
This year, around 800 new teachers will be recruited for new colleges, the minister reveals. At least 60 new colleges will be constructed across the province, he adds. The break-up of allocations shows that Rs. 220.5 million has been set aside for higher education, Rs. 8,417 million for general colleges, Rs. 761 million for technical universities and colleges and Rs. 97 million for Archives and Libraries.
The KP provincial government also created a controversy this year when in allocated Rs. 300 million for a famous madrassa, Darul Uloom Haqqania. The purpose has been described as construction and rehabilitation of the madrassa.
Rejecting the objections, the education minister says it is the alma mater of many distinguished scholars. Also, hundreds of students study in this madrassa and they too have a right on the national exchequer, the minister claims.
Education Minister Muhammad Atif’s tall claims aside, the provincial government has so far failed to enact the compulsory law on the Right To Education (RTE) under Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan. The UN committee asked in its annual report 2016 why the RTE bill in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was pending.
On the other hand, educationists believe that Rs. 8 billion earmarked for provision of missing facilities in government schools in KP were quite insufficient. “[The amount] will not even [help in putting] furniture at schools,” education budget expert Malik Masood says. The province has around 28,000 schools and most of them lack facilities. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Independent Monitoring Unit said in its May 2016 report that 26% of the government schools do not have potable water facility, and 10% have no boundary walls, despite the province facing a sensitive law and order situation. Also, 11% schools have no toilets and 34% have no electricity connections.
According to an NGO report, published in December last year, around 100 girl’s schools damaged in different parts of KP by the earthquake almost eight years ago, have still not be reconstructed. However, no attention has ever been paid to the plight of those getting education in these damaged schools.
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Muhammad Idrees Wasafi  believes that the rulers are destroying the education system of Pakistan under a deep conspiracy. Certainly a weird claim and a serious allegation. But the reasons he offers need a serious thought, at least for once.
Serving at a government high school in the suburbs of Lahore, Wasafi is going to retire in the next two years as a headmaster. He joined the teaching profession as a primary school teacher almost 38 years ago, after passing his matriculation examination and securing a Primary Teaching Certificate (PTC) diploma.
He continued his studies as a private candidate during his service, and passed his FA CT (Certificate in Teaching), BA BEd (Bachelor of Education) and MA MEd (Master of Education) examinations. Ultimately, he got promotions from time to time, making him get firsthand knowledge of the primary, middle and high school education and administration as a teacher as well as an administrator (headmaster). So, when he talks of lucunae and problems of the education sector, his views should be taken as those of an expert, or an educationist.
Education is being destroyed in the country under a conspiracy, Idrees Wasafi tells Cutting Edge in a special talk. And the first reason he offers to prove his viewpoint is the policy on students’ promotion to the next classes in the annual home examinations. Teachers are advised by the school headmasters/ headmistresses and other department authorities not to fail any student up to eighth grade to show good performance to the Education Department.
Wasafi believes the situation is the same in almost all four provinces of the country. There’s no uniform benchmark for promotion of students in the annual home examinations. Mostly the administration of each school decides the passing marks that could be as low as 20% of the total marks. The advocates of the policy say the maximum number of students is promoted to the next grades to discourage dropouts, as the failed students often quit education, though Wasafi doesn’t buy the argument.
Referring to a story published in the Dawn newspaper recently, Wasafi says the Elementary and Secondary Education Department has standing instructions to the school managements in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province that a maximum of only 10% of students could be declared failed. He believes that if students are promoted with just 33% passing marks in the annual home examinations, the failure ratio would be more than 60%.
The educationist regrets that students are promoted to the next class even if they have zero marks in very important subjects such as mathematics, English and science, with a better aggregate in comparatively easy subjects like Urdu, Islamiyat, and Social Studies, etc.
The second thing destroying the education is policies like “Maar Nahen Pyar” (No punishment but care) of the Punjab government. The headmaster claims that there are hardly 2-3% students in every class, who learn their lessons on their own; and who have a real urge for an education. Otherwise, the teacher tells from his experience, 98% students do their lessons for fear of punishment. That’s why only those students produce good results not only in learning lessons but in examinations whose teachers are strict and use a rod in their classes.
“When a teacher is humiliated through a police case against him for admonishing his students, he loses heart and leaves his students on their own.
“And the results are known to everyone now: education standard is falling rapidly, but nobody is there to take responsibility for it,” Idrees Wasafi says. The Annual Status of Education Report-2015 (ASER-2015) also proves Wasafi’s viewpoint to a large extent. As per ASER data, 45% class 5 children could not read a class 2 story in Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto. 51% class 5 children could not read class 2 level English sentence; and, 50% class 5 children could not do two-digit division.
The ASER-2015 report suggests that children enrolled in private schools are performing somewhat better compared to their government counterparts. 67% children enrolled in class 5 in a private school were able to read at least a story in Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto as compared to 52% class 5 children enrolled in the government schools. There are similar patterns in arithmetic: 61% children of class 5 in the private schools were able to do division as compared to 47% government school counterparts.
In the rural areas, girls were behind in both learning and enrolment. The reason is that there are not enough schools, and then there are not enough schools with girl-friendly facilities. Gender gaps continue in learning, as 51% of boys and 58% of girls could not do subtraction or read sentence in Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto.
The Sindh Education Department’s Reform Support Unit also conducted a study in all 23 districts of Sindh to gauge learning levels in languages, Math and Science up to class six. The researchers found that the average student achievement was a pitiful 22% if they considered 100% what the child should know. The individual averages were not much better: 32% achievement in languages, 19% in Science, and 15% in Math.
Muhammad Idrees Wasafi holds government policies responsible for the poor learning among students. Besides, ‘no-failing-up-to-grade-8’ and ‘no-corporal-punishment’ policies, the headmaster says, there are some other reasons also behind the dwindling standards of education in the country.
“There may be everything in a school but education, particularly in the Punjab, currently,” he says. All class in charges are bound to ensure at least 92% attendance of their students in classes. “If any class is found short of 92% students by the visiting Monitoring and Evaluation Assistants (MEAs), a punitive action is suggested against the class in charge,” Wasafi claims. “Therefore, class in charges, mostly science teachers, utilise their energies in bringing students to classes and ensuring 92% attendance instead of teaching their pupils, particularly in rural areas of the province,” adds the headmaster.
Some other techniques might be adopted to bring students to schools and make them stay in classes, but persecuting class in charges over their failure to bring students to classes is totally unjustified, he says. Wasafi says that in rural areas, parents have their own priorities for their children. In the crop harvesting season, they prefer engaging their children in farm activities instead of sending them to schools. “In such circumstances, I have myself seen teachers visiting parents in their homes in evenings and begging them to send their children to schools,” the headmaster claims.
Idrees Wasafi has also an objection to changing the method for the provision of small funds to schools and their utilisation through newly formed School Management Committee. Earlier, the Education Department used to transfer funds to schools’ accounts, which were spent with the approval of local committees comprising headmaster, teachers and notables of the area. These funds were utilised for minor maintenance and repair work, buying chalks, installing electricity bulbs, repairing fans etc.
Though the amount of the funds has been doubled, adds Wasafi, yet the process of their acquisition and spending has been made complicated. Now, the School Management Committees (SMCs) are required to first identify areas of utilisation of the funds, prepare a PC-1, open a bank account in the name of the SMC and send the request to the departments concerned. The Education Department launches a scrutiny of the documents, after a long and complicated process, the funds are transferred to the bank accounts through the State Bank of Pakistan.
The headmaster says that schools in all provinces of the country, particularly in rural regions, are mostly short of staff, and the headmaster has also to take classes. Therefore, they don’t have plenty of time to open new bank accounts, prepare project proposals, and send them to the Education Department, especially when the process requires expertise also. That’s why, says Wasafi, quoting some facts and figures from a recently conducted study in Sindh, that only 37% of the public primary schools received funding from the government in academic year 2015.
The research team had surveyed 2,312 government primary schools in 23 districts of the four provinces and Azad Kashmir, tracking SMCs grants. They study found that only 40% schools, out of the total 37% that received funds, got the funds in the first quarter of the fiscal year. That means, adds the headmaster, the funds allocated for the schools remain unutilised due to complicated and lengthy procedure. Wasafi believes that funds provision process should be the simplest and teachers and headmasters should not be dragged into these matters. Otherwise, it would also be considered part of the conspiracy to create hindrances in the provision of education to children at government schools, concludes Muhammad Idrees Wasafi.
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Muhammad Alam Sukhera withdrew his twin sons from Government High School for Boys, Jhangi-wala Road, Bahawalpur, after they passed their primary class examination last year. Now they attend a madrasa in the area to get not only religious but also English and Computer education. No uniforms, no books or notebooks, no stationery, no monthly fee and no pocket money…
Sukhera is pleased with this system of madrasa education. He was finding it hard to bear the expenses of all his five children — three sons and two daughters, all studying in government schools. He sells roasted corncobs in front of the Government Sadiq College Women University, Bahawalpur, in winters, and Kulfis (a type of ice-cream, typically served in the shape of a cone) in summers, to make a living.
He is very conscious about the education of his all children. His eldest son is in class 10 now, a daughter in class 8 and the second daughter in class 6. The youngest twins were studying in class 5 last year when one of his neighbours told him to withdraw all his sons from the government school and admit them to a madrasa, where not only religious but science education was being imparted totally free. Even the madrasa also gives two pairs of clothing annually and two times meal a day.
Alam Sukhera doesn’t want to withdraw his elder son from the government as he was nearing his target of completing his education, after which he might get a government job. However, after visiting the madrasa personally, he decided to admit his twins there. And now he is very satisfied with his decision, as it has not only lessened his burden financially but also the doubts about the future of his young sons.
There are thousands of parents like Muhammad Alam Sukhera across Pakistan who are forced by poverty every year to admit their children to madrasas. Media reports, based on surveys/ research studies, have revealed time and again in the past years that the number of madrasas and their enrolments are increasing with each passing year, though the federal and all provincial governments claim giving education free of cost to all children in the age group of five to 16 years.
Mufti Muneebur Rehman fully agrees to a suggestion that poverty is forcing people to admit their children to madrasas. He is head of the Ittehadul Tanzeemat-i-Madaris-i-Deenia, an umbrella organisation of the five mainstream madrasa boards in the country. He tells Cutting Edge at a seminar in Lahore that the main reason for the spread of seminaries and enrolment of more and more students with them was due to a growing population and an increase in poverty, as people were finding it really hard to send their children to schools.
However, Sahibzada Abdul Mustafa Hazarvi doesn’t agree with Mufti Muneebur Rehman. Performing his duties as the Nazim-i-Ala of the Tanzeemul Madaris Ahle Sunnat, the board for seminaries affiliated with the Barelvi school of thought, for over five years, he says that a lack of a clear policy is causing expansion of the madrasa education. The government is not doing anything to streamline the madrasa education, but it wants the five boards and the seminaries registered with them to stop functioning at once, he tells Cutting Edge.
Sahibzada Hazarvi claims that there are around 9,000 madrasas affiliated with the Barelvi school of thought, imparting religious education to more than 1.3 million students. He says that there has been an increase of 10% in the number of seminaries and students during the last two years.
Maulana Abdul Maalik holds “Western propaganda against Islam” responsible for proliferation of madrasas during the past four, five years. The nazim-i-ala of Rabitatul Madaris says that around one million students are studying in their 1,000 seminaries, and the number of students is increasing every year due to the Western propaganda against madrasas and Islam. This propaganda is forcing Muslims to learn more and more about their religion, he claims.
According to estimates, the number of madrasas in Pakistan has crossed 35,000 from fewer than 300 since the creation of Pakistan. A report claims that some 3.5 million students are enrolled with 35,337 madrasas in the country. Among the five mainstream boards, the largest network of seminaries belongs to the Deobandi school of thought, which are registered with the Wafaqul Madaris al-Arabia.
Abdul Qudus Mohammadi, an official of the Wafaqul Madaris al-Arabia says that around 18,600 madrasas have been registered with the board across the country, and they are imparting religious education to more than two million students, both boys and girls.
Another major board is the Wafaqul Madaris al-Salfia, the Ahle Hadith school of thought, which has 1,400 registered institutions with around 40,000 students. Mohammad Yasin Zafar, the nazim of Wafaqul Madaris al-Salfia, says that the number of students is increasing as many Ahle Hadith communities, including those in Karachi, have established seminaries for imparting both religious and contemporary education.
A relatively smaller board is Wafaqul Madaris Al-Shia, which has affiliation of around 460 seminaries, with the strength of around 18,000 students, mostly boys. A spokesperson for the board sees only a nominal increase in the number of students or seminaries and attributes it to an increase in the population.
An interesting phenomenon, according to some studies, is the increase of girls enrolment with seminaries across the country. The madrasas boards statistics show that even girls have outnumber boys in registration for examinations at lower classes of Dars-e-Nizami – the madrasa syllabus.
According to a report, published in English-language daily The News International, in year 2016, 123,844 girls and 97,159 boys will take annual examinations of different levels of Dars-e-Nizami, registered with the Wafaq-ul-Madaris Al-Arabia.
An administrator at Jamia Faizan Aulia, a Barelvi madrasa, says that because of preaching of Dawat-e-Islami, the trend of sending girls to madrasas among the Barelvi community has increased. Now all madrasas combine religious education with modern subjects to varying degrees and by doing this they are playing a major role in promoting literacy and awareness among Muslim girls, he claims.
Mufti Riazuddin Ahmad seconds the assertion that religious education for girls is getting popular among parents as well as students. As the administrator of a Deobandi seminary for girls in Karachi, he has observed an increase in the number of higher degree classes in madrasas. This year, 2,148 girls will appear in the examination of Darja Alima (equal to MA Arabic and Islamic Studies), as compared to 9,067 boys, he quotes statistics of the Deobandi board.
Maulana Ameen Waheedi, the nazim-e-ala of a seminary for girls Lahore, finds several factors behind the growing number of female students from lower-middle and middle-income families in madrasas. In fact, he adds, madrasa education for girls brings many economic and social opportunities. Besides becoming pious and respectable women of society, madrasa education provides them with the option of taking up teaching profession or setting up a small madrasa of their own. These women have even better marriage prospects, believes Maulana Waheedi.
However, whatever are the reasons for surge in madrasa education, especially their popularity among parents of girls, the sector needs immediate attention of the federal and provincial governments. Various reports suggest that some madrasas in Pakistan had been involved in extremism and terrorism activities, directly or indirectly.
There’s great need to bring the sector into the mainstream, so that a check could be maintained on activities of the madrasas and their productive role and services could be recognised positively.

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Muhammad Siddique is really impressed by an opportunity to learn the things he had never come across in his life. He is a madrasa teacher in Bahawalpur district, and has recently attended a workshop in Multan.
The workshop was organized by The Media Foundation (TMF), a non-profit organization, for capacity building of the madrasa teachers and students in human rights and civic education in three districts of southern Punjab: Multan, Muzaffargarh and Bahawalpur.
Muhammad Siddique believes that the course, comprising lessons on human rights and civic education, is very beneficial for students and it must be declared a compulsory subject for all madrasa students. He wants all madrasa teachers to attend such workshops, to be aware of the importance of teaching human rights and civic education.
Filling in the feedback sheet, the teacher desires the TMF to conduct another workshop in Bahawalpur, so that all other madrasa teachers and students can benefit from it. He believes that the madrasa teachers in his district will show keen interest in the workshop and it will prove to be a great success there.
Muhammad Javed Iqbal is another madrasa teacher from southern Punjab. He is also very satisfied with his experience at the workshop. He finds the course on human rights and civic education, prepared for the students, beneficial for them to a great extent. However, he says that some issues, which the ulema of different schools of thought find controversial, should be discussed and explained sensibly and logically to the students and teachers’ and ulema’s opinions on such issues should be printed in the book as marginalia.
Noorul Saba is one of the female madrasa teachers from Multan, who attended the workshop. She terms her maiden experience of attending such a workshop “wonderful”. She believes that teachers’ capacity building regarding the new course would ultimately benefit the students at large.
The satisfaction shown by all the three teachers mentioned above is quite understandable. They are normally provided access to sources of knowledge and information relating to religion only. They are taught a specific curriculum and then made to teach that curriculum to their students. After spending a long period of time in a protected environment, they develop a specific viewpoint about religion and worldly affairs. And when they come across a new experience, logical and reliable, it surprises and captivates them.
It is a common perception that madrasa teachers and students have a distorted viewpoint of all subjects, other than the syllabus taught to them. Some of the madrasas allegedly serve as a recruiting ground for the violent extremist groups also. Students in such madrasas are exposed to narrow extremist ideologies that do not promote peace and tolerance. Keeping in view the on-ground situation and feeling the need for creating awareness among the madrasa teachers and students, The Media Foundation recently launched a programme for them.
Azmat Abbas, TMF executive director, says that southern Punjab has been selected for launching the project, being one of the most underdeveloped and neglected regions of the country. In an exclusive talk with Cutting Edge in Lahore recently, he said that the madrasa curriculum is not controlled by the government, but by a board or wafaq with which the madrasa is registered. Therefore, the syllabus taught at madrasas usually doesn’t cover various topics including human rights and civic education. There are five major governing bodies or wafaqs of madrasas in Pakistan: Tanzim-ul-Madaras (Barelwi), Wafaqul Madaras (Deobandi), Wafaqul Madaras (Shia), Wafaqul Madaras (Ahle Hadith) and Rabitaul Madaras (Jamaat-e-Islami).
The executive director says that the TMF launched the programme, in consultation with Umeed Jawan – a non-governmental organisation, for building the capacity of madrasa teachers and training 600 students (aged 16-26) in human rights and civic education. The first batch selected for the training and capacity building consisted of 24 teachers, 500 male and 100 female students.
Mr. Abbas says that the memoranda of understanding were signed with the selected 14 madrasas, belonging to all five wafaqs or boards, in Multan, Bahawalpur and Muzaffargarh. To ascertain the level of knowledge of selected teachers and students about human rights and civic education, a survey-based research study was conducted in these madrasas (10 for males and four for females, with four in Bahawalpur, seven in Multan, and three in Muzaffargarh).
The study results showed that an overwhelmingly large number, 90% of the respondents (madrasa teachers and students), cannot define basic concepts such as “human right” or “human dignity” and most have never heard of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the most comprehensive rights agreement in international law. 38 per cent respondents have never learnt about human rights and civic education in their classes, and 32% replied that human rights and civic education were not taught in their madrasas. 25 per cent of respondents didn’t know if they are being offered a civic education course in their madrasas and 16% partially disagree that there are sufficient resources in their madrasas.
According to the findings, 67% of respondents have never been engaged in a school-based human rights education project as an extension of the curriculum, and 62% have never heard about Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Only 25% could answer correctly that the Universal Declaration was created by the UN. Also, 53% believe that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Islamic approach are inherently different to human rights.
The study says that 52% of respondents believe that human rights are a Western concept and not Islamic in nature, and 40% don’t believe that human rights are protected by the Constitution of Pakistan. Also, 48% don’t believe that the Constitution of Pakistan is Islamic in essence, 42% believe that human rights is not a secular concept, while 37% respondents don’t believe that the right to life is protected in Islam and international laws.
Interestingly, but regrettably, 57% of respondents replied that the rights of a Muslim are superior to those of a non-Muslim, and 47% believe that women and men are not equal citizens of Pakistan. Also, 42% assume that women and men do not have equal rights in Islam, and 62% believe that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are tools of Western thought and not meant for public service.
The study also illustrates the encouraging trend that 65% of the respondents strongly agree that they should learn more about human rights and civic education in their classes. Also, 76% respondents strongly agree that their madrasa needs to provide more opportunities to talk about human rights and civic education.
Mr. Abbas says that the TMF, encouraged by the urge among the madrasa teachers and students for learning more about human rights and civic education, launched the project. In the light of the survey findings and summary of statistics, the curriculum of human rights and civic education was designed and written by experts, adds Mr. Abbas
The TMF executive director says that in the first phase, training sessions of madrasa teachers were conducted on January 26, 2015, to January 30, 2015, in Multan. The participants were teachers from 14 madrasas and the purpose behind the training sessions was to prepare them to further train and educate students in human rights and civic education in their respective madrasas. Besides religious scholars, senior faculty members from Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, were also invited to conduct training sessions.
In the second phase, 600 students were selected from 14 madrasas to attend training sessions on human rights and civic education, conducted by their own teachers, who had already attended the training sessions.
Mr. Abbas says that a post-training study was also conducted to evaluate the effects of the training sessions. The results showed a major shift in knowledge and thinking of the respondents as around 85% of the respondents somehow defined the basic concepts of human rights and civic education correctly.
Looking at the results one by one in comparison to the pre-training survey results gives a clear idea about the effectiveness of the training intervention, as 80% of the respondents now say that they have learned about human rights and civic education in their classes.
Mr. Abbas says that the results produced by the short-term, limited project stress the need for teaching human rights and civic education in all madrasas on a permanent basis.
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On April 1, the incumbent federal government made a startling claim: 100% primary-age children will be enrolled in schools across country in just one month. Really amazing! No, really miraculous. The task that could not be accomplished in over 68 years would be done in only one month! I read the statement twice, then thrice, and then suddenly a thought flashed through my mind.
The statement was issued on April Fools’ Day. That means the Ministry of Planning was perpetrating a cruel joke on the people of Pakistan. But no! wildly imputable as it is the government is serious. The details given in the plan are interesting, and require, at least, one serious reading.
According to the “working paper,” prepared by the Ministry of Planning, the implementation strategy has been distributed among all stakeholders: all four provincial governments and other territories under the government of Pakistan. The paper says that from April 1 to 30, the federal and provincial governments will do their utmost to get 100% primary school children enrolled.
The provinces will run enrolment campaigns under the leadership of their chief ministers. Before we go through further details, let’s see who are these provincial chief executives who will execute this plan. What have been their priorities, and what have they done so far for the cause of education?
First of all, the chief minister of Punjab, whose party the Pakistan Muslim League-N is ruling the roost at the Centre also. How much importance is given to education by the Punjab CM is evident from the fact that recently almost all development funds for the education and health sectors were diverted to the Orange-line Metro Train (OMT) project in Lahore to avoid suspension of work on the project. The opposition parties stated in the Punjab Assembly recently that the funds for 611 education and health sector projects, approved in the annual budget, had been given over for completion of the OMT project.
A cursory look at the development projects in Punjab shows that the chief minister is interested only in big road and mass transit schemes in Lahore. The OMT project, signal-free corridor (Jail Road), canal road extension in Lahore city would cost the people of Punjab Rs. 210 billion. Lahore Ring Road project is being completed at a cost of over Rs. 29 billion. The Rawalpindi Metro Bus project’s cost is Rs. 45 billion.
But where is education on this priority list? The Punjab chief minister must know that Article 25-A has not been implemented in his province yet, that binds the government to provide free education to all children in the age group of 5 to 16 years. According to the Annual State of Education Report 2015, over 15% of children between ages of five and 16 are still out of school. The standard of education being imparted to children is not satisfactory at all. The report shows that 30% children in grade five are unable to read a grade two-level text in Urdu. Tens of hundreds of schools lack basic facilities. In such circumstances, how would the chief minister enrol all children in schools is better known to the chief minister or the other authorities concerned.
The situation seems equally difficult for the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief executive also. Only 1,605 educational institutions, out of a total 3,669 extensively damaged in the 2005 earthquake, have been rebuilt and over 2,000 still await attention of the chief executive of the province. Also, according to an Alif Ailaan report issued in December 2015, 75% of out-of-school children in KP have never been to school.
The report says that despite tall claims, the KP chief minister has failed to impose an education emergency in the province with 26,500 schools still lacking basic facilities and the Tameer-e-School Progamme is yet to materialise. At least 10,000 schools do not have electricity, 7,500 are without drinking water, 5,000 lack boundary walls and 4,000 have no washroom. The education minister recently admitted that some 159 schools had been closed in different parts of the province, mostly because of non-availability of teaching staff. The PTI-led provincial government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has always claimed making education a top priority, but even the chief minister and his team would not know how to enrol all out-of-school children in a one month time period.
However, the federal minister’s claim may not worry the Sindh chief minister as he has seldom made any claim about education promotion. It doesn’t bother him at all that almost half the children, under five years of age, are facing malnutrition in his province, that the percentage of out-of-school children in Sindh is the highest in Pakistan, and that the problem of over 40,000 ghost teachers and 5,229 ghost schools are un-addressed in the province.
It also may not bother him that around 60% schools in his province are without drinking water facility, 40% without electricity and 35% without any boundary wall. So asking him as to how would he enrol the out-of-school children would be an irrelevant question for him.
The Balochistan government, being run by a coalition dominated by the PML-N, has already shown its helplessness to improve the state of education in the province. Data shared by Sardar Raza Muhammad Barrech, advisor to Balochistan chief minister on education, reveals that almost half of the population of the province does not have access to education.
He informed a session of the provincial assembly a few months back that there are only 12,500 schools — 7,000 amongst them with only one room and one teacher — for over 22,000 human settlements spread across the province. The enrolment rate amongst boys is no more than 35% and the figure decreases by 50% as far as girls are concerned. While 1.1m children receive primary education, only 50,000 manage to complete matriculation. A mere 30,000 students go on to receive higher education.
With these official facts and figures, it is anybody’s guess how the chief executive could be successful in bringing all children to school in just one month. Barrech believes that the province requires Rs. 25 billion to bridge the massive gap between what is being delivered and what is actually required.
However, the Ministry of Planning’s idea of engaging the university students in the campaign is good one. The youth have not only energy but passion for doing something worthwhile for the country. Their involvement in running the campaign, even in far-off regions of the country could produce good results. According to the plan, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) will seek help from the university student volunteers to go to villages and katchi abadis for getting out-of-school children enrolled.
Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal believes the National Enrolment Drive would produce desired results. He says the idea emanated from a previous experience of the similar nature, organised on International Literacy Day on September 8, 1999. It was decided to enrol 10 lakh out-of-school children, and 876,000 were enrolled during the campaign.
The minister says that Gilgit-Baltistan is a mountainous region, but has better enrolment status than the other provinces. In areas like Diamer, it is impossible to open girls’ schools, and 75 home schools have been opened for girls. G-B is facing problems of resettlement of the internally displace persons (IDPs), and their children are also accommodated in our schools. As an incentive, the G-B government has given a subsidy in wheat to those families which send their children to schools.
Ahsan Iqbal says that the Azad Jammu and Kashmir government is fully committed to launching the enrolment drive with the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) partnership, and the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is working in four districts.
Also, an education emergency has been declared in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), where children in the age bracket of four to nine years are 100,000, whereas 400,000 children have been enrolled and 600,000 children are out of school with enrolment of 8,000 new children in schools, and the net enrolment ratio will be raised to 45%.
The Planning and Development minister should be well aware of the fact that retention of students is more important than enrolment. He must get a study conducted to know how many children enrolled during the special campaign launched in 2009, had passed their matriculation and how many had dropped out and at what stages. The findings of the study would definitely help the minister prepare a better working paper on the issue.
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It is about 9 o’clock in the morning. Some over a dozen children are standing outside the gate of a school in a village of Muzaffargarh district. The parents have sent them to school to get an education, but they are standing at the gate as it is still closed.
The students say it is a routine. They reach school in the morning daily and wait at the entrance until ‘Chacha Sharaf Deen’ (peon) arrives there and opens the school gate. They put their bags in their classrooms and wait for the teacher.
Meanwhile, a group of students takes up jharoos (besoms) and clean the school thoroughly. Every child studying in the school gets a chance to perform this important duty in rotation. And then arrives the teacher, the one and only, sometimes at half past nine and sometime at 10. Sometimes, he may not come for some reasons, and on that day, the 80 students studying in the school may have to go home even without opening their books and notebooks.
This is not excerpts from any story but the transcription and description of footage, shown by “Nya Pakistan with Talat Hussain” programme on Geo News television channel recently.
A reporter for the channel visited various schools in three districts of southern Punjab — Bhakkar, Layyah and Muzaffargarh — randomly, and presented a true picture of the state of schools in his report.
Footage of one school shows an uncovered nullah carrying sewage passing through middle of the school. The school has no boundary wall and heaps of solid-waste are lying around. The school teacher, students and their parents tell the reporter that over 60% of students are suffering from skin allergy, whooping cough, diphtheria and other diseases due to the nullah. However, despite making various complaints in writing to the authorities concerned, no action has been taken so far, says the schoolteacher in-charge.
In another school, heaps of garbage and dung are found near the main entrance of the school as well as the boundary wall.
In almost all schools visited, either there was no furniture at all, or it was in such a dilapidated condition that it could not be used by students.
In another primary school, when the reporter reached to meet the school children as well as the teacher, small girl students were cleaning the rooms with besoms. The teacher said there was no peon in that school at all. And she had only two options; either she herself clean the school daily or get the task done by her students, as she can’t make them sit in dirty rooms.
The education authorities may have a satisfactory answer to her question as to who should clean the school daily: the teacher or the little girl students.
In another one-teacher girls’ primary school in a village of Bhakkar district, young students were found washing clothes in the school, while the teacher was away. There was nothing to hide from the camera that the teacher was getting all her family laundry done by her little girl students.
No matter the Punjab chief minister or the education authorities making big claims about making education development and literacy promotion a top priority, the footage speaks volumes for the real situation in the province. As the programme host made it clear that the schools were visited randomly, almost all schools would present the same picture if the authorities visit them one by one.
The sector has always been neglected by successive governments, and the incumbent one is no exception. Various newspaper reports, published during the past two, three weeks, revealed that the PML-N provincial government in Punjab has diverted all development funds of education and health sectors to the Orange Line Train project in Lahore for its timely completion.
On the other hand, the educational institutions are suffering badly. The Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN) took a household survey in April last year to look into state of school affairs and identify the out-of-school children in parts of southern Punjab, the same region where the private TV channel visited schools. The survey was conducted in eight union councils each in Bahawalpur, Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalnagar.
The results showed that more than 43,319 children aged five to 10, out of the 104,000 children surveyed, were out of school. Nasreen Sheikh, RSPN education campaign manager, said in the report that there was an acute shortage of facilities at schools. She said that 32% of the children surveyed in Bahawalnagar and 34% of those children in Dera Ghazi Khan were out of school, 48% in Rajanpur and 56% in Bahawalpur.
The Annual Status of Education Report, released in December last year, revealed that 30% of the children aged six to 16 in southern Punjab districts were out-of-school. The percentage was 31 for DG Khan, 32 for Rajanpur and 35 for Rahim Yar Khan.
Safyan Jabbar, programme manager at Idara-i-Taleem-o-Aagahi, alleges that there is no political will to bring about a positive change in the education sector at district level. The allocation of Annual Development Program (ADP) funds to 11 districts in southern Punjab had decreased from 23.3% to 14% during the past decade, he tells Cutting Edge. He says that the student-to-teacher ratio in south Punjab is 45:1, whereas the average ratio for the province is 40:1.
The Department for International Development also made public its findings on the Punjab Schools Reform Roadmap, approved in 2010. The report said that by January 2013, there were more than 1.5 million new children enrolled in schools and 81,000 teachers had been recruited. The report stressed the need for funds to “reach south Punjab”, being the most neglected region.
The report said that the lowest percentage of functioning facilities in schools was in DG Khan (77%) and Rajanpur (75%). The lowest enrolment of five to nine-year olds in the province was reported in Muzaffargarh, Rahim Yar Khan, DG Khan and Rajanpur - 60% - the lowest.
Ali Ahmed, a research fellow at the Institute of Social and Policy Sciences (ISAPS), believes that neglect, lack of access, poverty and meagre resources are some of the reasons responsible for the pitiable state of education in south Punjab. Talking to Cutting Edge, he says: “If education can’t offer a solution to survival in poverty stricken areas, why would parents be attracted to it?”
The profiles of Multan and Rajanpur districts, presented by the ISAPS, showed a lack of facilities in schools. In Multan, where 41% of children aged five to 16 were out of school, the profile indicated that 87 schools were without drinking water facility, 126 schools had no toilets, 178 had no boundary walls and 517 of them did not have electricity.
The ISAPS data showed that indicators were worse for Rajanpur. With 54% of the children out of school, 35 schools were without a building and children sat in the open. As many as 300 schools did not have drinking water, 258 did not have toilets, 276 did not have boundary walls and 963 schools were without electricity.
South Punjab is one of the most poverty-stricken region of the country. Salman Hyder, district project officer, National Rural Support Programme (NRSP), says that poverty and unemployment were some of the reasons why parents were reluctant to send their children to school. Many children in this region contribute to the household income, he said, adding that parents want to know the returns from education before they send their children to school. They will need some incentives to be mentally prepared for sending their children to schools. He says that without a sufficient number of teachers, toilets, boundary walls and electricity at schools, the situation could not improve.
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Sagheer Ahmad Shamsi believes low-fee private schools have been caught between a rock and a hard place. They are not making big money but the government departments treat them with hostility, he complains while talking to Cutting Edge. They don’t get any benefits from the private schools associations, but they have to act on the strike calls given by them, Shamsi says sitting in his office in the Sabzazar area of Lahore.
“As they don’t charge a heavy fee, they mostly remain in a struggling phase to keep their schools running.” However, he regrets, every government official coming to the school believes that the person sitting in the principal office should be taken to task at any cost, and he should be fleeced in one way or the other. Mostly, these officials openly demand bribes and, in case of rejection of their demand, create hurdles in the smooth functioning of the schools, alleges Mr. Shamsi.
The school owner says that there’s a lot of competition in the market, as one can find a school or an academy in every other street in almost all localities of Lahore. “In their meagre incomes”, adds Mr. Shamsi, “these small schools have to work really hard to produce good results in the board exams to retain their students.” That’s why, he adds, these schools always remain under threat of losing their students to some other school in the locality if they fail to satisfy the students, their parents or produce good results in the board exams.
Relating problems of such private schools, Shamsi says that every English or science subject teacher demands a competitive salary. “But we, the gali-mohallah schools, couldn’t charge a ‘competitive fee’ being located in dwellings of lower income groups.”  He says that these schools, which make over 70% of the private schools sector, even can’t force parents to buy books, uniforms or stationary etc., from the school or some particular shop, as they cannot afford it at all, explains the principal.
Mr. Shamsi, whose school system has three branches in the Sabzazar area of Lahore, claims that the Punjab provincial government has done an injustice to the “low-fee schools” by not exempting them from the strict laws, approved by the Punjab Assembly recently.
He says that the free market economy exerts great pressure on the low-fee schools at least, as the managements of such schools always remain under the threat of losing their students if they increase the fee more than a certain limit annually. Mr. Shamsi says that his schools add only Rs. 50 to 100 to the fee of a student annually, which is almost negligible.
Muhammad Ahmad Amin, a retired Education Department official, and currently serving as the administrator at a famous chain of schools in Lahore, endorses Mr. Shamsi’s complaints. Talking to Cutting Edge in his office in Allama Iqbal Town, he says that Pakistan doesn't have enough good schools in the public sector. The private sector can meet the demand if the government takes special measures to facilitate it.
Mr. Amin says that private schools should be allowed to work as for-profit ventures. Quality education and a profitable enterprise aren't mutually exclusive, he believes. He says that private schools should be able to charge what fees they want, and let the market decide whether they need to revise their prices (fee) or not.
The educationist claims that the private schools must be allowed to set their admission criteria, as quality should not get killed by ill-planned social engineering and ill-advised government policies. He believes that stifling the growth of private schools is a terrible mistake when the government capacity for rapidly expanding quality education is limited.
Ahmad Amin says that low-cost subsidised government or heavily government-aided schools should coexist with a flourishing private sector. It would be a good step toward provision of quality education to the selected groups of people who can afford a heavy fee. Ultimately, it will benefit the country in the long run, he believes.
However, the parents paying a heavy fee for “quality education” for their children have long been complaining about highhandedness of the private schools. They have been demanding of the government to stop the “private school mafia” from frequently raising the fees.
Imran M. Khawaja, taking part in a protest demonstration at Liberty Roundabout, Lahore, recently, alleged that the schools were raising fees by 10% every quarter. “I am now paying around Rs. 66,000 every quarter for my child. The fee rises by 30% every year. This is unjustified,” he adds.
Paying heed to the complaints and protests by parents against exorbitant fee increase by private schools, the provincial assembly passed the Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation Amendment) Bill 2015 in the first week of March. The bill makes it  binding on every private school to seek permission for increasing fees three months prior to the start of the academic year, and no school could increase the fee for the rest of the academic year. According to the bill, the government will regulate school fees and impose penalties in case of any violation, through an authority, constituted under the law.
The authority would be responsible for registering new schools, while the institutions already working in the province are required to register themselves with the authority within 45 days. The authority would be required to dispose of applications for registration within 60 days. Under the bill, admission fees and security fees charged must not exceed a month’s tuition fee. Also, schools are not allowed to tell parents to purchase uniforms, textbooks or other material from them or a particular shop. The bill proposes a fine of up to Rs. 20 million in case of violation of the new law.
The draft of the bill proposes an administrative penalty up to Rs. 20,000 a day for violations. The penalty is to be charged the number of days from issuance of a notice to the day when the violation is fixed. For violations that continue for over 30 days, the registering authority might file a complaint with a magistrate of the first-class. The court could impose a fine between Rs. 200,000 and Rs. 2 million. The fine proposed for failure to register with the new authority is between Rs. 300,000 and Rs. 4 million. The private schools are allowed to file appeals against the registration authority’s decision. They may submit these appeals to the divisional commissioner concerned, who would be required to decide the matter in a month.
However, the passage of the bill infuriated the private schools representative bodies. On March 8, 2016, the All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF) and the Pakistan Education Council (PEC) announced a two-day shutdown in protest against the passage of the bill by the Punjab Assembly. Kashif Mirza, the APPSF president, told Cutting Edge by telephone that over 97,000 private schools are registered with his association, and at least 90,000 of them observed a strike on March 9-10. He threatened that the private schools representative body can extend their strike call indefinitely if the government did not listen to their demands.
Adeeb Jawdani, the owner of a chain of schools in Lahore, terms the proposed bill to regulate private schools a draconian law. However, he opposes shutting down schools to press for acceptance of their demands. Jawdani, the president of the All Pakistan Private Schools Managements Association, says that he has challenged the bill in the Lahore High Court. He tells Cutting Edge that Provincial Education Minister Rana Mashood had assured him that the schools charging less than Rs. 5,000 per month in fees would be exempted from the bill and that recommendations in this regard would be sent to the chief minister soon. He regretted that no practical steps have been taken in this regard so far.
However, the issue is still unresolved. A spokesperson for the Education Minister told Cutting Edge on March 17 that a 12-member committee has been formed to look into grievances of the private schools. He claimed that the Education Department would not allow private schools to loot citizens. He said that the process of increasing fees would be made transparent and the Lahore district administration would hire chartered accountants to conduct audits of private schools for the last three years. 

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Yet another campaign is set to be launched in the country to ensure 100% enrolment in schools. Ahsan Iqbal, federal minister for planning, development and reforms, told the media recently that the federal government is going to launch an intensive campaign across the country from April 1, 2016, which will ensure enrolment of every child in school by 2018.
The minister held a meeting with provincial representatives on the national enrolment drive and announced that the plan would be prepared by March 22. Though education is a devolved subject under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, he said, the federal government could not absolve itself of its responsibility to maintain national education standards by playing its supportive and facilitating role. The prime minister would hold a meeting with the provincial chief ministers, and the members of opposition parties would also be invited to seek their input on the issue, he added.
Ahsan Iqbal said that 100% primary enrolment is the first goal. After achieving it, the government will work on 100% enrolment in higher education institutions. He said the enrolment campaign was part of the government’s efforts to build the knowledge economy, envisaged in the Vision-2025. He expressed the hope that 100% primary enrolment would be achieved before 2018.
The minister advised the provincial governments to hold meetings at the provincial level to finalise their strategies within a week. He said that district governments should meet to finalise their roadmaps by March 22, to achieve 100% enrolment in schools. All stakeholders should coordinate and synergise their efforts to achieve the 100% enrolment target, he stressed.
Giving details of the campaign, the minister said that university students would be sent to rural areas to educate students, and the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) would be fully engaged to make the campaign a success. He claimed that the federal government was determined to spend 4% of gross domestic product (GDP) on education by 2018, which currently stands at 3% of GDP.
However, the world bodies concerned present totally a different picture. The United Nation mentioned in one of its reports released in December 2015, that 49% of the population of Pakistan lives in poverty and it has one of the lowest investments for education and health.
“Pakistan spends 0.8% of its GDP on health and 1.8% on education,” the statistics show, in complete disregard of the minister’s claim of 3% spending on education. The report ranked Pakistan 146 out of 187 countries on a human development index, equal to Bangladesh and just ahead of Angola and Myanmar.
Pervez Hoodbhoy, a teacher, analyst and contributor on education, says that Pakistan is facing tremendous challenges in the education sector, with 6.1 million children not attending schools at all. UNESCO’s official record shows that this figure has remained mostly unchanged since 2005. The situation is especially alarming in rural areas due to social and cultural obstacles, Hoodbhoy tells Cutting Edge at a seminar in Islamabad. One of the most deplorable aspects is that in some places, particularly northern tribal areas, the education of girls is strictly prohibited on religious grounds. This is a gross misinterpretation of Islam, which like all religions urges men and women to acquire education, adds the analyst.
Umair Asif, a representative of the Alif Ailaan education initiative, says that improving school enrolment lies at the forefront of Pakistan’s battle to improve education. He regrets that Pakistan missed each one of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to achieve universal primary school access, improve retention in school and increase adult literacy, deadline for which was December 31, 2015.
The campaigner says that the literacy rate in Pakistan is 57% currently, while the target was to increase it to 88%. It was also pledged under the MDGs that the survival rate of enrolled children from grade 1 to 5 would be brought to its maximum, but the retention rate currently stands at only 67%. Similarly, the net primary enrolment is 58% in Pakistan and the target of 100% remains a distant dream.
Sharing facts and figures with Cutting Edge, Umair Asif says that in the 2015-2016 budget, the combined federal and provincial allocations for education were almost Rs. 734 billion. That constituted 2.68% of the GDP, an embarrassingly low amount when compared to other countries in the region, he regrets.
Pervez Hoodbhoy believes that any statements by the federal ministers about 100% enrolment didn’t have any value until and unless the provinces are taken on board fully. He says that Sindh and Balochistan are home to the highest proportion of out-of-school children. As many as 66% of children in Balochistan and 51% in Sindh are out of school, followed by Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 47% and 34% out-of-school children, respectively. In the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), 62% are out of school, while in Gilgit-Baltistan 48% children are not attending any school. Some 43% of such children live in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Quoting figures of the Ministry of Education 2013-14 data, Hoodbhoy says that 5.7 million children are out of schools at the primary level in all four provinces, and 6.2 million children are out of primary schools overall including AJK, G-B and Fata. As per the break up, 2.9 million children live in Punjab, 0.4 million in KP, 1.8 million in Sindh and 0.54 million in Balochistan.
An educationist in Karachi, Kaiser Bengali, alleges that the education authorities in Pakistan are good at setting ambitious targets but inept at following through. He says that successive governments have abandoned policies of the previous administration and adopted new and more ambitious targets, wreaking havoc on the education system and squandering billions of rupees, Bengali adds. As a result, Pakistan has failed to achieve the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal of primary education for all children by 2015.
Saman Naz, the data and evidence campaign manager at Alif Ailan, says there is no authentic data regime in the country due to which officials are in a state of denial as far as the number of out-of-school children is concerned. She tells a sitting in Gujranwala that successive governments have failed to take any concrete steps due to which the alarming figure has not subsided. The few small initiatives, taken particularly after the devolution of education to provinces, were also unable to ensure any significant change.
She says that Article 25A in the Constitution binds the state to provide free and compulsory education to all children aged five-16 years. But despite passage of this law, there has not been any progress on this provision and provinces have yet to frame legislation to implement it.
Hoodbhoy sees lack of political will and sincerity behind this failure. He says that every other ruler announces a campaign to bring all children to school. But nothing happens except for publication of the government advertisements in newspapers and sloganeering on the electronic media for a few months in this regard.
The educationist says that so far, the country has witnessed seven or eight education policies, since gaining independence in 1947, eight five-year plans, about a dozen other education schemes and uncountable education and literacy campaigns, but still our actual literacy rate is hovering around a little over 50%. He fears that the current campaign, launched by the PML-N federal government, might also meet the same fate if the ruling party does not show more sincerity and political will to make the campaign a success.
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Muhammad Azeem has seen the worst kind of poverty and hunger in his life. Four or five years ago, his family — wife and four kids — had never spent a day when they would have had their meal thrice a day.
He would sell gas balloons along Jhangi Wala Road in Bahawalpur city to make a living. Being a one-legged man, he could not move around easily. Therefore, he had placed his gas cylinder under a Sheesham tree along the road near his house.
His buyers were mostly schoolchildren, who would pass on the road to school. His daily earnings ranged between 50 to 75 rupees. His wife would also supplement his income by working as a housemaid in some homes of the colony. Thus they made ends meet, barely.
However, he and his wife wanted their children to get an education, who were studying in government schools. His eldest son, Muhammad Ashraf, got admission to the Government Vocational Training Institute, Bahawalpur, after matriculation. Muhammad Azeem’s neighbour, who was a proprietor of a fridge/AC repair centre, guided Ashraf to get admission to the vocational centre, and offered him training at his shop for free.
The boy would attend the vocational institute till noon and in the evening work at the shop. The shop owner was a kind person. As soon as Ashraf completed his two-year diploma course in refrigeration and air-conditioning, the shop owner requested his relative in Abu Dhabi to take him along. The passport fee was paid by him. And, finally, Ashraf reached Abu Dhabi as an AC mechanic two years back. He sends 25,000 rupees back home every month, making Muhammad Azeem’s family richer every passing month.
Now, Azeem tells every neighbour and every schoolchild, who comes to him, how much money his son earns every month. He also asks students and their parents that they should get a diploma in refrigeration and air-conditioning if they wanted to become “rich” in the shortest time. However, neither parents are convinced of Azeem’s suggestion nor are the students lucky enough that they go abroad to earn a “big money”.
But, Zulfiqar Ahmad Cheema, executive director, National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC), says the process is as simple as stated by Muhammad Azeem. He says that technical and vocational education and training (TVET) can transform millions of lives in Pakistan.
Talking to Cutting Edge at a function in Islamabad, Mr. Cheema believes that vocational training is an effective tool for poverty reduction and for producing a skilled human resource for resource-constrained Pakistan. He says that marketable skills inculcated in the youth could lead Pakistan towards socio-economic progress.
The NAVTTC executive director says that Pakistan can exploit the potential of its growing young population only by equipping the boys and girls with employable skills, which are in demand in the domestic and international markets. Different duration of courses in various technical and vocational fields are being offered across the country, ranging from three months certificate courses to three years diploma in associate engineering (DAE).
Cheema says that one form of Matric-Tech Scheme, i.e., one optional technical subject against computer studies and biology is available in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and the federal capital area. Furthermore, options of Matric-Technical School Certificate in Sindh and customised training for industry in Punjab are also available.
Different institutions are involved in the curriculum development process with the aim to provide education in various technical and vocational fields for employment, self-employment and for further studies. These institutions include: TEVTA, Punjab; Centre for Curriculum Research and Development (CCRD) Sindh; Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Board of Technical Education; and Balochistan Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BBISE) and the Ministry of Labour and Manpower.
The National Institute of Science and Technical Education (NISTE) is the approving authority for DAE curricula and vocational subjects at secondary school level. The three-year DAE curriculum is uniform throughout the country while all provinces maintain the uniformity of their vocational courses. Industry is often involved in the curriculum development and revision process. The federal government has recently established NAVTEC for making the uniform policies and restructuring of TVET in the country.
The NAVTTC executive director says that a number of initiatives have been undertaken, including launching of first-ever national TVET policy and the National Vocational and Qualification Framework (NVQF). A Competency Based Training (CBT) programme has been launched in more than 100 institutions with expected 20,000 pass-outs. The NAVTTC has also completed the accreditation of 586 TVET programmes and institutes to improve quality of TVET and create national standards. All these diverse approaches serve the purpose of employment, self-employment, and for further education, he explains.
The executive director says that training has been imparted to 8,500 teachers to improve pedagogical skills. A two-day skill and job mela was organised in Karachi on March 2-3, 2016, he shares with Cutting Edge.
However, Ainee Shehzad, a professional development instructor, doubts government claims that technical and vocational training to the youth is included in the government priorities. We would not have seen hundreds of thousands of educated unemployed youth in our country, had there been technical and vocational education/training on the government’s priority list.
Talking to Cutting Edge, she says that in today’s highly interconnected world, experiencing rapid technological changes, possession of skills by its workers, gives a country an edge over others. She believes that for surviving in this age of globalisation, it has become imperative for Pakistan to have a competent workforce.
Ainee holds a Master’s degree in education and international development from the University of London. She says that technical-vocational education (TVE) can be a tool for ensuring the supply of well-trained and efficient personnel for industry, thus acting as a catalyst for economic development.
Listing reasons for joblessness, Ms. Ainee says that graduates from the general side (non-TVE) of education do not get absorbed in the white-collar job market, leading to a very lopsided situation where excess supply leads to large-scale unemployment.
She is convinced of the importance of technical and vocational training. She says that another important link of TVE with development is that it can help combat child labour. TVE can provide the mineral and ore industry in Pakistan with suitably trained and skilled labour for an effective and economically viable utilisation of its natural resources like minerals and gas. Also, better agro-technical education resulting in better skilled and technologically competent farmers, will ensure rapid development for Pakistan’s agrarian economy, she adds:
Ainee regrets that there is a dearth of technically qualified and skilled people in the country to fulfil the demands of industry, particularly in the manufacturing sector. TVE can make a mark on the economic growth of Pakistan by improving the quality of labour through investment in human beings, i.e. by creating human capital.
She sees lack of a trained workforce as one of the reasons for slow, or no, progress in Pakistan. In the past, illiteracy, lack of training and the lack of an adequate infrastructure deprived the country of creating a substantial economic impact in the global market, she adds.
She says that low-skill labour has resulted in low wages that led to insufficiencies in the production chain, affecting exports and industries. An example of this is the value-added textile and garment industry where, despite being one of the largest producers of cotton, Pakistan has failed to make a mark because of poorly trained and low-skilled labour.
The professional instructor says that acquiring TVE-related skills also allows individuals to achieve a degree of self-employability. Besides, it can be an aid in the growth for the rural areas because industries wishing to set up factories or plants would find an easily accessible pool of skilled labour.
Ms. Ainee also finds TVE effective in empowering women. She says that the underprivileged and impoverished section of society, especially women in rural areas of Pakistan, can particularly benefit from TVE as there are various TVE schools for women that are playing an effective role in their uplift.
A research study conducted recently also endorses Ainee Shehzad’s concerns partially. The study found that except for three-year diploma of associate engineering programmes, all other options are not working satisfactorily. The efforts to integrate TVE with the secondary school general curriculum have remained unsuccessful except for in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), according to the study.
The study recommends that more concerted efforts are needed on the part of federal as well as provincial governments to improve technical and vocational education/ training in the country. Having a large population under 25 years of age, Pakistan has great potential to export skilled manpower to other countries to earn big foreign exchange, says the study.
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Mian Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab’s chief minister, issued an unusual and interesting statement on the World Mother Language Day, observed in all parts of the world including Pakistan on February 21. He said that language is of great importance, as it defines the identity of a nation.
The chief executive of the biggest province of Pakistan stated that the mother language is recognised as a preserver of civilizations, culture and national identity. Every word and idiom of a mother language is rich in national traditions, mental and spiritual experiences and an effective source of survival and promotion of cultural heritage.
The chief minister said that language creates awareness about the linguistic and cultural traditions all over the world. He admitted that education given in the mother tongue has a positive impact on the mental development of youth.
Of course, everyone concerned would agree to what the chief minister said in his statement. But does he himself believe in his assertions, is a valid question here. Did he give Punjabis their identity, or made any efforts in this direction, during his current and previous tenures in power in the Punjab province? His party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has ruled the Punjab for over 13 years (1990-1993, 1997-1999, 2008-2013, and 2013-2016) since its genesis in 1988.
Three more years, from 1985 to 1988, may also be added to the PML-N rule, as the incumbent Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif remained chief minister of the Punjab province during that period, under General Ziaul Haq. Though the rule was not continuous, yet 16 years are a long period of time for making laws and implementing them “to give the Punjabis an identity”.
In Lahore and some other cities of the Punjab, activists, students, teachers and members of civil society organized rallies on the International Mother Language Day. They were demanding giving the people of Punjab their constitutional right — an education in their mother language, Punjabi.
Ahmad Raza, president of Punjabi Parchar — a small organization working for promotion of the Punjabi language in the province, alleges that the chief minister’s statement is hypocritical. Talking to Cutting Edge outside the Lahore Press Club during a demonstration, Mr. Raza said that the ruling party, the Pakistan Muslim League-N had never done anything for the promotion of the Punjabi language, despite being in power for decades.
“What [Shahbaz Sharif] has he ever done to give Punjabis their identity,” asks the activist. He believes that the provincial government is deliberately depriving the children of Punjab their right to education in their mother language.
Article 251 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan binds the provinces to adopt necessary measures for promotion, teaching and usage of regional languages. Tariq Jatala, general secretary of the Punjabi Parchar, says that after passage of the 18th Amendment, it is the responsibility of the provinces to implement this right. But the Shahbaz Sharif-led Punjab government has been committing its violation for long, Jatala tells Cutting Edge at the rally.
Educationists believe giving an education to children in their mother language is the best method of teaching, especially children of less than 10 years of age. A new study titled Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report 2016, conducted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), also recommended the use of mother language during teaching for at least six years of early learning to boost academic performance.
The report, released on February 19, says that teaching children in “a language other than their own” negatively impacts their learning. The policy paper states, “If you cannot understand, how can you learn.”Learning is slow if teaching is conducted in a language other than the one used at home by children.
According to the report, children brought up in homes across the country primarily speak the regional language of their province. Whether its Pashto, Punjabi, Sindhi or Balochi, the moment these children step into schools, they are expected to learn two new languages immediately. Not only that, but their entire thought process is suddenly supposed to fit one of the new languages, as the medium of instruction is either English or Urdu.
Educationists believe that a child that speaks a regional language at home cannot be expected to compete with students that have been brought up in homes that speak one of the national languages. The whole system is skewed against the majority of students and it is no wonder that the dropout rate is as high as it is in the country; a language a student does not fully understand is only likely to alienate him/her.
The report also seconds fears of the Punjabi activists that sheer neglect on the part of the government as well as the Punjabi speaking people would result in extinction of the Punjabi language in Pakistan one day. The report says that more than 50% of about 7,000 languages, spoken in the world, are likely to die out within a few generations. 6,720 of these languages are spoken by a mere 4% or 296 million people of the world. “Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given a place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world,” adds the UNESCO report.
The report findings show that learning improves in countries that have invested in bilingual programmes. In Guatemala, students in bilingual schools have lower repetition and dropout rates. They also have higher scores in all subject areas. Children in Ethiopia who participated in bilingual programmes for eight years improved their learning in subjects across the curriculum, says the document.
The report expresses concerns that countries with colonial histories often find that shifting to bilingual education is complicated, as can be seen in many Latin American contexts that continue to use Portuguese, or Spanish, or in many Francophone African countries, where French remains the predominant language of instruction.
The report explains that in multi-ethnic societies, including Turkey, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Guatemala, imposing a dominant language through a school system has frequently been a source of grievance linked to wider issues of social and cultural inequality.
According to the UNESCO recommendations, at least six years of mother tongue instruction is needed so that gains from teaching in the mother tongue in the early years are sustained; education policies should recognise the importance of mother tongue learning. A review of 40 countries’ education plans finds that only less than half of them recognise the importance of teaching children in their native language, particularly in early grades.
Also, teachers need to be trained to teach in two languages and to understand the needs of second-language learners. Teachers are rarely prepared for the reality of bilingual classrooms, including with inclusive teaching materials and appropriate assessment strategies. UNESCO's Education 2030 Framework for Action, a roadmap to implement the 2030 Agenda, encourages full respect for the use of the mother language in teaching and learning, and the promotion and preservation of linguistic diversity.
Diep Saeeda, a Punjabi language supporter and social worker, however, says that only the government authorities could not be blamed for the deteriorating situation in Punjab. Talking to Cutting Edge at a conference in Lahore, she says that Punjabi, the language of the majority province, is dying rapidly, but neither the government nor the Punjabis themselves are bothered about it.
Ms. Diep regrets that Punjabi families are willingly giving up the language of their forefathers. They feel proud to speak Urdu with their children as the education system prevalent in Punjab promotes only Urdu and completely ignores Punjabi. She says that Punjabi Saiwak (promoters) are not against the learning of other languages, but Punjabi should be the first priority for the people of the Punjab. Learning Urdu and English can be additional feathers in their caps, she adds.
The Punjabi language activist believes that the mother language is an important cultural tool to mould a child. Punjabi is the language of variety and cultural depth. To keep our children away from our long cultural and social history means to disobey the law of nature, she claims.
Ms. Diep notes with regret that the Muslim Punjabis are not conscious of their mother language. Exploiters wish to see the Punjabis a dumb and quiescent nation so that this uprooted group of people could be easily abused in the name of religion and ethnicity, she explains. She says that the Punjabis are not walking the talk. On the one hand, we are celebrating Mother Language Day, and on the other hand killing our mother tongue, Punjabi.
She says that the Punjab government authorities, especially Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, should allow Punjabis their identity by introducing an education system, from primary to graduation, in the Punjabi language in all educational institutions of the province. Also, she adds, Punjabis should not shy away from speaking their mother language not only in their daily life but also with their children, if they want to preserve this great language of 60% population of the country for future generations.

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