ISSUES IN EDUCATION SYSTEM IN PAKISTAN

Upset by drastic budget cuts imposed by the finance ministry, the vice-chancellors of 71 public sector
universities are threatening to resign en-bloc. They rightly say that development projects are grounded,
bills unpaid, and some buildings only half-constructed. Paying teacher salaries is also at risk. But a cash-
strapped government retorts that its number-one priority is dealing with the flood devastation. It says it
cannot afford the inflated budgets of previous years.

Of course, sooner or later a limited bailout and some compromises will be worked out. But one thing is
certain the party is now over. For years, money had rained down from the skies and been foolishly
squandered. The Higher Education Commissions profligacy and abuse of resources meant that, floods
or no floods, disaster was in the making. But it simply chose not to look at red flags along the way.

From splendid boom to painful bust: how to understand this? After 911, the world suddenly realized
that something was dreadfully wrong with Pakistan. Foreign donor agencies and governments tripped
over each other to offer aid for education. They feared that an uneducated and unskilled Pakistan could
become an epicenter of terrorism. Their thinking went like this: more money, better universities, less
terrorism.

A cash-carrying tsunami soon hit Pakistans public universities. With Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman heading the
HEC, the higher education budget thundered up 900 percent between 2002-2008. The world was awed;
such budgetary explosions are as rare as supernova events. Universities doubled, then tripled in
numbers. The number of registered PhD students at various universities, qualified or not, skyrocketed.
Although students remained poor, teacher salaries went through the roof.

Today our universities have no money to pay these outrageous salaries. But surely this had to happen.
On the HECs insistence, tenured professors saw their salaries doubled, tripled, and sometimes
quadrupled. A full TTS professor nowadays can make up to Rs 325,000 per month, about 30-35 times a
schoolteachers maximum salary. Many professors make at least half or two-thirds of this amount. But
this TTS scheme failed to bring new and talented faculty from abroad, partly because of the security
situation. International donors eventually wearied of funding a failing system, which subsequently
plunged deep into the red.

Spending money became confused with progress. Hugely expensive scientific equipment was imported
that, even years later, lies unused. Then, with only a cursory check of academic suitability, the HEC
dispatched thousands of students overseas on full scholarships. Although failure was guaranteed, nine
new Pak-European universities were announced and even partially built. But no European teachers
turned up and plans were eventually scrapped. Almost no day went by without the announcement of
some breathtaking new scheme. Some were plainly crackpot. But the former HEC chairman thought
more was always better. He boasted that his organization had over 350 schemes in the pipeline, more
than in the rest of the government.

The chickens have finally come in to roost. But one must ask: why did this boondoggle last so long? The
answer lies in HECs successful propaganda blitz that left gullible overseas institutions singing its praises.
Nature, a prestigious publication, wrote that Pakistans higher education had turned the corner. A World
Bank report, issued by a team led by Benot Millot, lavished breathless praise upon the HEC for having
effected quality improvement of the higher education sub-sector. Though embellished with beautiful
graphics, the report was deficient in one key respect it had zero data to back its claims of quality
improvement. In effect these foreign institutions became accomplices to a grand heist of Pakistans
public money. Sadly, there is no one to take them to task.

Freely flowing money created a new dynamic. To benefit from many-fold increases in salaries for
tenure-track positions, professors speedily set about removing all barriers for their promotions. They
happily took on unprepared students for PhD research because each student brought more money into
that professors pocket. Thousands of meaningless academic papers were published in exchange for
cash.

Today, the failure of the Musharraf-Rahman education miracle is evident from the ferocity with which
most super-salaried professors and their PhD students are campaigning against international testing.
Unable to meet even the minimal requirements of their disciplines, they demand unearned degrees
saying that passing examinations and taking courses is unnecessary and an affront to their dignity.
Protest demonstrations over the last few months succeeded in pushing back the earlier requirement of
passing the international Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), as well as the requirement of taking and
passing graduate level courses.

The house of straw has finally been blown away. So what needs to be done? Six decades of consistent
failure in creating a viable higher education system should force us to break with the fiction that
insufficient financial resources are the problem. Instead we must search for truer reasons.
Governments have come and gone without setting Pakistan on the path towards betterment. To play
the standard political blame game is futile.

In truth there is something that sets us apart from the developed world, and even from other
developing countries which have good universities, like India. At the deepest level, the problem is our
value system. This disallows for modern education and a modern mindset resting upon critical thinking.
Questioning is bad, obedience is good. But for progress, the dead hand of tradition must be cast aside
because closed minds cannot innovate, create art and literature, or do science. Modern education is all
about individual liberty, willingness to accept change, intellectual honesty, and constructive rebellion.
On a more practical level, there is urgent need for rational academic and fiscal planning. Current
spending priorities are the haphazard expression of individual whims, not actual needs. For example,
most Pakistani students in higher education (about 0.8 million) study in about 800 colleges. But the
spending per college student is a mere one sixth of that for a university student. Public colleges are in
desperate shape with dilapidated buildings, broken furniture, and poor laboratory and library facilities.
This must change.

A reform plan for higher education, both college and university, must focus largely upon faculty
development, institute credible national level university entrance examinations, check faculty for
adequate subject knowledge before hiring, crack down on widespread academic fraud and plagiarism,
and use innovative educational technologies. The bottom line is: how you spend matters much more
than how much you spend. Those in charge of higher education must now learn to think more maturely
and use finite resources more intelligently.

Pakistans educational problems

FROM INPAPERMAGAZINE PUBLISHED DEC 09, 2012 05:18AM

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The first time I thought about education and its significance to this society was when I went on a field
trip to a school set up by an NGO in the late 1990s. It is now a rightly famous NGO but back then during
my sixth grade field trip it just seemed like a project of a group of cranky Karachi businessmen who had
decided to spit against the wind of the governments non-interest in providing education to its people.

These rich grouches had gotten together in the chaos of 1995 Karachi and seeing the government more
interested in massacring hard-boiled militants than provide social services, they decided to simply pool
their own money and build their own schools. How benevolent of them. I would love to see these rich
mens tax receipts.
The citizens of a country shouldnt be dependent on the benevolent charity of rich men. Through their
own democratic political process, citizens must enforce upon their richest members the income taxes
necessary to fund an education system that reaches every child in the state. The fact that Pakistanis
have not done so points towards the weakness of their political system in dealing with its populations
educational needs.

There is no real shortcut from the state actually enforcing a tax system that extracts the adequate
revenue needed to fund the creation of a school near every human settlement in Pakistan. The goal I
have described of having a school near every human settlement in Pakistan, is what Pakistan is obligated
to do under its current international treaties and the simplest and most straightforward way it can be
done. It is certainly not impossible. Pakistan has managed to make sure that no human settlement lacks
a mosque. The same needs to be done for schools.

Where we went wrong

Nationalisation of schools, as was done by the Z.A. Bhutto administration, was a shortcut that cannot be
used, and was actually instrumental in ruining government schools. The provincial governments that ran
education departments became overstretched then to the point of breaking. The schools that were
nationalised saw the prospect of future capital and human investment in them pointless, as the former
owners were now dispossessed of their old stake in the schools. Good teachers left, rather than become
government employees to be posted in far flung places, and the lack of good teacher training colleges, a
necessity unacknowledged up until recently, saw little competent replacement.

By nationalising the missionary (Christian), faith-based (Muslim) and private schools, an unwieldy,
unplanned expansion of Pakistans school system reduced the status of government school teachers to
the corrupted, incompetent, ineffective place it finds itself in today. Teachers do not come to classes,
and if they do, they are ill-prepared to teach. It becomes difficult to weed out and penalise
underperforming teachers because their status as government employees prevents them from being
penalised as they would be in the private sector.

As much as this rhetoric may sound similar to the United States, Pakistans teachers unions continue to
shelter wildly incompetent teachers, who beyond being simply bad at teaching, many times do not even
show up.

Anti-participatory environment
We are not helped either by large class sizes, low teacher to student ratios, non-production of teachers
in a sufficient quantity and quality by the low number of Pakistani teacher-training colleges.

Central to this remains the criminally low expenditure on education by Pakistan, and the failure to
collect or divert enough revenue to the education sector. Taking the education emergency of Pakistan
seriously would mean finding means to increase the amounts spent on education in Pakistan, on a war
footing.

Students cannot themselves push for an effective learning environment. Despite the fact that some
students actually do want to learn, the environment that exists in classrooms, does not brook dissent.
This discourages students from bringing up flaws in their educational setting. This anti-participatory
environment in classrooms is facilitated by excessively large class sizes, which discourages teachers from
having more individualised interactions with students.

This anti-participatory trend in classrooms is complemented by an anti-democratic trend in schools,

where no voting is done to elect new prefects or monitors, rather the relevant students are appointed
by the school administration.

Giving students an opportunity to actually vote for their school leaders might inculcate democratic and
participatory values in them at an earlier age, and teach them the responsibility of making their own
decisions.

If and when these students reach Pakistani universities, they can adequately recognise the entrenched
authoritarianism accumulated in many of Pakistans universities over the last three decades.

Student politics

This persistent anti-democratic trend within Pakistans educational establishments has reinforced the
low academic quality of these institutions.

There is little legitimate input from the student bodies on how their education is conducted. Since the
1980s student union elections have been either banned or delayed, witnessing unrest in a violent
country like Pakistan ripple into campuses as violence, as opposed to measured debate.
First word:

By the grace of almighty Allah, I am starting to elaborate my thoughts with the confession that I am
nothing, just a poor, humble human being having limited knowledge of such serious affairs of life.

Any how with the guidance and prayers of my teachers & parents, I am daring to present my feelings
with the request that any one of dearest readers, if find any mistake or any misunderstanding, then
please inform me and guide me.

[sociallocker]Educational setup in Pakistan:

Education is considered as the back bone of any nations development , progress and prosperity b/c it
serves as light that forecasts the economical, social, religious and moral aspects of any nation. Keeping
in view the importance of education in advancement of country and nation , almost every country of the
globe has a well established and balanced educational setup the fulfills and covers the all aspects of
their nations needs. It is the fact that all developed countries have attained their current position in the
nations of the world basing on their educational systems that are so much sophisticated , well oriented
and well maintained as well as modernized as required by needs of time.

But in our beloved home land PAKISTAN whole educational system is so much deteriorated, ruined
and miserable that I am not finding proper words to mourn about it.

Actually Pakistan possesses multiple educational set-ups that are so much complex in nature that
difficult to understand and out of these there is no single educational set-up existing that can be even
considered up to the mark.

So according to the nature of the educational set-up, there are many shortcomings in these educational
systems that cause a lot of problems to the students adopting them. Lets try to elaborate the problems
according to the variety of the educational setup turn by turn:

1.Public/Govt; education system:

It is largest education system present in country consisting of Government schools, higher secondary
schools, colleges and universities; governed by ministry of education. According to a survey conducted
in 2009, about 73 percent students join the public or government schools but this ration varies province
to province; as this ratio is very poor in KPK, BALOCHISTAN, FATA as compared to PUNJAB & SINDH.

But its really pathetic that educational system adopted by public sector in very old, very less effective,
substandard, poorly maintained and very poorly updated according to the needs of modern age and
international standards. Moreover this system is ruled by corrupt Government that devours the
educational budget like a monster every year with out any hesitation; resulting in the big loss to
countrys economy.

2. Private sector education system:

It is the second most popular educational setup in Pakistan. According to a survey , almost 26 percent
students are studying under this educational system. This educational system is for business and profit
purposes, here in Pakistan. At Governmental level, no active body is present to control , administrate
and keep this set-up into limits , is present.

3. Madrissa educational set-up:

This is the third most popular educational system in Pakistan in which about 6 percent students are
studying. Although it is administered by Federal authorities , but this educational system is quite
different as compared to the other educational systems of country and bears many lacks on its part. One
scholar said: This is supposed to provide religious education; however, poverty is another factor that
restricts the parents to send their children to public or private school so that they prefer to send their
children to madressah where education is free. Religious madrassas churn out yet another class that is
usually unaware of the world outside their own. This one has no name and consists of children who are
born in misery and die in misery

4. Foreign educational set-up (0/A level) :

Some institutions are running foreign educational setups in Pakistan. The best examples are O-level, A-
level, Lums etc. Although these are providing education that is of international standards but these are
unable to fulfill the social , economical, religious needs of Pakistan Each and every country of the world
has its own educational needs according to society and community , keeping in view the moral and
religious values. Adopting an other countries educational system means in true words is to enslave the
new generation . Every country of the world has established its own well oriented educational system
according to needs , instead of copying the others. The best examples are educational systems of
JANPAN, GERMANEY, CANADA, KOREA, USA, UK ,AUSTRALIA .

Problems faced by students in current educational set up

All above discussed educational systems have many lacks and inabilities & are causing lot of problems to
the students and in a result ruining the new generation. Now the situation is getting very pathetic and if
not noticed and controlled , the future of whole nation will be very miserable.

The critical problems faced by students in the current educational systems are as follows:-

Continuous Secularization:

Education is the only tool used to prepare the new generation according to the culture , religion and
social values; but although being an Islamic state, we are still unable to clarify our mind about the
Islamic content in curriculum. This is increasing secularization in new generation.

Focus on basic education only:

Since the independence time , Pakistani Government is only focusing on the basic education only , this is
causing a lot of problems.

Poorly updated Curriculum:

Pakistani text book boards are still unable to update the syllabus according to the requirements. It is
always changed with no proper planning.

Inappropriate examination System:

Our examination system is still inappropriate and is not meeting the standards.
Politic in education:

Political interference is devouring the all rules and merits in education system of Pakistan.

Costly Education:

In almost all developed countries education is free of cost but we are still hanged in the trap of no free
compulsory education.

Unstable Educational Policies:

The incompetency and lack of professionalism is at peak level resulting in the instability of the
educational policies since the day of independence.

Insufficient funds and corruption:

As compared to the needs, the allocation of the funds for the education are too much insufficient and
corruption is in addition to it.

Unavailability of facilities:

Proper facilities in the class room as well as at higher level are almost unavailable and learning aids are
completely vanished.

Poorly educated and insincere administration and supervision:

The basic root of these problems is the presence of poorly educated and untrained personnels at
administrative level.

Transportation hurdle:
Pakistan transportation system is much disorganized, unsecure, unavailable in equality in all areas of
country and very costly. It is affecting the students educational process very badly, as most of students
belong to poor families and are unable to afford it.

Aimlessness:

Aimlessness of the education is at high level continuously.

Availability of professional teachers:

Professional teacher appointment has become a big problem due to increasing rate of corruption and
political interference and is becoming very problematic day by day.

Punishment:

In almost all educational institutes Pakistan, no matter either these are religious madrissas, public or
private , the punishment is considered as compulsory for teaching purposes. The punishment trend is
more severe in public and madrissa sector.

Language barrier:

Our educational curriculum is in Urdu at primary level and in English at higher levels. So this language
barrier has caused a great disturbance to students while shifting form one level to another level. And
this problem is worsening day by day in the present times, due to wrong educational policies of higher
authorities.

Large number of students:

The number of teaching institutes as compared to the students enrolling every year is highly insufficient.
It results in large number of students in one class and at results affecting educational process and poor
number of faculty.
Heaps of books:

In Pakistan, the flopped educational system has cursed the students via inheriting them a large number
of books and with no learning aids .

Low scholarships:

Scholarships availability for brilliant, poor and needy students is almost near to zero percent as
compared to the number of students enrolled in institutions. This situation is very bad in private sector.

Rare Personal Grooming:

Lack of professionals and well educated faculty has definitely resulted in the poor grooming of students
personality.

No exposure to the modern world:

Very low exposure to the outside world is available to the students in public sector. This situation is
worse in madrissa system.

Availability of well furnished and modern labs:-

Availability of well furnished labs is very rare in public sector and cant be even imagined in madrissa
system.

Focus on book warming:-

This monster is devouring the new population in almost all educational systems in Pakistan. Book
warming in students in all educational sectors is on a peak level.
No extracurricular activities:-

Very poor arrangement of extracurricular activities is seen in both public as well as madrissa system.

No carrier counseling:

Pakistani students are inheriting this paining situation at all levels almost in all educational setups since
ages and still situation is very poor.

Financial stress:

Poverty has affected the whole country badly. Majority of students belong to rural areas and poor
families that are unable to bear the costly education and living hand to mouth.

Co-education and Emotional problems:

In the educational setups where co-education is present, the emotional factors like romance, love,
flirting etc has greatly affected the educational environment leading to destruction of moral and social
values.

Gender Discrimination and Regional Inequalities:

The adult female illiteracy rate in the country was twice as high as for males. The illiteracy rate was
23.3% for males and 46.9% for females. The number of educational institutions, the literacy rate among
both males and females, the number of private educational institutes and the available educational
facilities are not equally provided all over the country.

Imposed study and Psychological problems:

It is almost a trend in Pakistan that students are not free to choose profession according to their interest
and nature. They are advised and get imposed by their parent to be doctors, engineers etc at every cost.
The main reason is no availability of experts to guide in this critical matter. It leads to serious
psychological problems in students.

Addicted unsafe and unhealthy environment:-

Drug mafia and criminals always target teenagers to fulfill their bloody shameless purposes and it has
caused very unsafe and unhealthy environment in educational institutes. New generation is being
addicted by drugs very speedily.

Hostel life and bad friends:

Poor availability of the educational institutes at rural and regional levels has increased the hostel life
trend. Bad friendship in the absence of parents and mature guides has provided the teenager the
chance of spoiling.

Extremism:

Being a Muslim community, we have a strong adherence with the religion but in Pakistan, there is no
clear cut policy about this aspect of life. So lots of unfair molviism has promoted the extremism in
society. The situation is worse in madrissa educational system.

Unsafe religious, moral and social values:

Due to no rules and regulations and bad governess, there is lot of religious confliction. So our religious,
moral and social values are going to be deteriorated and unsafe day by day and causing a great
disturbance in students life. Foreign educational systems are also a big source of moral and social values
distraction.

Unemployment:

Unemployment rate is going to be higher day by day. Students after completing studies are roaming
unemployed. This is provoking the loneliness, terrorism, suicide trend in new generation.
No appreciation of innovation and creativity :

In Pakistan, creativity and innovation has no importance, even at national level. Many innovative
brilliant students has worked hard and made many inventions in different fields of life, but these all are
of no use. Lack of appreciation, acceptability and growth chance has caused the disaster of the brilliant
brains of nation.

My final word.

All problems discussed in the former discussion can be routed out with the proper planning and good
administration at national level if the powers shall be transferred to good, secure and loyal hands.

I agree that nothing good can be done with proper co-ordination and active participation of the whole
community and nation; but this will happen if the active awareness of the problems and possible
solutions would be floated to the nation.

We should take part in this effort even at individual level , if we are sincere to our beloved country, b/c if
this problem keep on suspending and situation continues to get worse day by day with same rate as it is
then , I am 100 percent sure that destructions, miseries and slaveries are our destiny.

I am stressing that this problem needs solution as soon as possible so that the PAKISTAN, our beloved
and great PAKISTAN can be FALCON of ISLAM in a real meaning and soar in the sky of success , progress
and prosperity with proud and every person of this Allahs blessed nation can say with vigor that yes I
m Pakistani and I am proud to be Pakistani

The situation turned chaotic in the 1990s when the general mayhem of the city of Karachi coincided
with violence on the Karachi University campus.

The presence of such violence made the students of that decade disinterested in participatory politics.
This suited the authoritarian and bureaucratic administrations of varsities, as well as the sclerotic,
unelected leadership of Pakistans political parties. They did not mind that the students of Pakistan slid
into political apathy.

However, the importance of student politics was re-kindled in the 2007 lawyer-led movement against
the dictatorship of General Musharraf. The importance of student politics was even acknowledged by
the government that won against Musharraf in 2008, when it lifted the ban on student and trade union
elections.

However, the twist in the tale has been the glaring domestic democratic deficit of this government. The
anti-participatory atmosphere on campuses has not lifted as no memorable student elections have been
held. Neither have any well-publicised trade union elections been held. And most significantly, no
internal party elections have been held in any party that maintains a decisive number of seats in
parliament.

What the lack of student democracy has to do with Pakistans state of education is that there is no
feedback from students, who are the objects of education. There is no diminishment in the cruel
authoritarian atmosphere of Pakistani government classrooms, where teachers, in negligent enough
environments can still use sticks to punish students.

Outdated syllabus

Along with training enough sane and competent teachers to replace the dangerous, lazy and
incompetent ones, Pakistanis must also look to revise an outdated and at times bigoted syllabus. This
would be a little more difficult as it would require dealing with ill-created syllabi across four different
provincial textbook boards (textbook creation being a provincial subject).

We know the importance of education in Pakistan. This is the second decade of the 21st century and it
has just begun to sink into the population of Pakistan that the education of their children is necessary
for their economic prosperity.

One can credit the digital and electronic media explosion of the last decade for finally driving this point
home for our population, that childrens education is no longer an option, but a necessity. Our digitized
and plugged-in century has abundantly made clear to people the necessity of modern education.
 I never really thought about education in society as a child. That would have been expected of any 11
year old. But when I visited a third grade NGO school classroom in the late 90s and saw another 11 year
old struggling with phrases I would read just for fun, it hit me how serious the problem of illiteracy was
for Pakistani society.

In a misbegotten decade as that one, beyond the Gordian knot we had witnessed of Karachis bloody
politics, the reality of childrens mis-education struck me as a crueler fate, a dire issue that had to be
resolved immediately. Thats because these ill-educated children would not remain children much
longer. They would soon be badly-educated adults.

And if this cruel act of omission by Pakistani society was not amended quick enough, then one more
generation would see their adulthoods wasting away under the 21st century curse of illiteracy.

Tax the rich, teach the kids. We have an education emergency on our hands.

Role of universities in the

development of Pakistan
Universities should focus on creating an entrepreneurial culture among
their graduates. They should produce job creators rather than
producing job seekers

Dr Ejaz Hussain and Asif A Malik

October 17, 2014
2 COMMENTS

It is commonly perceived that education is the most powerful weapon in

alleviating poverty, elevating economic growth, producing skilled human
resource, creating a healthy and enlightened social environment and making
self-sufficient nations. Poverty and education are paradoxically related to each
other: if one is improved, the other is decreased.
In a socially, economically, religiously and culturally diverse state like Pakistan,
higher education institutions and universities, imparting education and
conducting cutting edge research, are the central mechanisms that can raise the
declining social and economic infrastructure of the country. Since the 2000s,
there has been rapid growth in these institutions and universities across
Pakistan as is evident from the sharp rise in their numbers from just 32 in 2001
to 160 at present.
Pakistan, despite rapid growth in the education sector during the past decade,
suffers from severe challenges in its educational development. These challenges
include lack of access to higher education for the majority of its youth, results
oriented standards of pedagogical techniques, brain drain of qualified human
resource and lack of adaptability to changing paradigms of academic research.
Out of a population of 190 million, only five percent of them have access to
university level education. It is worth mentioning that, by the end of 2022,
Pakistan needs 36 million new jobs if the economy grows up to six percent
annually. Therefore, it is the premier duty of all national universities to produce
graduates who fulfill the criteria of the national, social and economic needs of
the country. In this regard, the role of career counseling and placement offices
at the university level becomes very important.
In the 21st century, the paradigm of universities has shifted from traditional
aspects of teaching and learning towards building communities, economies and
patterns of leadership. Education, either basic or higher, plays a key role in the
development of human capital that subsequently brings about the establishment
of sound economies and harmonious communities. There is an immediate need
to initiate radical educational reforms so that these challenges can be addressed
proactively. The following is an exercise in this regard.
To begin with, the ministry of education, ministry of finance, planning
commission, standing committees on basic and technical education and the
higher education commission of Pakistan should assist these universities, both
public and private, in establishing on-campus university-community partnership
centres. These centres should work on the pattern of think tanks and should
devise mechanisms to address dominant social problems, prepare modules and
schemes for the outreach of educational facilities and bridging linkages with
communities for sharing of knowledge. Secondly, since Pakistan is a traditional
society with different demographical characteristics, whereby more than 30
percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and more than 600,000
young graduates are adding to unemployment every year, these higher learning
institutions and universities should develop terms of reference (ToRs) to provide
financial assistance to talented individuals who otherwise cannot afford
university education.
Thirdly, to streamline and ensure effective utilisation of public funds allocated
for development of higher education in Pakistan by the concerned commissions
and universities, the concerned ministries and planning commissions should
primarily focus on building grass-root level education in primary schools,
especially in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Fourth, universities should
focus on creating an entrepreneurial culture among their graduates. They
should produce job creators rather than producing job seekers. This can be
attained through the establishment of effective business incubation centres,
encouraging partnerships between industry and academia and placing career
counselling offices that should work on intellectual and professional
development of the graduates during the course of their studies in order to
prepare them today for the challenges of tomorrow.
Fifth, education never means to earn; it means to spend. The best way to spend
is spending on education and research that later on addresses the social,
political, environmental and economic problems of Pakistan. Universities can
play a vital role in this regard through fostering reciprocal partnerships with
other educational organisations and community development centres to identify
real life problems. Community development participation should be made
mandatory for teachers and students at the university level. If the prestigious
Australian Endeavour Award can assign 35 percent of its total evaluation marks
towards the contribution of individual applicants towards community services
than why can students at our universities in Pakistan not be prepared on similar
lines? Moreover, since Pakistan has always been a victim of natural calamities
such as floods and earthquakes, it will be beneficial if various emergency
training programmes and courses related to disaster management are
incorporated in the curriculum.
Last but not least, the role of university managers and leaders is very crucial in
steering our universities in the right direction. The Higher Education
Commission of Pakistan (HECP) can, for example, initiate university leadership
and administration programmes for capacity building of university
administrators in collaboration with top ranking educational schools around the
world. Popenici rightly said that an institution is not a sum of disciplined
soldiers working on the assembly line designed to deliver skills for a set of jobs
(that may be gone when students graduate). A university is responsible to
develop the whole thinking person, to expand horizons and instill the love for
learning in individuals and build democratic citizenship with engaged and
informed citizens who have the power to make democracy work. A university is
also asked to cultivate imagination and creativity, defend civilisation and create
new knowledge, act as a forum where free and responsible minds can question
the unquestionable for the benefit of our societies. Universities have the power
to provide innovative solutions, but when tools of a successful army are used in
this institution, results are equal to those imagined if we promote debate groups
for soldiers when they are in the line of fire.
In summary, it can safely be concluded that the development of societies and
economies is interlinked with the growth of education. It is the order of the day
that quality of education at every stage be improved to help lay a solid
foundation for the advancement of studies in basic sciences, engineering
disciplines, agriculture extension, medical and some other important areas that
are needed for the economic growth and reconstruction of Pakistan. As the
report published by Credit Suisse in February 2013 indicates, The rising trend
of youth unemployment around the world threatens not just current economic
growth but also political stability and the potential demographic dividend. As a
result, universities now have to re-think and re-design their policies for the
uplift of the socio-economic situation in Pakistan. Without quality education that
critically prepares a young mind to face and provide solutions to varied types of
problems, Pakistan or any other developing state will only suffer socio-
economically, politically and strategically.

Role of universities in the development of Pakistan

Universities should focus on creating an entrepreneurial culture among their graduates. They should
produce job creators rather than producing job seekers

Dr Ejaz Hussain and Asif A Malik

Dr Ejaz Hussain and Asif A Malik

October 17, 2014

2 COMMENTS

It is commonly perceived that education is the most powerful weapon in alleviating poverty, elevating
economic growth, producing skilled human resource, creating a healthy and enlightened social
environment and making self-sufficient nations. Poverty and education are paradoxically related to each
other: if one is improved, the other is decreased.

In a socially, economically, religiously and culturally diverse state like Pakistan, higher education
institutions and universities, imparting education and conducting cutting edge research, are the central
mechanisms that can raise the declining social and economic infrastructure of the country. Since the
2000s, there has been rapid growth in these institutions and universities across Pakistan as is evident
from the sharp rise in their numbers from just 32 in 2001 to 160 at present.

Pakistan, despite rapid growth in the education sector during the past decade, suffers from severe
challenges in its educational development. These challenges include lack of access to higher education
for the majority of its youth, results oriented standards of pedagogical techniques, brain drain of
qualified human resource and lack of adaptability to changing paradigms of academic research. Out of a
population of 190 million, only five percent of them have access to university level education. It is worth
mentioning that, by the end of 2022, Pakistan needs 36 million new jobs if the economy grows up to six
percent annually. Therefore, it is the premier duty of all national universities to produce graduates who
fulfill the criteria of the national, social and economic needs of the country. In this regard, the role of
career counseling and placement offices at the university level becomes very important.

In the 21st century, the paradigm of universities has shifted from traditional aspects of teaching and
learning towards building communities, economies and patterns of leadership. Education, either basic or
higher, plays a key role in the development of human capital that subsequently brings about the
establishment of sound economies and harmonious communities. There is an immediate need to initiate
radical educational reforms so that these challenges can be addressed proactively. The following is an
exercise in this regard.

To begin with, the ministry of education, ministry of finance, planning commission, standing committees
on basic and technical education and the higher education commission of Pakistan should assist these
universities, both public and private, in establishing on-campus university-community partnership
centres. These centres should work on the pattern of think tanks and should devise mechanisms to
address dominant social problems, prepare modules and schemes for the outreach of educational
facilities and bridging linkages with communities for sharing of knowledge. Secondly, since Pakistan is a
traditional society with different demographical characteristics, whereby more than 30 percent of the
population lives below the poverty line, and more than 600,000 young graduates are adding to
unemployment every year, these higher learning institutions and universities should develop terms of
reference (ToRs) to provide financial assistance to talented individuals who otherwise cannot afford
university education.
Thirdly, to streamline and ensure effective utilisation of public funds allocated for development of
higher education in Pakistan by the concerned commissions and universities, the concerned ministries
and planning commissions should primarily focus on building grass-root level education in primary
schools, especially in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Fourth, universities should focus on creating
an entrepreneurial culture among their graduates. They should produce job creators rather than
producing job seekers. This can be attained through the establishment of effective business incubation
centres, encouraging partnerships between industry and academia and placing career counselling offices
that should work on intellectual and professional development of the graduates during the course of
their studies in order to prepare them today for the challenges of tomorrow.

Fifth, education never means to earn; it means to spend. The best way to spend is spending on
education and research that later on addresses the social, political, environmental and economic
problems of Pakistan. Universities can play a vital role in this regard through fostering reciprocal
partnerships with other educational organisations and community development centres to identify real
life problems. Community development participation should be made mandatory for teachers and
students at the university level. If the prestigious Australian Endeavour Award can assign 35 percent of
its total evaluation marks towards the contribution of individual applicants towards community services
than why can students at our universities in Pakistan not be prepared on similar lines? Moreover, since
Pakistan has always been a victim of natural calamities such as floods and earthquakes, it will be
beneficial if various emergency training programmes and courses related to disaster management are
incorporated in the curriculum.

Last but not least, the role of university managers and leaders is very crucial in steering our universities
in the right direction. The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HECP) can, for example, initiate
university leadership and administration programmes for capacity building of university administrators
in collaboration with top ranking educational schools around the world. Popenici rightly said that an
institution is not a sum of disciplined soldiers working on the assembly line designed to deliver skills for
a set of jobs (that may be gone when students graduate). A university is responsible to develop the
whole thinking person, to expand horizons and instill the love for learning in individuals and build
democratic citizenship with engaged and informed citizens who have the power to make democracy
work. A university is also asked to cultivate imagination and creativity, defend civilisation and create
new knowledge, act as a forum where free and responsible minds can question the unquestionable for
the benefit of our societies. Universities have the power to provide innovative solutions, but when tools
of a successful army are used in this institution, results are equal to those imagined if we promote
debate groups for soldiers when they are in the line of fire.

In summary, it can safely be concluded that the development of societies and economies is interlinked
with the growth of education. It is the order of the day that quality of education at every stage be
improved to help lay a solid foundation for the advancement of studies in basic sciences, engineering
disciplines, agriculture extension, medical and some other important areas that are needed for the
economic growth and reconstruction of Pakistan. As the report published by Credit Suisse in February
2013 indicates, The rising trend of youth unemployment around the world threatens not just current
economic growth but also political stability and the potential demographic dividend. As a result,
universities now have to re-think and re-design their policies for the uplift of the socio-economic
situation in Pakistan. Without quality education that critically prepares a young mind to face and provide
solutions to varied types of problems, Pakistan or any other developing state will only suffer socio-
economically, politically and strategically.

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