Every child still does not go to school in Pakistan, and less than half of the adults are literate; many more women than men. Less than two percent of government money is spent on education; the United Nations education organisation, UNESCO, recommends at least double that amount. But it is a fact that earlier, it was worse even and only children of the rich and wealthy had any formal education, and again, only the males. We have all heard stories from our grandparents and great grandparents that when a letter came, they could not easily find someone who could read it, not in the whole village and maybe not in the neighbouring village either.
Education is important for everyone in order to do well in life, and never have as many children gone to schools and been enrolled in higher education as today. Educational content has changed quite a bit in the last generation, to become more relevant. Yet, the curriculum is often changing more slowly than the world outside. And private schools are now ‘in’, and have been so from the 1990s. But only some parents can afford to send their children to private schools. Many private schools are good, often with more modern curriculum than that in government schools, but not always adapted to Pakistan’s needs, since they might have a foreign bias, certainly with regards to the English language.
Private schools charge fees, and the schools which are perceived to be very good charge high fees. Running schools is a business enterprise, and those who are successful at it can make good money, take out profit and expand their chain of schools. Let us hope that high fees also mean good education.
Government schools, though, although catering for the majority of children, are seen as less good by parents and employers. That may often be true, but not always. In addition, it has become a culture that children have extra tutors in the evening, making their spare time taken from the children and being another burden on parents. In addition, schools and tutors focus on what students need to learn to pass and do well at exams, not necessarily on earning what is best for them and the society. I find it sad that money speaks so much in education; indeed that money dictated what is perceived as good education.
In secondary and higher education, money is even more important than at primary school level. Most students have to pay something for their higher education, certainly the students who attend private universities. Some of them have a good standard, but it is a fact that many degree courses are better in government institutions since it often demands high investment to establish and run degree courses in many fields. Let me also stress that vocational and technical training must be given higher priority in our education system, and that status and pay for workers in practical fields must be increased.
Universities must try to make the degree courses as relevant and possible to the needs of the workplace, in both the private and public sectors. That is not so easy, and it can be costly for the universities to develop and run good courses. Students prefer certain degree course for various reasons, and their choices are not always logical. For example, many may study law or medicine because degrees in such fields carry prestige.
I believe that degrees in social sciences and arts are important, yet, they often don’t lead to specific jobs. Many end up as teachers, in the civil service, in NGOs, or the media sector. Some few have luck and maybe brains, to get into research and development. I would like to emphasise that the teaching profession needs people with broad degrees, good understanding of society and interest for people. Hence, there should be clear recruitment policies to attract young degree holders, add some courses in education and teaching methods, and make good use of eager young people. True, teaching doesn’t seem to have a very high status nowadays, and salaries are not as good as they ought to be, neither in the government nor in the private schools. Government policies and recruitment campaigns can change some of that, so that we can all realise that the teaching profession is one of the most important in any society, and it can also be very rewarding. But since there are a lot of teachers, the salaries will never be very high for classroom teachers, but certainly alright for head teachers and others.
I have drawn attention to the importance of making the content and skills of degree courses relevant to jobs and the real life. We must get rid of the idea that certain degrees are finer than others; that law and medicine, and also engineering, somehow are better than degrees in social sciences and arts, for example. We must also not value occupations by how much money people are paid. As I said, teachers are indeed crucial members of any society, even if they are not the best paid. The same goes for nurses and support staff in the health sector.
In this article, I have drawn attention to the fact that money plays such an important role in education; that money is getting more and more influence over content and how educations organised and perceived. Sometimes, top people in society beautify themselves with a degree and title whereas they may just have passed the exam and not practiced after graduation. Those who have money can also hire people to write speeches and articles for them, pretending they have done it themselves. This may not be entirely wrong, but we ought to be able to stay behind what we say and write. If we want to use English in speeches and articles, it is alright to get help with that, and our points may come out better. Perhaps there are self-employment opportunities for graduates here to charge moderate fees for a ‘language wash’ for ordinary people.
Let me end my article by emphasising that money should not direct education. I also believe that good government schools should be the common thing, certainly at the primary level. We should also get rid of much of the private tuition for after school hours for the children who then get deprived of time to play and learn from outside-school activities. It is wrong if we let money play a key role in education, and it is wrong if we make names of degrees rank a person’s value. Symbolism is not realism, and money is meant to be a means, not an end in what we do in life. Contrary to this warning, the government must spend much more money on education in order to make schools good, make education accessible and compulsory for all, and place Pakistan in the fast lane on the future highway of an advanced society.