ENTERING 2007:

PAKISTAN�S EDUCATION SYSTEM
 

Having now crossed into the new millennium, let us look back to see how Pakistan has been educating its young. The facts speak for themselves: an international comparative test placed the science and mathematical skills of 11th class Pakistani students equivalent to that of 6th class Japanese students, a shocking gap of 5 years in learning achievement. One survey discovered that 60% of class-V students, and 40% of their teachers, could not divide one simple number by another. Other surveys have found that many government schools add little value? Out of school children, who work in shops and factories, were found to be somewhat better in mental arithmetic than in-school children.

There are four areas that cry for immediate and expeditious change: curriculum, textbooks, examinations, and teacher training. Each has been the subject of numerous costly studies by specialist teams, international and national. Some have been excellently done, others are only fair. Yet no study has been of the slightest use in reversing the decline. The problem is not that of insufficient data or lack of sound recommendations, but the fear of authorities to take unpopular but critical decisions. Let me consider each area in turn.

A school curriculum is the basic road map of education, and it is here where the most fundamental problem lies. Pakistan has yet to decide whether it wishes to live in the 21st century of modern education or return to the days of Nizam-ul-Mulk and the madrassa system of the 11th century.

One presumes that on the morning of 12 October 1999, a model student had to present evidence of respect for Nawaz Sharif, and in the evening for Pervez Musharraf.

The present school curriculum enforced by the Curriculum Wing (CW) of the Federal Ministry of Education -- makes little effort to link Pakistani patriotism, or Islam, with:

Civic responsibilities such as growing and nurturing trees, preserving the environment, Acceptance of Pakistan's diversity of religions, languages, and cultures, paying one's fair share of taxes, Assurance of social justice, etc.

Instead, passivity, blind obedience, and indoctrination are the goals. The pharaohs of the Curriculum Wing insist that Pakistani children must learn in at least three languages -- Urdu, English, Arabic - and often the mother tongue, if different, as well. This linguistic burden alone is sufficient to cripple tender minds.

To rescue curriculum development from the clutches of the Education Ministry is essential. One possibility is to entrust this to certain of the country's universities. In doing so, Pakistan will not be doing anything out of the way. In Britain, universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, and London, defines the curricula for school-leaving examinations. There are numerous other models: in the United States, every school is free to have its own curricula but college entrance examinations (the Scholastic Aptitude Test) enforce some standardization of learning. India and Iran also have no national curriculum. If so many countries have demonstrated that they can exist and prosper without a national curriculum, there is no reason why Pakistan must be fixated upon having one.

A textbook is the second area needing radical reform. A comparison of Matric and O-level physics and mathematics books reveals a world of difference in the clarity of explanations, quality of questions and exercises, and choice of examples. Sadly, vested interests have successfully appealed to nationalist feelings and thus prevented a wider use of internationally available books. I have yet to understand what "Pakistani physics" or "Pakistani mathematics" means, unless this is meant to denote something shoddy and sub-standard.

Not surprisingly it is the Textbook Boards, together with their favored authors, which promote his fake nationalism. In fact many individuals make huge profits by producing substandard and badly written books filled with conceptual, pedagogical, and printing mistakes. That their monopoly, under the protection of the state, should have been tolerated for so long is tragic. Under intense pressure from international education experts there had once been some movement on this issue -- in principle the Government had agreed to let private publishers compete and allow multiple textbooks to be used. Subsequently the Education Ministry manipulated matters so as to empower the Curriculum Wing to select books. Back to square one!

Examination reform is the third critical area. Exams drive the entire education system, but widespread cheating and mismanagement have made their results unreliable indicators of student performance and learning. As the solution, many voices call for the army and police to supervise examination centers and to crack down on the so-called? booti mafias? Who make available exam papers, as well as their solutions, for the right price? While enforcement of discipline and cracking down on the Mafiosi is unquestionably necessary, calling in the army or police is not a panacea. Even if cheating is eliminated entirely, the net improvement will be marginal. Therefore, instead of seeking such quick fixes, it will be necessary to get to the roots of the problem.

In a modern education system, properly designed examinations are vital component of the learning process because they serve to enhance analytical and problem-solving abilities. They serve to challenge a student, test the degree to which knowledge has been successfully internalized, and act as benchmarks of progress.

Pakistani public school examinations serve this purpose poorly. Rote learning is rewarded, but analytical ability is not. Mis-marking of student exam scripts by poorly paid and poorly qualified examiners, and badly crafted exam papers discourage many good students. For example, the matric Physics paper set by the Federal Board in 1994 set a record by having no less than 44 mistakes on a single sheet of paper! I had the dubious pleasure of showing this particular paper on a Pakistan Television program almost 6 years ago, but subsequent papers are scarcely better. Not surprisingly, private employers, as well as autonomous and semi-autonomous institutions are being increasingly forced to devise other means to select applicants.

The Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE's) are directly responsible for this disastrous state of affairs. Apart from a Federal Board, controlled by the federal ministry of education, there are 20 provincial boards. The BISE's have substantial assets and income. For example, in 1989-90 the combined official declared income of the BISE's was Rs.28.5 crore with a net saving of Rs.5.7 crore. What certain individuals make as cuts for leaking papers to tuition centers and individuals is anybody's guess.

Elaborate plans for restructuring and improving the BISEs have existed for a decade, the result of careful studies by international teams of educational experts. They lie on the dusty shelves of the Ministry of Education, representing years of wasted effort and money. Huge vested interests seek to maintain the status quo.

The failure of examination reform has meant that the "A" and "O" level schools in Pakistan, linked to examination boards in Cambridge and London, are the only private schools that can be reasonably said to impart quality education. Hence the number of candidates appearing for the "O" level examinations has been increasing at 30% annually. Last year over 8000 students appeared for these examinations from Pakistan. Assurance of quality is provided by the fact that students must measure up to the yardstick that the overseas boards provide.

There have been failed attempts to create an indigenous "A" and "O" level system of similar quality but modified to suit Pakistani conditions. The problem is that this new system, which could continue in parallel with the present ones, would have to be recognized by the Government as better than, or at least equivalent to, the Matric certificate currently awarded by the 20 BISEs in the country. In previous years, for inexplicable reasons, the Ministry of Education has always shot down such proposals. The former head of the Curriculum Wing angrily told me that such an idea was "unconstitutional" and "anti-national".

Teacher training is another disaster area needing attention. Teachers are only barely more knowledgeable than their students, especially in rural areas. The only remedy is massive investment in teacher training by the government. However, government control and administration of teacher training institutions is bound to lead to familiar results. Therefore, teacher training should be done, with strong government subsidy, in private institutions. The Teachers Resource Centre, Ali Institute of Education, and Institute for Educational Development are fine examples showing that teachers can be trained well in institutions run by dedicated, professional people. But their efforts are but a drop in the bucket. Many more like them are needed.

Assuming that educational goals can be fundamentally re-oriented away from indoctrination towards the creation of critical, creative, and informed minds, the intelligent use of technology may well be the only way out of Pakistan's educational morass. While technology can never replace a teacher, it can act as a great force multiplier. Both for training teachers, as well as for direct instruction of students, one can imagine that distance learning through specially developed video and multi-media learning materials could be extremely powerful tools.

Spanking new ideas and prescriptions for reform are easy to churn out. But their implementation does not come about so easily. We have still to see a demonstration of the military government's political will for a meaningful attack on educational problems. Indeed, plans for educational reform have yet to be formulated and announced. Implementation will be another matter.
 

Syeda Majeeda Aqeel

PESHAWAR.