Educational Disparity in Pakistan Education

Is a universal right of a person mentioned in Article 13 and 14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and considered as a fundamental human right in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Education empowers people and increases their opportunities to participate in the labor market.

 Education is considered the basic determinant of earning, so differences in education’s quality are one of the basic root causes of differences in earnings. The statistics in Table show that more educated people earn more than less educated ones. This calculation is based on microdata of the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey (PSLM) for the year 2015-16.

Average Earnings and Education in Pakistan

Education (measured in years)  Average Monthly Earnings in PKR

0-4 9,957

5-9 13474

10-13 18708

14-15 27178

16 and above 34582

Source: self-computation from PSLM (2015-16)

 So here we find that higher is the education, lower is the probability to be among the poor. Hence, difference in education is likely to be one of the causes of poverty and income inequality.

Afterwards we will look on the issue of educational disparity of Pakistan. We will assess what are the disparities and how they affect the overall economy. And finally, we will come towards the remedies that should be followed to overcome these problems and thereby enhance the quality and equality of education in the country.

 There are many causes of disparities like regional disparities, rural-urban inequality, English- Urdu medium, gender disparity, income and wealth of parents, curriculum, syllabus, private- government school, tuition and coaching centers, division in beliefs, testing disparity.

 Some of the problems are very genuine, of which remedies will cost a lot, for example, in rural areas there are few houses in one village, and villages are too far from each other. Now building schools in each village will cost very high, on other side the children also can’t manage to walk miles daily to a remote schools, if one school is built for several villages. So such kinds of problems are very genuine, but here we will not talk about such problems, we will mention here such problems which can be cured with less cost and with good management.

 Now we will go in detail for each problem and its remedy(s).

Students in rural areas face difficulties regarding transport facilities, as I discussed in above paragraph, when they go to their local schools. This is the problem on primary level which is covered up to an extent by government by building primary and secondary schools in rural areas; however these school buildings are repeatedly used for sports, poultry, and political meetings by locals. Several rural areas in Sindh, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are still too far from sight of Provincial Ministries of education. This is the problem on school level for which government made arrangement up to certain level.

The real disparity lies in college and universities. College and university are located in big cities which is a big issue for poor students from rural areas. Regional disparity is a major cause of educational disparity in Pakistan. Quality of education is different in each province, for example, the schools in Baluchistan are not developed as those located in Sindh or Punjab.

 One of the major reasons for regional education disparity is the unequal allocation of budget and improper implementation of budgetary resources.

The private-government school concept is considered the second biggest reason for unequal education. The range and demand of private schools are increasing continuously, which clearly shows that the government schools are not considered high quality. English medium and schools with high tuition fees are indirectly differentiating society classes, which clearly mean that you can avail quality education only if you are able to pay for Private schools. That’s how poor students are unable to pay for private schools and thus they are can’t get quality education.

 Government should take immediate action in this regard. The best remedy which can effectively be implemented is the same solution which was applied for privatization of banks. When government banks were privatized then its efficiency increased, if same remedy is applied for government schools and they are handed over to private schools thus its efficiency will be increased. Of course, poor students can’t afford private school tuitions; in this case government will pay for their tuition fees.

Another reason for educational inequality is gender disparity. Pakistan has not paid that much attention to female education, which other developing countries, like India and Sri-lanka, have paid. Most of the females discontinue their education after intermediate because of early marriage and parents are not prepared to send their daughters to co-education system (university).

The education system of Pakistan needs to be reframed so that both genders avail the equal opportunities of quality education. Separate institutes should be built for both genders, of course it will cost much, but it will also increase the ratio between the two genders.

Another big reason for education disparity is Urdu and English medium concept. Students in government schools are taught in Urdu and private schools are teaching in English. The social mindset of Pakistan says that you must have good English language proficiency to excel in the society. English medium has murdered the true meaning of quality education. Primary level students are more focusing on translations of their science books and left behind what is said in the books.

Therefore, setting English compulsory for primary students in Pakistan is a matter of concern for most. Testing system is another disparity which Pakistani students face while they are applying for medical or engineering entry tests. Such tests are easy for English medium students but a rocket science for Urdu medium students.

There are other problems which cause educational disparity in Pakistan but these were main disparities. Now what should we do? Instead of thinking of a uniform educational system, we should think about the minimum standard education system through which we can have same results that we want for example, government can set standard that what a child should know by class 5, class 8 and class 10.

These minimum standards should be framed keeping in mind that what country needs, what our children should know and what are our national goals? Most of the time the problem is not with the existence of laws but the problem is with the implementation of them. The government has to set up quality assurance and different testing mechanisms that will check the quality of public and private sectors to ensure that minimum standards are met.