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 halfconstructed. 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-urRahman 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 PakEuropean 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 subsector. 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, nonproduction 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 socioeconomically, 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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