.Educational crises: Problems, causes and solutions

A report titled “25 Million Broken Promises” by UNDP, says that there are currently 25.02 million boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 16 who are not in school. It further reveals that “the proportion of out-of-school children (OOSC) increases as the level of education rises so that by the higher-secondary level almost 85% are not in school”. As it is mandated in the constitution of Pakistan that every child has the right to free and compulsory education, so these reports make one wonder and question as to why and how such young children can be deprived of their basic constitutional right to learn and acquire education. Besides out of school children, educational crises of Pakistan can be reflected by poor infrastructure, corruption in education department and hurdles to girl’s education. While hovering over the causes and reasons of such cheerless educational crises, one can easily find that the major causes are poverty, social constraints, cost of education, bad governance, lack of proper planning and management.

More than half of our educational institutes are not up to the mark, especially those in rural areas are worse than some war ravaged buildings .Around 45 % of the government schools and colleges are in a dilapidated condition .They lack basic facilities like proper sanitation and appropriate furniture.
Not only this, but our academia also lack competent intelligentsia. Most of the academic stuff resort to obsolete and conventional methods of teaching. Although, they are well qualified but still they do not adopt modern ways of teaching .Beside this, Examination system is also a dark horse for these children. These examinations are biased and non analytical. Hence cramming is appreciated and promoted among students for acquiring high grades .Almost 11 % of teachers are usually absent daily from schools, colleges and there is no proper system to oversee them. There is a dire need of a watch dog to eliminate this incompetency of absenteeism.
Above all, around 24 million girls and boys are out of school. More than half of them are girls .Punjab and Balochistan remains on the top in this regard. Almost 70% of these out of school children have never been enrolled in a school in their life time .While those who have been enrolled, left education because of poverty, costly education and social constraints.
For girls who are unable to continue their education, cultural norms are the worst villains, especially in rural areas. They are often made to confine themselves to their homes because of the biased thinking of their parents .Parents often seem education as necessary for their sons only as future security for themselves .Furthermore, out of the school children can be attributed to the costly education system .As, per capita income is 1200$ while monthly expense of education usually exceeds 300$, which becomes unaffordable for poor families at some point.
The education system of Pakistan is comprised of 260,903 institutions and is facilitating 41,018,384 students with the help of 1,535,461 teachers. The system includes 180,846 public institutions and 80,057 private institutions. Hence 31% educational institutes are run by private sector while 69% are public institutes. Looking at the ground reality, almost more than half of the private institutes are being established for business purpose while government institutes lack credibility and efficacy

For many years from now, war on terror has been affecting our education system badly. Such anti-state elements not only compel governments to spend more on military operations than on education, they also distress these young flowers of our society psychologically .Imagine the gruesome act of attack on APS in December, 2014 which lead to more than one hundred children being mercilessly massacred and slaughtered just because they were related somehow to the khaki cadre .These acts of terror and brutality immensely undermines the credibility of educational institutions.
Financial aspect has also been a defining factor for the vitality of our education system. There are around 180,846 public institutions and 80,057 private institutions .So approximately 31% institutes are being run by private sector .Although, they provide better quality of education but they are almost out of the reach of a majority of population because more than 50 % population are dangling under the shadow of poverty .This in turn leads to increased illiteracy rate and more out of school children rate.
Furthermore the ,current GDP is 2.4 % of which only 11 % is being spent on educational developmental activities while 89 % of the Total expense comprises of teacher’s salaries .This compromises the developmental capacity of educational institutions.
Lack of planning and management have always played a key role in the fiasco of academia .As Benjamin Franklin once said,
‘’If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail ‘’

Although, Pakistan is a signatory of EFA and MDGs but so for she has failed in achieving these hallmarks of increasing primary education rate and female literacy rate. Vision 2030 of Planning Commission of Pakistan looks for an academic environment which promotes the thinking mind. The goal under Vision 2030 is one curriculum and one national examination system under state responsibility but so far the progress holds no fruitful future because of the ineffective civilian leadership.

Neglect of the technical education and vocational training is also the major cause of the declined trajectory of the educational life line. Technical education and vocational training centers render skillful people and this human capital can generate hefty sums of revenue and can play a vital role in the development of a country .Unfortunately, our country faces a dearth of such institutes and training centers .however .we do have some have some technical education collages and centers but they have fallen prey to dilapidation because of the lack of proper repair, lack of teachers and laboratory tools of training.
Most importantly, social constraints are choking the bottleneck of our education sytem.These social constraints often call in the prevailing situation of Gender discrimination, especially in rural areas. UNDP report 2015 revealed that Enrolment of rural girls is 45% lower than that of urban girls; while for boys the difference is 10% .The contributing factors behind this are opportunity cost, cultural constraints, illiteracy of parents , parental concerns about safety and mobility of their daughters, society’s emphasis on girl’s modesty, protection and early marriages.
First of all, psychological counseling of parents would eliminate the social constraints to a greater extent .Parents, especially in rural areas, have a myth in their mind that schooling system imparts bad character to girls .Such thinking and mental outlook should be altered by awareness campaigns and seminars


country wide, involving all the stakeholders of the community .Consequently, it will lead to increased literacy rate and improved return to education rate.

A saying of harry Potter creator J.K Rowling is ;

‘’There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction ‘’

How beautifully she has portrayed that parents are not always the ones to blame, Students often seem casual and indifferent to acquiring education .Many times, older students stop continuing their education and their non interest is often reflected in the high rate of absentness from schools and colleges .Proper counseling of students and career guidance will put such students on the right path. They should be made ambitious .For many students, don’t now their goals. Michelangelo once said;

‘’The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we achieve it ‘’

Secondly, Technical education centers should be increased .At least the status quo of the already constructed ones should be improved .Different working tools should be made available to the students and highly qualified and skillful teachers should be hired to groom the students to their ultimate capacity .These skillful personnel will contribute greatly in the development of our country in the form of human capital.

Furthermore, financial support by the government to the parents and students would steer away our youth from the rough rides ahead .Providing incentives and free education to packages will certainly increase the interest of students .It will also encourage the parents to send their children to schools. Such financial assistance will surely decrease the dropout ratio of students.

More proactive polices and management system will, no doubt, take the present education system out of hot water. A saying by Nicolas cage from the movie ‘The ghost rider’ is;
“If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it “
So in this regard, local government can play an imperative role. Special monitoring units should be established to monitor the performance of teachers and students. After the 18th amendment the education has become a provincial subject, therefore, the provinces should form legislations and design educational policies which can ensure quality education. For this credible policy makers should be hired to make reliable policies to improve the dilapidated academia. In local government system, the funds for education would be spent on a need basis by the locality.

Besides this, a blueprint should be laid down for eradicating the roots of corruption from education department .For this , an autonomous watchdog will prove very helpful .A watchdog indifferent to political and other interferences .Such genuine effort will make possible the spending of educational funds not in vein but rather productive and worth investing .

To take out Pakistan from the hot waters of educational crises and to get Pakistan’s 25.02 million out of school children (OOSC) into school, a concentrated and coherent Pakistan-owned, Pakistan-led, Pakistan-driven process of reform is required. Parents and society in general has to reshape its preferences and thinking about education for the system to improve .Politicians must generate a national narrative for education, establish clear and ambitious targets, and transform the data regime to pave the way for a determined leadership to address an issue on which the future of 200 million people depends. In the words of the winner of the noble Peace Prize of 2007, Al Gore. ’’The next generation will ask us one of two questions …’what were you thinking, why didn’t you act? ’ ‘’ or they can ask ’’ how did you find the moral courage to rise and successfully restore a crises? ’’ It is a high time that we need to take practical steps as these reforms would only be possible if we walk the talk.

Educational crises in Pakistan: Problems, causes and solutions


OUTLINE

Introduction

Status quo of the educational quagmire
1) MDGs
2) EFA goals
3) Vision 2030

Educational crises :
1) Dilapidated infrastructure
2) Unqualified teachers ,outdated teaching methodologies
3) Biased examination systems
4) More than half children are out of school
5) Low illiteracy rate
6) Embezzlement of funds for educational development.

Causes of Educational crises:
1) War on terror
2) Cost of education
3) Funds for educational expenses
4) Lack of proper planning
5) Technical education
6) Social constraints

Remedial measures:
1) uniform curriculum
2) national education policy and vision 2030 education goals.
3) promote education in rural areas.
4) Average years of schooling should be increased (UNDP Report 2014)
5) school buildings vacated which are occupied by feudal lords of Sindh, Baluchistan and Punjab
6) to make the already existing vocational and technical training centers more efficient
7) Regional cooperation mechanism
8) Special policy planning units should be established in provinces’ education departments

Conclusion

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Power is dangerous ,for it attracts the worst and corrupts the best !

A very good attempt. Also, I have not found any major grammatical mistake.

Very nice, i liked it. You were thorough and articulate. A minor suggestion from me, you could add danish school project and educators school project.


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A very well topic-concentrated effort.....but still i believe that ....You can get more marks by adding few more quotes and examples in it.

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"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves."

Thanku bro.

__________________
Power is dangerous ,for it attracts the worst and corrupts the best !

Suggestion duly noted .Thanku sir

__________________
Power is dangerous ,for it attracts the worst and corrupts the best !

i will include it .thanku

__________________
Power is dangerous ,for it attracts the worst and corrupts the best !

Aoa, it's a very good effort.
My suggestion : your essay was going very smoothly till the end of causes part n then there was an abrupt shift to remedies.Add some connecting lines in between to maintain the coherence.
Best of luck.

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I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul

W.salam. .I will infuse some transition words to enhance its connectivity and coherence .Thanku

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Power is dangerous ,for it attracts the worst and corrupts the best !