William Dalrymple’s article published in the Guardian is an insightful piece that attempts to be unbiased and reflects on some pertinent issues that afflict Pakistan. The piece examines the media stereotype - successful India and failed Pakistan - a little deeper and identifies a creaky education system as one of the major issues with the country.
While this is no news for us Pakistanis, it nevertheless makes us think why this crucial issue is not highlighted by the opinion-makers in Pakistan. There are endless debates on national media on politics and government-opposition stand-off. Perhaps the Pakistani upwardly mobile classes are a little removed from this debate since they have long abandoned the state run education facilities and chosen the private sector services. Hence the disconnect.
Dalrymple writes:
…its desperate education crisis. No problem in Pakistan casts such a long shadow over its future as the abject failure of the government to educate more than a fraction of its own people: at the moment, a mere 1.8% of Pakistan’s GDP is spent on government schools. The statistics are dire: 15% of these government schools are without a proper building; 52% without a boundary wall; 71% without electricity.
…. out of 162 million Pakistanis, 83 million adults of 15 years and above are illiterate. Among women the problem is worse still: 65% of all female adults are illiterate. As the population rockets, the problem gets worse.
It can be argued that improved political system and democratic governance is essential to overcome this state of affairs. However, this may not be enough. After all, Malaysia achieved amazing success in building human capital under authoritarian rule. I am not suggesting that democracy is irrelevant but I think there is a deeper cause somewhere locked in our social and cultural ethos that needs to be identified.
Education requires utmost attention and advocacy by all those who want to see Pakistan progress and flourish in the long term.
“The Poor Neighbour” by William Dalrymple can be read here.
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Nothing New!!! but William Darlymple’s books on ‘White Mughals **’ and “Jinn in Delhi***’ and ‘travelouge on Christian minority***’ are worth reading.
raza:
thanks for sending me this link:)
my two khota paisas worth!
i wrote in Pakistan At the Precipice: II- MIF Kakistocracy: Military-Industrial-Feudal Complex
and in the third part (same link) i wrote this:
***
education is not a panacea for all that ills pakistan. imho a two fold approach is very desirable - poverty elimination and level educational opportunities
someone in a comment mentioned the excellent work done by the citizens’ foundation. singer shehzad roy is doing some modest work too.
an tireless edhi-mohammed younus (of grameen bank) clone is the need of the hour
ps: nice site. am tempted to submit the three part article here..but am somewhat stretched:)
There is one organization in Pakistan (that I know of; there might be others) which realizes our shortcomings in the field of education and are working day and night to improve the situation.
Visit the website below and help if you feel like…
http://www.thecitizensfoundation.org/
Khurram: thanks for the comment and the link.
Alvi Saheb: I fully agree with your idea. The educated in Pakistan have to take this cause as a mission and this is an imperative that cannot be ignored or delayed anymore.
Allah Wasaya Saheb: The article’s reference to Vagina Monologues is a minor reference. I hold that Westerners somehow take these developments/events a little too seriously. However, Darlymple has tried to be as objective as possible and his main points are the topic of discussion and not the monologues!
Raza: Thank you for raising this subject of literacy in Pakistan. We could complain about our governments till the cows come home. Nothing will change. But we the educated-professional-middle class of Pakistan can be the change we wish to make. Forget the government schools. It is a dead horse. There are tens of thousands of private-for-profit schools in Pakistan and more are mushrooming every day. It is simple demand and supply phenomenon. I appeal to the Pakistani middle and upper middle classes:
“Where you are sending your own children to the schools of your choice, pick up one non-school-going child from an illiterate poor family and send him to school as well with all expenses paid. You need not open new schools; free market will do it itself. We hardly pay any taxes in Pakistan. Just pay for the education and all related expenses for one unlucky child who is no different than your own child. Please do it”.
Well the biggest news to me in this article was the performance of Vagina Monologues on stage to standing ovations! Now that is true enlightenment.
Very Interesting read. I find his comments on the state of democracy in Pakistan to be very insightful. It is clear to me that the return to power of Benazir or Nawaz is not the magic bullet that will make our problems go away, just as Musharraf is not the worst thing that ever happened to Pakistan. The Western press may be guilty of the “India success, Pakistan failure” simplification, but we Pakistanis are usually just as guilty of wanting to either glorify or vilify our leaders.
There is another interesting article about Pakistan and its relationship with the US, called “A False Choice in Pakistan”, written by Dan Markey of the Counciil on Foreign Relationships: http://www.nytimes.com/cfr/world/20070701faessay_v 86n4_markey.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
Well worth reading.
When I first read Darlymple’s article I thought long and hard but still could not grasp the extent of problem as it appeared unbounded and limitless.
For example, in addition to improving the civic sense and good citizenry, basic education provides raw material for the higher education and higher education provides “finished product” for the industry and service sector. And there lies the problem. We have missed big time on improving the manufacturing sector where both less and highly educated people can be absorbed. I remember, in the late 60s, engineering graduates routinely went on hunger strikes demanding employment… Same was true for other professions as well (In those days, even getting a passport was like climbing a tall cliff.)
Nevertheless, education needs to be market driven, both qualitatively and quantitatively. In this regard, state needs to focus spending money and resources on basic education and let the rest be determined by market forces…