The new education minister, Mr. Ahsan Iqbal, has invited public comments on the national education policy. The draft of the policy document can be found here.
It is hoped that we will have a fruitful discussion on this issue and ideas for improvement in the national education policy here at Pakistaniat, possibly leading some of the participants to even give some valuable suggestions to the education ministry.
I hope to read the document in the coming days, but in the mean time, here are some general thoughts on how we should approach such issues.
We would love to have instant reform, which unfortunately is not possible. Our suggestions and criticism should be made while keeping this basic reality in mind. We can however break down reforms into short and long-term ones and see what can realistically be achieved over what time frame.
Secondly, there is absolutely no denying that funding is important, but the utilization of existing funds is also equally important. We have a tendency to overemphasize the shortage of money and use it as a convenient excuse for a lack of serious effort for institution building and the failure to make proper use of available resources. As a general rule, we should always be weary of overly steep increases in funding. Too much money going in too fast, though good for making impressive news headlines for the concerned ministry, can often lead to more corruption and institutional decay instead of bringing about a genuine improvement.
So while the education budget certainly needs to be increased to at least 4% of GDP as soon as possible, it must not be forgotten that such an increase by itself will not lead to much improvement if there is no prior ground work for ensuring that the extra money will not just be wasted away through corruption and inefficiency. And such ground work will inevitably require a bit of slowing down and setting achievable targets instead of unrealistic ones.
A somewhat related concern relates to how we see ‘big picture’ ideas as opposed to apparently smaller and basic things that are not even very hard to implement, but can make a significant impact. Both are very important, but we sometimes grossly underestimate and dismiss the simpler, but less grand ideas by saying that they do not ‘address the big picture’ or some other such ridiculous criticism. In the end, the ‘fundamental paradigm shift’ or ‘revolution’ does not materialize, but we also forego the smaller and incremental but more achievable improvements that can accumulate into something substantial over time.
Lastly, a good education policy should produce socially aware individuals and not just money making robots. We need people who can have the sense to start thinking ahead before an economic bubble bursts, before the severity of an energy crisis hits them right in the face and before a food shortage leads to a famine or violent riots and are willing to make compromises to their personal lifestyles and start agitating for badly needed policy reforms for their own selves if not out of any concern for the society.
References:
1. Ministry of Education, Pakistan
2. Photos for this post are from flickr.com
@Mus
In 1990,20000 indians left to USA
and in 2008,80000-90000 indians are leaving for USA alone
75% IITian leave india
but those 75% indirectly helped india by sending money
40% Silicon startup was made by an india mostlt an IITian
but TCS/Satyam and wipro were also not started by IITian
yeah infosys is an IITian
the only reason USA companies invested in india,to
compete with These Indian IT giants
Yeah but IITians definitelt influenced these multinationals to set up offices/tech parks in india
The real credit should be given to those mediocre engg college students who really work in india!!
but IIT has its own contribution,which cant be ignored !!
IIT model is difficult to replicate in pakistan!
1)IIT JEE(joint entrace exam):has merely 5000 seats for 4+lak students who appear in it.so 1% of Students get into IIT and
IIT has all branches !!but to get into comps,one has to score a rank with in 400 !
IIT does’t take repeaters
2)@IIT,in 1st 2 years,we will finish all bachelors &masters physics/mathematics!!
so IIT is not only about producing technocrats!!
A compoo student will be able to solve complex physcics/quantum mechanics prob/Advances MS mathematics and also does his software studies
3)I have some of my friends who did graduation(Btech) from top university like CMU,(bcoz they couldnt qualify for IIT)but they are really bad in most of the subjects,compared to an average IITian!!probably 85% of them are pathetic, can be compared to an average student from a reputed private colleges of india!!
i have never met any indian student who left IIT’s Btech for standford Btech!!
There is a trend in india:
IIT from btech,MS from stanford/cal tech/MIT/CMU (or any top 10 university)
4)But the funny thing is that 75% IITians feed CMU,Cal tech ,stanford for masters course! !so again same IITIAns and other top asian institutes from (peking institute ,seyol institute )students competing with each other at these colleges at maters/phd
About 80000 indians do MS from USA!
5)IIT kind of institutes cant be created in a year!!
Nehru started in 1950 and IITians started making their impression in 1970’s !!
6)The success of IIT depended on CBSE/NCERT who drafted an effective syllabus & curriculum!!
CBSE/NCERT not only stresses of problem solving,but it also discourages rote learning!!
problems which come in +2 PCM(phy/chem/maths) are unique!
Programming languages is part of +2 studies!
7)students in india take pride in maths and science!! many dont bother abt other subjects ,and end up getting low marks in arts/english!!
8)+2 students who prepare for IIT solve pyhsics books like
Eridov(Russian writer),BSc 1st year calculas which are taught in 1styear in stanford! and students put in lot of time on studies!!
i dont know about pakistan ,but in a closed society like pak ,its really difficult to implement !
The books in pakistan are more of anti india sciences , pro military and islamic studies,islam glorification,defense superiority,war studies!!
pakistan should not think of reaching Z now !!
start with ABC
1)improve primary education
2)improve syllabus
3)teach maths+science more than religious studies!
4)Delink religion from academics
I agree,Pakistan can establish its own system of technology institutes
India has benefitted from IITs in more ways than one and reaped harvests many times over.While the 90s saw a brain drain of Indian students flocking to the west,the current trend is to return to India and benefit the country,hence the current economic boom.
I would say that it is time for Pakistan to look inwards and focus solely on the country.
Develop small softwares that cost no more than a few thousand rupees locally like developing a cash registry system.payroll,fees software,enrollment software etc etc.Small programs that benefit an average man on the street.
Eidee Man,
The half dozen odd universities that the HEC has planned to open are based on the IIT model. And while yes I totally agree that there is no reason why something like that cannot be established in Pakistan, there are subtle differences which need to be taken into account.
For example, the HEC is planning on opening all unis within a very short time period between each of them. However with the IIT’s, there was a lag of 8 years between the first and the second – most probably to iron out administrative and other problems.
Also, the IIT’s were created to give India a strategic depth mainly information technology. With IT – while there is substantial funding required – its not the same as say a particle accelerator or a mass spectrometer or a wet lab. Also access to equipment and suppliers is an issue that is often overlooked, so that too needs to be kept in mind.
This might be heresay, but there is no word yet regarding the UESTP – France which was supposed to start in Karachi last year. It’s hard to imagine any EU researchers wanting to come to Pakistan in the current political climate.
Finally, and probably most importantly, there has to be problems and linkages with industry that these Pakistani IIT’s can work on.
The list is not comprehensive by any means, but just to make the point that if we want to implement the IIT model, then we need to make sure that we know what we are getting into.
Perhaps we should start an “Aqil go home” campaign :)
I’ve said it many times before, but we really need an IIT-like project in Pakistan. I see no reason why it cannot be implemented and be successful in Pakistan.
Also, Aqil, one way to boost Pakistan’s education strengths would be for people like you to return once you graduate….