The Education Quagmire

Karachi : It seems those who are at the helm of Pakistan's affairs are oblivious to what is going on in the country and conveniently forget to compare the governance of other countries to try and implement the same in their homeland. The education sector unfortunately is the last concern and priority of the rulers74-year-old bureaucrat. The News

who seem to consider it a non-productive sector that should be kept away from the important sectors.

The current fiscal budget is glaring example of the government's attitude towards education. The federal government allocated an amount of Rs31.6 billion for the education sector in the national budget for the year 2009-10 compared to Rs24.4 billion earmarked in the previous year. In comparison, the government has allocated Rs341.62 billion for military defence and Rs1.289 billion for defence administration. This huge gap between the defence and education speaks volumes of our treatment of education.

Not that we consider defence unimportant, but considering the corporate establishments of the military, it is advisable that their allocation should have been reduced. Our smaller neighbours, Sri Lanka and Nepal, have surpassed our literacy rate by attaining more than 90 per cent while we are still below 50 per cent. A paltry some of 31.6 billion rupees is hardly sufficient for the education of more than 170 million souls.

Educationists in the country have expressed their opinion in various forums that a solid primary and secondary education system is essential if we want to enhance our academic standards. It seems that unfortunately the message has not reached the authorities concerned. Government schools have become the last destination for those who can not afford to send their children to even D class 'English Medium' Schools. It is a far cry from the days when government schools were the best and there were no commercial-so called English schools-attempting to offer education. Countless students from these government schools became luminaries in their practical lives.

Meanwhile, different educational boards are contributing in creating class divides in society today because the pass-outs from government schools are hardly fit to compete with others who are coming from Ivy League schools. Unfortunately, the government school students reach universities but they remain lost in the mist of language – both spoken and written.

We need good public sector schools where students from every income group could get standard education not new universities. The government of Sindh has done exactly the opposite. It has given charter to two new degree-awarding institutions. The education pundits of government might know better than many educational experts in taking this step.

The higher education fraternity is mostly aghast at the retention of Vice Chancellor Sindh University Prof Mazhar ul Haque Siddiqui for the third term. People have started wondering if there is no other good replacement for the