Youthful population creates education challenges
Despite 220,000 schools nationwide, Pakistan has more than 20m out-of-school children
Pakistani private schools, charitable institutions, and religious seminaries are stepping in to supplement government-run schools to help deal with the education needs of a fast-growing nation with an estimated 50 million school-age children.
Despite there being 220,000 schools nationwide, Pakistan has more than 20 million outof-school children, according to a 2016 government report.
The government has pumped money into schooling, with the education budget swelling by 15 per cent every year since 2010, according to education consultancy Alif Ailaan.
The United Nations (UN) puts the current education budget at 2.65 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), roughly $8 billion (Dh29 billion), or around $150 (Dh550) per enrolled student.
But experts say the government can’t meet all the education needs and part of the problem lies in quality of teaching rather than dearth of money.
“It’s not the number schools, it’s the quality, of the attitude,” said Zeba Hussain, founder of the Mashal Schools that educate children displaced by war in the country’s north.
Situated on the outskirts of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, the charitable schools began when Hussain met a group of refugee children while visiting the hills encircling the city.
Many private institutions criticise what they describe as a deeply flawed government education system.
“Students are labelled ‘smart’ or ‘stupid’ right from the start,” said Shaista Kazmi, from Vision 21, a privatelyfunded non-government organisation that runs speed literacy programmes for outof-school children that compress five years of reading proficiency into one.
Federal education director Tariq Masood strongly disagreed with those criticising teachers, adding population growth and funding were the biggest challenges faced by government schools.
“No one who is underqualified can enter the government system, there are fewer checks in the private system,” Masood said.
Masood said government schools adhered to a nationwide curriculum that was being constantly reworked and innovated.