Technical Writing Assignment #1

NUST SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF PAKISTAN TECHNICAL WRITING ASSIGNMENT #1

118-MEHRAN MUSTAFA 119-MUSZZAM ALI JAMIL 145-SAAD HASSAN 162-WAQAS SIDDIQUE 5/4/2009

“Those who know cannot be like the ones who do not know. Of course, knowledge and ignorance are like light and darkness which can never be alike.” Holy Quran INTRODUCTION Education has the nurturing capability which any community would require to succeed in the modern world. It promotes a productive and informed citizenry and creates opportunities for the socially and economically underprivileged sections of society. Globalization has made economic life more competitive and demanding, making human expertise development more significant. Only as educated workforce equipped with modern skills can compete and benefit from exploiting the opportunities created by globalization. Numerous empirical studies conducted by social scientists have established a strong correlation between education and national development. The Jomtien Conference1 1990, the report of the Jacques Delors Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, and the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals 2(MDGs) all attach utmost importance to education as an effective tool in reducing poverty by building a viable workforce, capable of competing in an increasingly competitive and global economy. It is imperative that people in the developing countries have access to basic education, health and other relevant facilities. It is an acknowledged fact that universal literacy played a significant role in the phenomenal advancement of the 1

UNESCO education for all world conference delegates from 150 countries 7 150 organizations agreed at World Conference on: Education for all was held in Thailand. 2

MDG’s goal of UN to end Poverty and Hunger, Universal Education, environmental sustainability, gender equality, Combat HIV /Aids.

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United States and other western countries in almost every field of life. Similarly, countries like Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand had achieved near universal literacy before joining the coveted club of developed nations. Education is a continuous and creative process. Its aim is to develop the capacities latent in human nature and to coordinate their expression for the enrichment and progress of society, by equipping children with spiritual, moral and material knowledge. Within this creative process, it is possible to achieve an essential harmony between faith and reason through an approach to education that encourages the free investigation of all reality and trains the mind to recognize truth, irrespective of its origin. True education releases capacities, develops analytical abilities, confidence in him, will power and goal setting competencies, and instills the vision that will enable him to become self-motivating agent of social change, serving the best interests of the community. A well-educated community member is a determined yet humble participant, who helps overcome conflict and division thereby contributing to a spirit of unity and collaboration. Although economic considerations are recognized as necessary in educational planning, resistance is growing against the conventional view that education is chiefly a means for only improving the individual's own economic situation. Universal education must be relevant to the true needs of a community and contribute to the unification of mankind. It must enable people both to move in the direction of their own choosing and help them appreciate those universal qualities that distinguish the entire human race. Women must be educated with the same stress as men not only for the service they render to humanity as the first educators of children. But ultimately, for the special contribution women must make to the creation of a just world order, an order characterized by such compassion, vigor and scope which has never been seen in human history. The dual responsibility of developing the child’s character and stimulating his intellect belongs also to the community as a whole, including the father, grandparents, and neighbors. Indeed the extended family and a close community may provide the best environment for nurturing children. Increasingly, it is becoming evident that education should be examined in the light of its contribution to individual growth and to bring about fundamental structural changes in society, changes which are necessary for the creation of a just, peaceful, and harmonious environment. Education should lead to an adequate understanding of some of the concerns of programmers of social progress, such as health and sanitation, agriculture, crafts and industry, at Page | 3

least in the local context. Human beings are inherently noble, and the purpose of education is to cultivate such attributes, skills, virtues and qualities as will enable them to contribute their share to the building of an ever advancing civilization.

STRUCTURE OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM Education has been organized into five levels: primary (grades one through five); middle (grades six through eight); high (grades nine and ten, culminating in matriculation); intermediate (grades eleven and twelve, leading to an F.A. diploma in arts or F.S. science; and university programs leading to undergraduate and advanced degrees. Preparatory classes (kachi, or nursery) were formally incorporated into the system in 1988 with the Seventh Five-Year Plan. The Ministry of Education is formally responsible for providing institutions for academic and technical education. These institutions have standard requirements necessary for delivering an appropriate level of education. Syllabi and examinations are coordinated by a designated university in each province. Students are given certificates for the recognition of their degree, to be presented for the enrollment in university programs and advanced degrees. Teacher-training workshops are overseen by the respective provincial education ministries in order to improve teaching skills. However, incentives are severely lacking, and, perhaps because of the shortage of financial support to education, few teachers participate. . Rates of absenteeism among teachers are high in general, inducing support for community-coordinated efforts promoted in the Eighth Five-Year Plan3 (1993-98).

ISSUES CONCERNING THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

“There is no doubt that the future of our State will and must greatly depend on the type of education we give to our children and the way in which we bring them up as future citizens of Pakistan” Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad All Jinnah All Pakistan Education Conference 3

8th Year Plan: The Process of reforms with its focus on Liberalization, Deregulation and Privatization had been carried out.

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November 30 December 02, 1947 Karachi The education system, after 62 years of independence is still lacking the necessary infrastructure. It lacks cohesion and even proper distribution. The education indicators in Pakistan have been persistently poor. At independence, Pakistan had a poorly educated population and few schools or universities. The illiteracy rate has been high since then. Despite the amount of aid and grants Pakistan had received during its hatching days, only a minute percentage of that was spent in the education sector. Unfortunately, Pakistan has been plagued by the leadership of several army rulers in the past. Much concentration of its resources has been guided towards the defense sector. Most of the leaders have been interested in the luxury of the defense sector than paying some attention to the education sector. Overall including foreign military aid and budget spending, Pakistan Military has a total of over $10 Billion in expenditures. In 2006, Pakistan's military expenditures were one quarter of national budget (Expenditures Budget Rs.296 billion.), compared to a poor share of only Rs 24.6 billion for the education sector4. The past and present governments do not seem to have realized that such negligence towards the education sector resulted in numerous catastrophic effects on the economy and well being of the state. The Higher Education Commission was not given an emblematic increase, as only Rs 15 billion has been allocated for this sector; in this situation public universities may suffer shortage of funds even in term of providing salaries to their staff. Due to lack of resources, various other deficiencies originate in this “holy” sector. The instructors teaching in most of the institutions do not find satisfaction through their job. Most government institutes offer such an unworthy salary to their staff that they tend to lose interest in putting their 100% in teaching. They fail to do justice to this blessed profession as they’re not promised any satisfactory incentives. Most of the well educated teachers do not apply for a job in the government schools as they do not find it worthy enough. Thus, the government hires untrained, less educated and cheap class of teachers for their schools which result in poor quality of education. The students also lose interest and abandon their studies to pursue other careers at an early age. The quality of education in Pakistan has always been on a stumpy side. There have been many attempts to improve the quality by revising the syllabus but most of them have been in vain. Most of the institutions in the rural areas still follow the technique of memorizing entire chapters of the book without understanding. The teachers, also, inculcate the habit of memorizing the lessons instead of conceptualizing. 4

The nation- Syed Jafar Askari | Published: June 14, 2008

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The quality also lessens due to the weak infrastructure of the management and improper incentives to the students. The life of a student should be free from the difficulties inflicted by the incapable and unqualified management. But a student in Pakistan cannot even dream of such ideal conditions. The concept of bribery is common in Pakistan. Management is bribed by rich and powerful people to enroll their child without even considering his/her merit. This inhumane act completely demolishes the sacredness of the education sector. Students from a weaker background are left to keep striving for admission and eventually lose interest. Management in the private sector is somewhat better than the government schools but apparently they’ve been made affordable only for the business class. Qualified students from the rural areas can only dream to study in these prestigious institutions which are also only a handful in Pakistan. Most of the government institutions in rural and urban areas are in pathetic physical condition and it seems that they’ve been forgotten. Most students get discouraged to attend such schools/collages/universities and tend to remain absent on most of the academic days. The condition of the government hostels is also unimaginably feeble. Students live in unhygienic conditions and the hostel rooms are also stuffy and uncomfortable. These inadequacies of incentives and moral support lead to low quality of education and high rate of student dropout from government institutes. The private sector on the other hand has state of the art quality of its hostels and institutes. They thrive mostly on attracting the students through flashy rooms and better services and a promise of quality education. But again, they’re also not enough to handle the entire student population. Another major issue of the education in Pakistan is the high illiteracy rate of females. The females have been suppressed class in Pakistan. There have been incidents regarding the disrespect to their right to live as free citizens of the state. Statistics show that by 1992, among people older than fifteen years of age, 22 percent of women were literate, compared with 49 percent of men. The comparatively slow rate of improvement for women is reflected in the fact that between 1980 and 1989, among women aged fifteen to twenty-four, 25 percent were literate. United Nations sources say that in 1990 for every 100 girls of primary school age there were only thirty in school; among girls of secondary school age, only thirteen out of 100 were in school; and among girls of the third level, grades nine and ten, only 1.5 out of 100 were in school. Slightly higher estimates by the National Education Council for 1990 stated that 2.5 percent of students--3 percent of men and 2 percent of women- -between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one were enrolled at the degree level. Among all people over twenty-five in 1992, women averaged a mere 0.7 year of schooling compared with an average of 2.9 years for men. The discrepancy between rural and urban areas is even more marked. In 1981 only 7 percent of women in rural areas were literate, compared with 35 percent in urban areas. Among men, these rates were 27 and 57 percent, respectively. Pakistan's low female literacy rates are particularly confounding Page | 6

because these rates are analogous to those of some of the poorest countries in the world. Pakistan has never had a systematic, nationally coordinated effort to improve female primary education, despite its poor standing. It was once assumed that the reasons behind low female school enrollments were cultural, but research conducted by the Ministry for Women's Development5 and a number of international donor agencies in the 1980s revealed that danger to a woman's honor was parents' most crucial concern. Indeed, reluctance to accept schooling for women turned to enthusiasm when parents in rural Punjab and rural Balochistan could be guaranteed their daughters' safety and, hence, their honor.

A FEW GOOD ASPECTS Despite all the setbacks, our Government is still determined to make education widespread and free of cost. Some of these measures partook by Government of Pakistan, especially Provincial Government of Sindh and Punjab, have made primary and secondary education for boys and girls free in Governmental schools. The government is also providing scholarship to high achievers in the school. This is a major prerogative technique adopted by the officials to widespread education amongst the deserving class in Pakistan. The federal along with provincial government and HEC are also granting myriad number of scholarships to students not only in primary and secondary level but also to students who are in professional lines of studies. Hence it can be stated with profound confidence that Government of Pakistan is taking small but not menial steps to spreading education for all. Despite all the cumbrances government seems to be determined to eradicate illiteracy from this soil. Though progress seems slow but it is a mile stone to achieve if intake of students in Governmental schools can increase as it would reflect change of attitude towards learning even form the poor illiterate class of Pakistanis. This change of mind is sure to stimulate Revolution and evolution in learning.

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Ministry of Women Development is a national focal ministry for the advancement of Women in Pakistan.

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REFERENCES 1. http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-compulsory-subjects/currentaffairs/current-affairs-notes/1968-education-system-pakistan.html 2. http://www.un.org.pk/unesco/education/b_lesson/The%20Education%20 system%20in%20pakistan.pdf 3. http://www.choices.web.aplus.net/guidebooks/Miseducation%20Guideb ook.pdf 4. http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:Gc3gQw5m9r4J:www.moe.gov.pk /esrbook/AnnexIX%2520(a).pdf+Latest+facts+and+figures+of+education+in+pakista n&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk&client=firefox-a 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_Pakistan#Budget 6. http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-englishonline/Regional/Karachi/14-Jun-2008/Education-budget-has-exposedgovt-analysts 7. Syeda

Wadiat Kazmi , “ Role of Education in Globalization: A case

Study in Pakistan 8. Arizpe, Lourdes (1997) 'Women in Informal Sector: The Case of Mexico City,' in Visvanathan,Nalini et al. (eds), theWomen, Gender and Development Reader, Zed Books, London. 9. Statistical Source Referred: Federal Bureau of Statistics 2002-03

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