Pakistan’s Progress towards Provision of Quality Education

 
 
 
Pakistan's progress towards Provision Of Quality education

Preamble

Education is a major contributor to the social and economic development of a country. Education systems have been hit hard and abruptly by the pandemic. This blog explores Pakistan’s progress on sustainable development goal 4, inclusive and quality education for all. The underlying significance of the goal and how it is linked to the overall global 2030 agenda is also presented. Lastly, a way forward for Pakistan is suggested to increase its performance metrics in achieving goal 4 targets.

Research Questions

  1. What is the significance of goal 4, inclusive and quality education for all?

  2. What is Pakistan’s progress on SDG 4?

  3. How can Pakistan improve its progress on SDG 4?

Introduction

In 2015, the Millennium development goals (MDGs) were replaced by seventeen sustainable development goals (SDGs) to ensure peace and prosperity for all by 2030. The goals demand a transformation in the financial, economic, and political systems of the world we live in to ensure human rights for all. Inclusive and quality education ensures the provision of education for all without discrimination and is an essential part to achieve sustainable national development and national cohesion. The menace of illiteracy has plagued Pakistan for a long time, and in the field of education, change usually involves developing capacity in human, organisational, structural, and material domains. In the field of education, change usually involves developing four types of capacities, i.e., human, organizational, structural, and material. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, institutions responsible for delivering quality education suffer from all the above capacity challenges. Pakistan has to mobilise all its necessary resources to endure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, and equal access for women and men to affordable and quality technical and vocational education.

Ensuring Inclusive and Quality Education

Education enables upward socioeconomic mobility and is key to escaping poverty. Over the past decade, major progress has been made towards increasing access to education and school enrolment rates at all levels, particularly for girls. Sustainable Development Goal 4 aims to ensure that all people have access to quality education and life-long learning opportunities. The main objective is the acquisition of basic and higher-level skills at all stages of education and development. Broader and more equitable access to education at all levels coupled with technical and vocational education training is required to enhance the knowledge, skills, and values required to live in a productive society. Education is also considered a basic human right but many of those who daily go to educational institutions do not learn. This was before the advent of the COVID19 pandemic. More than 200 billion children will still be out of school in 2030 and in low-income countries, remote learning remains out of reach for at least 500 million students (UN, 2021). Also, only 65 per cent of schools have critical handwash facilities for COVID-19 protection. Therefore, the challenges in the achievement of targets related to SDG 4 are now exacerbated by the pandemic and closure of educational institutions. (United Nations, 2020).

Pakistan’s Progress on SDG 4: Ensuring Quality Education

Pakistan has a human capital of more than 200 million, and therefore, it has the responsibility to equip its young people with knowledge, creativity, critical thinking, and leadership skills so they can make the right choices for themselves, their country, and play a role as global citizens. Pakistan faces significant challenges in providing uniform and quality education to all children. Its performance has been lower than other South Asian countries and is also amongst the countries that have the highest out-of-school population. Pakistan’s progress in education has been extremely inadequate over the past decade. With more than half of its population unable to read or write, the country lacks literate and skilled human resources that can contribute to the development of the country. Low financing coupled with inefficiency in budget spending has crippled the system. Data suggests that there are more than 22.5 million children out of school with more girls than boys (HRW, 2018). There is a large gender, economic, and geographic disparity in education enrollments across the country. Another challenge for education in Pakistan is to provide uniform education for all. There are huge differences in the standard and quality of education that children receive in various education systems around the country. It is very important that the quality of the 1.9 million teaching personnel be worked on. Lastly, Pakistan ranks 125th out of 140 countries on the Global Competitive Index 2018 due to serious challenges in tertiary education skills and training (Dawn, 2018). Therefore, Pakistan is lagging behind in its targets to achieve SDG 4 goals.

Way Forward for Pakistan on SDG 4: Quality Education

Basic education skills and competencies form the basis of all future learning. Access to a school is not enough as it does not ensure learning. Therefore, improved enrollment in schools does not mean learning is taking place. This has led to a lack of trust in the educational system. Initiatives related to improving access to education must focus on a system that ensures that schools become effective and are geared towards laying the foundations for children’s lifelong learnings. Strong focus should be laid on the development of personal, social, emotional skills that enable children to become active citizens. A school system is considered effective when the skills learned therein are applied by students to develop complex economic and social competencies. Some key elements are required to ensure quality education namely, the introduction of relevant and updated curriculum, provision of quality textbooks, trained and dedicated teachers, sound assessment practices, and a conducive learning environment. All these factors must then be governed by government policies and strategies in a transparent way supported by accountability and oversight at all levels.

Conclusion

Inclusive and quality education ensures the provision of education for all without discrimination and is an essential part to achieve sustainable national development. Education enables upward socioeconomic mobility and is also key to escaping poverty and other social evils. Pakistan has a large human capital of more than 200 million and young people need to be equipped with knowledge, creativity, critical thinking, and leadership skills. Therefore, Pakistan needs to take steps to revive competencies in human, organisational, structural, and material aspects of education.

Key Takeaways

  1. The menace of illiteracy has plagued Pakistan for a long time, and in the field of education, change usually involves developing capacity in human, organisational, structural, and material domains.

  2. In the field of education, change usually involves developing four types of capacities, i.e., human, organizational, structural, and material.

  3. Pakistan has to mobilise all its necessary resources to endure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, and equal access to women and men to affordable and quality technical and vocational education.

  4. Education enables upward socioeconomic mobility and is key to escaping poverty.

  5. Broader and more equitable access to education at all levels coupled with technical and vocational education training is required to enhance knowledge, skills, and values required to live in a productive society.

  6. More than 200 billion children will still be out of school in 2030 and in low-income countries, remote learning remains out of reach for at least 500 million students.

  7. Only 65 percent of schools have critical handwash facilities for COVID-19 protection.

  8. Pakistan’s progress in education has been extremely inadequate over the past decade. With more than half of its population unable to read or write, the country lacks a literate and skilled human resource that can contribute towards the development of the country.

  9. Data suggests that there are more than 22.5 million children out of school with more girls than boys.

Bibliography

Dawn. (2018). Pakistan slips to 107th on Global Competitiveness Index. Retrieved from Dawn: https://www.dawn.com/news/1439720

HRW. (2018). Barriers to Girls’ Education in Pakistan. Retrieved from Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/11/12/shall-i-feed-my-daughter-or-educate-her/barriers-girls-education-pakistan

UN Stats (2021). Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Retrieved from UN Stats: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2020/Goal-04/

United Nations. (2020). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2020.

 

 

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IMARAT Institute of Policy Studies

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