Our education sector

Education plays a vital role in human capital formation. It raises the productivity and efficiency of individuals and thus produces skilled manpower that is capable of leading the economy towards the path of sustainable economic development. Like many other developing countries, the situation of the education sector in Pakistan is not very encouraging. The low enrolment rates at the primary level, wide disparities between regions and gender, lack of trained teachers, deficiency of proper teaching materials and poor physical infrastructure of schools indicate the poor performance of this sector.

The quality of education has a declining trend. It is realised that science education in particular is reaching lowest level and needs to be improved urgently. There is acute shortage of teachers. Laboratories are poor and ill equipped and curriculum has little relevance to present day needs. The schools generally are not doing well.

Tracing causative factors responsible for the present state is a critical need. These include defective curricula, dual medium of instruction at secondary level, poor quality of teachers, cheating in the examinations and overcrowded classrooms.

In Pakistan efforts have been made to mould the curriculum in accordance with our ideological, moral and cultural values as well as our national requirements in the fields of science, technology, medicine, engineering and agriculture, etc.

The quality of teachers, which is a key factor in any education system, is poor in the country. The main reason is the low level of educational qualifications required to become a primary school teacher; which includes ten years of schooling and an eleven-month certificate program.

In our country, the quality of education is on the decline in spite of the fact that the present government has initiated drastic measures in uplifting the quality and quantity of education. Quality of teachers, especially at primary level, is still questionable. It is evident that that without teachers transformation we cannot transform the education system for improving the quality of education.

SOBIA JABEEN

Lahore