Lack of vision
Imagine a man, who is a PHD, is smart, motivated and master of his traits. His abilities can accrue multiple benefits for economic growth in terms of new discoveries, and refining existing ones to multiply their rate of return, but he cannot deliver owing to energy crisis, terrorism, political instability and various other factors. He cannot find financers to translate his thought into actions as the cost of money has risen tenfold. Eventually this PHD either flies out of this country or sulks over the state of Pakistan without contributing significantly to the economic growth at all, or if desperation takes the better of him he could slip into the corridors of corruption to make hey while the sun shines. On the other end of the spectrum there is a child who wants to study, become a PHD, but his resources do not allow him this luxury. He could either fill his stomach or buy a book. He is forced into child labour because inflationary pressures have raised his family’s cost of living. This child would still contribute to the national income, insignificantly though. He would indulge into vain fantasies of what it would have been like to be educated, to contribute to the welfare of the nation and his own self. It is a serious concern that our country is manned by people having no direction – resultantly a very important resource, human capital is being wasted because of lack of planning and resources.
Human development
Every economic activity is aimed at human development. In fact growth in any area of social or scientific endeavour has human being at its centre of pursuit. When a man goes to war or works in peace he does so to attain a certain status in the world comity. Slavery has been and is even to this date an institution, where man is chained, caged, detained to serve the interest of men who are more equal than others. When Aristotle divided mankind into three parts, he gave everyone a role to fulfil the requirement of the society according to the mental and physical status of a person. When a philosopher or a scientist or for that matter a Prophet gives out a program for a better, and more practical life he does so with a desire to unravel the mysteries of human life, to improve the lifestyle of mankind and to create harmony between the human being and his creator. When the GDP of a country is discussed, it is a translation of the effort of human society, within a given surrounding. When the Nobel Prize is granted, it is an appreciation of a man, having a different outlook from his peers. As Adam Smith, human being is an important resource besides Land and Capital. Since this proclamation, different economists have ventured into this important area to highlight the significance of human capital, especially in term of its contribution to human development. It has been argued that this important capital unlike other resources requires special handling, thus giving education and training a prominent role. To this end spending on educational activities becomes an end to the mean of having economic prosperity.
Education and poverty
Professor Dr. Muhammad Hafeez Director institute of Social and Cultural Studies University of Punjab while talking to the Profit emphasised the relationship between education and high economic growth from a similar perspective; he was of the opinion that unless knowledge skills and opportunities are combined as a package, no amount of economic prosperity can ensue. He went on to say that “by providing education we cannot gain economic strength; it is direction, opportunities and initiatives that makes all the difference. If an educated person’s knowledge is not relevant to the market, if his prospects of getting a jobs are bleak, and if his initiatives die on the doors of red tapes, and fragmented and untrustworthy leadership, then how can one expect his education to result in any economic or social good.”
Talking to former Labour Minister Punjab government Mr. Shahzad Ahmed Khan a somewhat similar point of view emerged. To him the energy crisis in Pakistan, lack of vision and the absence of an economic road map, is choking all avenues for skilled labour. Though he said, “I understand that without education the road to economic prosperity remains steep and uneven, but without an infrastructure and direction how can education alone be of any use?”
In an ideal situation however there is an inverse relation between education and poverty. An educated workforce is more efficient and effective in the consumption of resources which are always scarce. Time management, planning and targeted knowledge bring out economic benefit not only in the form of economies of scale but through high tech innovations as well. It has been learned that the accumulation of skilled human is an important determinant of long term economic growth. Schooling enhances productivity with resulting in a higher per capita income. The precarious economic situation of Pakistan has raised many concerns even about the sustainability of Pakistan in the longer run. We blame all our ills on the unfortunate reality that we have a large human resource squandered on the altar of political exigencies. Yet we do little in this context. When Pakistan was created in 1947 literacy rate was 10 per cent. Through many educational policies the literacy rate has been taken to 50, however almost half of our population is still uneducated. We have been spending a very meagre percentage of GDP on education, hardly 2 per cent; our rate of growth in terms of GDP is not more than 2.5 per cent. Though we would easily put the onus of this economic black out on the smog created by terrorism in this part of the world, can we ignore our own findings that suggest that most terrorism this country harbours is the result of a parallel education system where education is offered with boarding and lodging free of cost. With children left at the mercy of time and circumstances to be consumed as a particle of dust by the government. We have lost almost 70 billion dollars in the war on terror since 9/11. Though nine eleven seems to be the starting point, the truth is that the grave for this unsavoury situation was dug with the inception of Pakistan when all forces focused on developing the elite class with an elitist mindset.
Designing an educational strategy
The Education for All Global Monitoring Report for 2011 reveals that half the world’s out of school children live in just 15 countries, Pakistan being one of them. Pakistan ranks at number two in school drop-out rate. We have got 7.3 million children amidst us who are not attending any school. The report paints a grim picture for countries, where dropping out of school is just another way of life, without any strategic and preventive measure taken up to control the menace by the government. The report asserts, “School dropout crises can diminish the life chances of highly vulnerable children, closing down a potential escape route from poverty and reducing education’s power to strengthen social mobility.” With all these figures and grim facts forwarded by the report what we are saying is that Pakistan is set to pump a high amount of unskilled human capital in the market. Already there is a loud cry within the industry over the lack of skilled and educated labour, causing unemployment and inefficient working environment. In his recent address to Pakistan Readymade Garments Technical Training Institute, Chairman National Vocational and Technical Education Commission Mumtaz Akhtar Kahloon, lamented over the lack of seriousness of Punjab Government in producing relevant and able workforce. He said, “ Tevta is training its students on obsolete machines that date back to 1950s due to which our graduates fail to get jobs in the market, of the 150,000 graduates produced annually by Tevta only 10,00 are able to get Jobs.
The crux of the story is that education being an important tool with almost no depreciation cost attached to it cannot be of any economic use unless it is designed strategically and purposefully to benefit the industrial base of a country. It is not any education that makes a difference it is relevant education, aiming at growth that makes a difference. For a theorist it is the academic pursuit that marshals the crowd from darkness to light, but for an empiricist it is knowledge, infrastructure and vision that make economic growth possible.