Politicians required…

Though we have added 25A, the right to education, in the basic rights section of the constitution via the 18th amendment, the state of education clearly shows that we have not really started, in any province or at the federal level, to seriously think through and work out what needs to be done in order to make the promise of 25A a reality for all children across Pakistan.

We hear that some provinces are in the process of creating subordinate legislation for operationalising 25A, in terms of compulsory education laws, definitions for ‘free’ and ‘children’ and so on, but these are still drafts that have not been widely shared with various stakeholders and the population at large.

But even with these draft laws, there is a whole lot more that needs to be done. 25A will have significant legislative, administrative, and financial implications for the country that need to be worked out. But more important than the technical side is the political side. Do the political parties accord high enough priority to education? And the government? Are we willing and ready, as a society, to get every child in Pakistan educated? Given the number of children out of schools, the high dropout rates, the poor quality of education imparted, by and large, across the public sector and the low fee private sector, and the lack of progress on these issues, it is obvious that we are not. In fact, the lack of active engagement on education issues by the government, the state, as well as the main political parties shows that we are not yet taking education as a high priority issue.

A number of colleagues, fellow researchers from the education field, civil society members, colleagues from the media and concerned citizens have been debating how to make education an issue in Pakistan. There is demand for education and parents, even in very constrained circumstances, are willing to pay what they can, to get their children educated. And this preference seems to be expressed almost across Pakistan. So, why is the demand for education not translating into public action and/or why has it not been an issue for political parties?

To understand these issues more we have tried to create an interface with the various political parties as well, but that, in and by itself, has presented interesting challenges for us and have given us insights as to why creating political engagement is not that easy or straight forward.

Who should one get in touch with when one wants to engage with a political party? Clearly, the leaders are very important but they are not easy to approach and/or get in touch with, they are not available and since each of them has so much on their plates right now, with our political system as unstable as it is and with Pakistan lurching from crisis to crisis (or at least from perceived crisis to another perceived crisis), even if one is able to get in touch with them, it is almost impossible to hold their attention on an issue like education.

If you have powerful contacts you might be able to meet them and they might even listen to you for some time, and usually quite politely, but they will then usually refer you to other people in the party to work with. Education issues require the support of the leader, the detailed and long term engagement needed, on the other hand, is unlikely to come from the leader, or at least some of the current set of leaders.

The second string in our political parties presents a different set of issues. Some of them might be very close to the leader and might have influence over them (which is important as decision-making, in our parties, is concentrated in the leader) but they have absolutely no interest in education issues. They have other objectives and other fish to fry. Some might even have an independent standing in the party, and respect, but they might have no interest in education, or even if they do, they are not really able to influence the overall direction of the party.

Almost none of the mainstream parties are organised enough to have people assigned to look after thinking regarding a specific area. There are no ‘shadow’ portfolios, and there are almost no ‘experts’ on any area in the parties. Though parties have manifestoes, most of the manifestoes are a set of general statements that have a lot of received wisdom reproduced, usually without any detailed thinking behind it. Is it any wonder that barring the manifestoes of the religious parties, all other parties have manifestoes that read alike? A leader from one political party went far enough to say that she could make the education policy, for her party, in a matter of days. Sadly, 60-plus years later, we are still dealing with the consequences of such policymaking.

None of the political parties have any think tanks, formal or informal, attached to them. It is a wonder where thinking, for policies, goes on in these parties. Lack of these think tanks also explains the lack of depth of the manifestoes and, of course, the inability of the parties to engage with any issue and with any set of stakeholders on a sustained basis.

Even when we have been able to reach the leader on occasion, work with the second tier of the parties, engage with elected representatives from various parties and even their nominated members, it is not clear if this engagement can translate into sustained and constructive dialogue on education issues, and if these leaders will be able and/or willing to translate this engagement into commitments on education.

A lot of people argue that though parents demand education for their children, there is no demonstrated demand and public action, from parents and communities, for reforms in the public sector education system or for other issues related to education. While people come on the streets for electricity, water and so on, they do not march for education. We definitely need to understand this lack of public organisation and action more. But should coming on the streets be the only barometer for gauging what is worth doing? Should parties only respond to that kind of public pressure? Or is it possible to engage with the political parties and create a more constructive engagement?

The writer is an Associate Professor of Economics at LUMS (currently on leave) and a Senior Advisor at Open Society Foundation (OSF). He can be reached at [email protected]