Punjab is reforming its schools at a pace rarely seen anywhere in the world, with its chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and his provincial government to credit for the exemplary reforms, a report in The Economist states.
According to the report, private providers took over the running of 1,000 of the government’s primary schools in the province in April 2016. Today, the number is 4,300. By the end of this year, as decreed by Chief Minister Shehbaz, it will be 10,000 — a feat largely to credit for the remarkable pace of the reforms.
Every three months, Shehbaz Sharif gathers education officials around a large rectangular table, says the report.
“For officials it can be a tough ride. Leaders of struggling districts are called to Lahore for what Allah Bakhsh Malik, Punjab’s education secretary, calls a ‘pep talk’. Asked what that entails, he responds: ‘Four words: F-I-R-E. It is survival of the fittest.’ About 30% of district heads have been sacked for poor results in the past nine months, says Mr Malik. ‘We are working at Punjabi speed,’” quotes the report.
Most Pakistani children who start school drop out by the age of nine; just 3% of those starting public school graduate from 12th grade, the final year, the report notes. Girls from poor families are least likely to attend; Pakistan’s gap between girls’ and boys’ enrollment is, after Afghanistan’s, the widest in South Asia. Only about half of Pakistanis who complete five years of primary school are literate.
There are roughly 68,000 private schools in Pakistan (about one-third of all schools), up from 49,000 in 2007. It is this spread of private options that has spurred politicians like Shehbaz Sharif into action, the report observes.
“It is too early to judge the results of this massive shake up, but it seems better than the lamentable status quo. If this wholesale reform makes real inroads into the problems of enrolment, quality and discrimination against girls that bedevil Pakistan, it may prove a template for other countries similarly afflicted,” says the report.
The Economist report cites some reasons for the old system’s failure, including terrorism, poverty, graft, and the government’s neglect and capriciousness. From 2007-15, for instance, there were 867 attacks by terrorists on educational institutions, according to the Global Terrorism Database run by the University of Maryland.
“..The fact that politicians are burnishing their reputations through public services, rather than patronage alone, is a step forward. And if there is a little Punjabi hype to go with the Punjabi speed, then that may be a price worth paying. For too long Pakistani children have suffered because politicians have treated schools as political tools. They deserve much better,” the report concludes.
