This letter is with the reference to the PMs statement about nationalization of education being a mistake. Education is supposed to be a public good. That is a good available to the public on a non-rivalrous and non-excludable basis. Economic jargon aside this means that it should be available to all on a non-discriminatory basis.
While PM Gilani may have been right about that particular move of the PPP government, it does not mean that nationalisation of education is in itself a mistake. The government has been making moves towards nationalising public departments but outsourcing education, especially primary education, would be disastrous.
If education was mismanaged, the trick is to manage it better rather than outsource it to private sector that will make it exclusive and bleed people dry on top of managing it badly. No public education system in the world is perfect but every country with high literacy rate managed it with a good public education system like Sri Lanka, states in South India etc.
Our government keeps investing in higher education when a better long-term investment would be to improve our public education system. After all, we cant expect our children to run when they can barely crawl. Same is the case if we expect to turn out university graduates without turning out primary school graduates.
ANUM SHEIKH
Lahore
