Poverty and Education in Pakistan
By Rizwana Khan
An Educator with Multiple Subject California Teaching Credentials
The prime minister of Pakistan wants to have a uniform curriculum to be taught in all the Pakistani schools. His vision would not be applicable until support is provided to the students in the classrooms with socio-economic differences. The poverty creates different dynamics in a socio-economic class and therefore more assistance is needed for the very poor.
In the lower socio economic class poverty leads to systematic biases in teachers’ attitudes, poorer prenatal care, nutrition, and health care; curriculum, instruction, and further teachers’ lack of preparation for working effectively. Thus poverty ingrains bias in the system that is responsible for educating the masses.
The systematic bias is reflected in the three tier system of Pakistan i.e. private schools, government schools, and parochial/madrassah schools. Recognizing the ingrained bias in each tier and then eliminating them with the help of HEC and the updated Pakistan education policies can be the only way. The rules should be enforced and teachers trained. Thus, only a uniform conformity in the schools is possible.
The Pakistan education budget isn’t enough to build new schools for the growing population and properly equip the existing ones. At a government school that lacked resources so much so that in a kindergarten class, three students were jammed behind one small desk were expected to learn.
The systematic biases in teachers’ attitudes lower the student’s self-esteem. The students who didn’t know how to speak in English, wore cheap clothes, put oil in the hair were not considered worthy of much attention as they represented the lower rung of the society.
Due to the shabby treatment of their students and overcrowded schools , NGO schools like The Citizen Foundation, The CARE Foundation, The Ehsas and others are now seen meeting the local needs.
The Care Foundation trains the teachers in the government schools to uplift their standards. As an educator, I volunteered to assess the students’ reading skills. As soon as I entered the classroom, the teacher left the classroom. Later I found out that it was a normal action of the teachers in the schools to leave the children unattended for majority of the time. She would after doing the board work leave the students to do their seat work without any guidance or monitoring. Before leaving, she would select her favorite student to hold the fort in her absence.
As soon as the teacher left, the children start bickering and walking around the class. I thought it was unfair that the children were being cheated for their right to be taught properly, and I thought my complaint will bring some positive results. With that resolve, I stride to the principal's office, where the specific teacher with other teachers was having tea and biscuits. It was their social hour. When I told the principal about the negligent behavior of the teacher, the principal instead of helping me resolve the issue, started shouting at me. She said that I wore fancy clothes arriving from fancy places to tell them about how to teach. Basically, the ugliness of the systematic social divide was spit out in an angry tirade against the perceived affluent and educated class that I represented.
Later on, in another incident at an elite semi government college for women, It was a M-Phil program and I sat in a Statistic class waiting for the teacher to show up but the teacher was nowhere to be seen. Usually, the teacher in USA, where I had done my Undergraduate, was always prepared and showed enthusiasm at meeting the students for the first time. In Pakistan, the teacher came twenty minutes late and was not prepared at all. She talked about an incident that happened at the shopping once long time ago. it was a frivolous incident of no consequence to what we were there to learn. When I reported it to the Department Head, it was brushed aside as a normal episode.
In the two incidents mentioned above no action was taken to rectify the problem. It shows how the negligently the education institutions were being run. So the teachers with prejudice and no respect for their students are unable to provide the motivation and passion for learning.
Besides the prejudices, the politicians in Pakistan refuse to acknowledge the limitations of resources faced by the students from lower socio economic strata. Prime Minister Imran Khan’s strife for a uniform curriculum can’t be easily achieved as the entire provinces education budget and literacy rates are unequal. The most recent example reflected the dire strait of the provinces from far flung areas.
Baluchistan, a poor province with limited resources and arable land, supports large families living in congested spaces. The growing student population goes to Punjab or Sindh universities for higher education. But after Covid 19 pandemic they were sent away to their hometowns during lock down. Most of them lived the places where didn’t have any Internet services or WIi-Fi signal coverage. The education institutions didn’t acknowledge their difficulties. When these students came out on the streets and rallied for leniency in their online exams and asked their educators for other options. Instead they were beaten and arrested by the police. Therefore in respect to their limited resources these students can’t be up to par with the students with unlimited resources in order to excel.
Poverty leads to poorer prenatal care, nutrition, and health care. The schools with limited resources are inherent with premature, cognitive learning problems directly linked to poverty. There aren’t any plans for special tutors, counselors and psychologists to help the students.
Further, the direct relation of poverty to mental health can’t be denied, either. Amin Maktab School for intellectually challenged admits a high percentage of the children from the poorest sectors of the provinces. Even though mainstreaming of mildly disable children in the regular schools is a global trend, in Pakistan the poor can’t even think of doing it. There are no resources like IEPs assigned for the poor in the government schools. On the other hand, in the elite private schools, the parents pay for special tutors, counselors, and psychologists.
Besides limiting psychological and material resources, school’s low expectations of their students increases the weak curriculum and instruction. Also, teaching that is delivered is devoid of latest scientific discoveries and critique.
A renowned Physics and Math professor, Pervaiz Hoodbhoy told in an interview the reason why he was fired from his college in Lahore. In Covid 19 era the teachers were forced to lesson notes to the students in online classes. Thus, he discovered that the two decades old teacher’s notes were below par. Unfortunately, HEC and neither the college administration were interested in checking the relevance of those classroom notes and rectifying the low standards of learning. Therefore the students missed on the essence of discovery, creative or critical thinking matter, so essential to learning.
Further, Dr. Ammar Jan, a PH.D history professor from Cambridge University, who taught at the three public universities in Lahore, tried to raise the students awareness and critical thinking by encouraging them to think critically. As he gained popularity amongst the students from low socio economic class, he was fired from all the three government run universities.
Every year, the poverty level is increasing in Pakistan due to rampant inflation yet the Punjab government has only slightly increased the annual budget for the education sector from last year's Rs71.311 billion to Rs71.802 billion in its annual budget for 2020-21.
The socio-economic factors resulting in poverty are as follow. First, in the Afghan War, refugees immigrated from Afghanistan and Waziristan and settled down in the urban areas of the cities. Second, the higher poverty rates are found among families shifting from provinces with less allotted education budget and employment. Third, previous corrupt leaders shifted their wealth overseas. Fourth, the IMF loan payments. Fifth, the Covid 19 pandemic that stalled the economy due to global lock down.
A good quality of education is the only way to be delivered out of the poverty. A good quality of education develops creativity, innovation and critical thinking and that is the constitutional right of every Pakistani.
Article 25-A of Constitution of Pakistan obligates the state to provide free and compulsory quality education to children of the age group 5 to 16 years. "The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such a manner as may be determined by law".
The Education department and HEC need to recognize the inherent poverty in our social structure and adapt delivery of instruction as an immediate need of Pakistan.
