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The business of education-I

(This is FIRST of two articles on the subject)

Any nation that wants to prosper on the face of this earth must inculcate a sound system of education for its youth. Disregard for basic principles and ambiguity in thought is the bane of the education process in Pakistan, complicated by lack of resources, mixed blend of expertise in teaching staff and the advent of private schools in an haphazard manner. Vast sums that have been spent by the Government in supporting education have not had adequate return. A new Federal policy needs to be annunciated that will clearly spell out objectives in the (1) public sector (2) private sector while delineating the responsibilities of Provincial Governments. This policy once announced needs to be carried out in letter and spirit.

The Federal Policy should not be a long drawn out document, detailed in rhetoric but short on happenings. It should include among other details, the following (1) syllabi to be followed upto (a) kindergarten (b) middle school (c) high school and (d) colleges and universities, with emphasis on technical education (2) qualifications and standards for teaching, administrative staff and their salaries, perquisites thereof (3) extracurricular activities of the students including games, drama, union and social activities, etc (4) conducting of requisite examinations (5) remedial training for teaching and administrative staff (6) rules governing establishment and running of Government schools, colleges and universities on corporate basis (7) evolve an effective coordination procedure with the Provincial authorities to ensure successful implementation of Federal policy (8) monitoring the working of private schools through effective Corporate at Provincial levels (9) rules to govern the sending of exceptional students abroad on a countrywide merit basis with bonus points given for students from rural and non-developed areas, etc.

The Federal and Provincial Governments are presently running most of the schools, colleges and universities themselves through their respective Boards of Education whereas the emergence of private schools on a profitable basis has shown that an innovative scheme needs to be implemented whereas the buildings and equipment can be leased out to selected individuals or associations so that private sector enterprise can be harnessed for running these institutions on an efficient basis. Government has got itself mired into the business of education whereas it should have confined itself to mostly making policy, interfering only in areas where private sector interest may be lacking, e.g rural and non-developed areas, technical education, etc. Even in these areas one can rely on Cooperatives to run the educational institutions. Such areas/sectors may require greater effort and without government intervention a bad situation may become worse as private sector participation which is profit-motivated may be understandably non-existent.

At the present time, private sector investment in education is strikingly manifest only in the major urban cities where private schools are proliferating without adequate monitoring. This mushroom growth has certainly lessened the pressure on the Government run schools but there being no control over the fees to be charged, profiteering in the name of education has had merry abandon. The case of City School in Karachi has become a cause celebre as a pointed and sorry example of how profit-making in the guise of education can run amok when the illiterate try to impart knowledge, keeping profit-making their sole and only aim. Without going into details, the resultant confrontation between the School Administration and the Parents has resulted in an ugly fracas, culminating in the arrest (and subsequent bail) of the School Administrator (and owner) on charges of what amounts to Goonda-ism, most non-conducive for any school atmosphere, certainly not the environment for our children to grow up in. Obviously the parents were pressurised by high school fees to such an extent that they have become agitated enough to resort to public opposition, even at the extreme cost of risking the further education of their children. This state of affairs cannot be allowed to persist as it can be counter-productive to the whole education process.

Monitoring of private schools must be done by a statutory body at the Provincial level with sub-units in each city. This statutory body can appoint any three responsible senior citizens from the same area where the school is located on the Governing Body of the school. It should be upto the Schools’ Managing Body to select the three nominees from a panel proposed. These nominees would act as TRUSTEES to ensure that the schools implement the letter and spirit of the Federal Policy while determining that excessive profitability does not confound the entire educational process and to avoid situations where the school atmosphere is vitiated by events real or imagined. Of greatest concern to the parents are the fees being charged which must remain reasonable, adjusted for inflation on either side, both for the school and the parents, so that an economical balance is achieved. At the same time it must be ensured that the teaching staff are adequately compensated while having the requisite educational background. By having better service conditions we must attract the best talent into the teaching profession. The same pattern must develop for schools and colleges to be leased out so that there is a supervisory check to ensure that the purpose of the lease is not violated in any manner. Communities can support the process by channelising philanthropic funds to these institutions.

Education can only benefit by judicious privatisation. While one cannot hope immediately for standards achieved in western countries, one can study the system to ensure that privatisation is effective and not prone to the ills that have proliferated in the western system. We feel that this can be achieved by evolving a sensible process that ensures checks and balances, inculcating the democratic system while paying more than lip-service for populist measures which are a must for Third World countries. In an Islamic country like Pakistan, it is also necessary to ensure the teaching of the Holy Qoran to the students at an early age. It must have an incentive scheme that will encourage achievement and hard work by the defraying of school fees. One of the ills of privatisation will be high school fees and here innovation must become the mother of necessity. All private schools and colleges must run on a two-shift basis, the first shift for the fees-paying affluent class, the second shift catering for the less affluent on a totally free basis. One can call it a Robin Hood approach, making the rich pay directly to educate the poor. In this manner the investment in the mortar and brick of school buildings and the equipment therein will be actively force-multiplied. All private schools must be made to have these two shifts from 0800 hrs to 1300 hrs and from 1330 hrs to 1830 hrs because that is the only way to equalize education in a manner that presently victimizes the poor. Private schools can schedule the teaching staff in such a manner that they work 2 shifts of 8 hours from 0800 hrs to 1300 hrs and from 1330 hrs to 1830 hrs with a 30 minute break at 1300 hrs for lunch. In this way the overlap will ensure that the same teaching staff is available for the two shifts, thereby bringing into equal average the education imparted to the affluent and the poor.

It is necessary to have Community Education Services (CES) which must take in senior retired citizens into its fold, belonging to the community or in the close vicinity of the community where the educational institution is located. In our community we will definitely have adequate number of responsible elders who will be more than glad to render social service for 2-3 hours daily as teaching or administrative staff as the case may be at a very small stipend. In this way it will be possible to compensate to some extent the extra staff required. People from the CES can concentrate on teaching students General Knowledge, Pakistan Affairs, Common Hygiene and other subjects which will encourage our children to become good future citizens of the Islamic Republic. Religious teaching is a must, particularly those incidents of our beloved Prophet (PBUH) which can highlight not only his strict adherence to the teachings of the Qoran but show Islam as an extremely tolerant religion, who better than our senior citizens to do the needful? In fact, our syllabi should concentrate more on the practical aspects of life with emphasis on vocational and technical education. It may be in the realm of imagination but maybe even a third shift is possible for the benefit of poor parents, taking them through specified condensed courses which will not only enhance their literacy but also help them in their day-to-day lives. This can be elaborated into special and/or technical education as the case may be, including vocational education such as cooking, sewing, computer education etc for females.The two shifts must not remain segregated, as the students go to higher classes, there must be an incentive for the better students among the second shift for inclusion in the first shift. There are pros and cons about uniform but as a matter of policy uniforms should be done away with in schools, too much money has to be spent by parents in the making and maintenance of uniforms, the logic of evenness is not enough to make it justifiable, only care should be taken that the rich avoid ostentatious clothes, simple plain clothes given preference. Vertical and horizontal integration can be ensured when planning extra-curricular activities, particularly games, which must be planned as a whole school including both the shifts thereby ensuring an easy mix between the affluent and the not so affluent in the same community, building bridges of understanding, very necessary in this day and age where polarisation on various counts is becoming more acute day by day.

Nothing is impossible in the face of ingenuity and purpose. Innovation must be used to act as a FORCE-MULTIPLIER in the field of education and privatisation as a controllable mechanism meant to enhance positively the meagre resources of the State. The foregoing represents imperfect ideas better honed by experienced administrators and educationists. No economic dream is possible without total emancipation in the field of education. The important message is that the government should get out of the business of education but at the same time must control the education from only becoming a business, which loses sight of the universal imparting of knowledge that it must entail. A Peoples’ Government can make plenty of populist promises, the charismatic PM must show that she means business when she talks about universal education. She must implement her populist ideas into functional reality, fulfilling the promised dream of education for all the masses.

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