Sunday 18 March 2012

Reforms in Education Sector


                                                Reforms in Education Sector

        “Those who have no knowledge are not equal to those who have.”
            “He dieth not who taketh to learning.”     
                                                         Holy Prophet {PBUH)
              People say power grows out of the barrel of a gun but I believe power grows out of the groves of educational institutions. Education is the prime key to moral, cultural, political and socio-economic development. Its neglect can cost generations. No illiterate society has ever become an industrial tiger. Today we, the sons of this land of pure, feel sorry that Pakistan is a crises-oriented state. The ramifications of these crises are visible in every sector of life, more so in education. Bad education emanating from ill-planning is worse than no education.       A review of the history of education reforms in Pakistan shows that setting targets, bemoaning the failures to achieve the same, and setting new targets at public expense with unqualified optimism has been a tradition of policy makers. Over the period of sixty-two years, eight national education policies, nine five-year plans, dozens of ad-hock schemes, numerous conferences, seminars and workshops couldn’t reform the education system due a sheer lack of political commitment.
            The crusade against illiteracy and the ills of existing education system requires not only revolutionary ideas but we must build on what we already have. We can develop our human resources by ensuring universal primary enrolment, increasing budgetary allocations for education , establishing maximum non-formal schools, restructuring the vocational institutes, eliminating gender gaps,
decentralizing the administrative structure of monitoring, and providing liberal state scholarships to the deserving students. There is variety of syllabus for all levels of education. It is indispensable to have a uniform education system for the entire country. There is also a dire necessity of evolving training programmes in education academies immediately after teachers’ selection. Teachers should be well paid according to a uniform scale. A strong system of counselling students and advising them on their career options can help rectify faults in our education system. Our examination structure is dependent upon paper manifestations and rote learning which inhibits creativity.(suggestion here)The centralized marking is actually a system of hasty marking. A strict compliance to the upper or lower limit of papers to be checked per day with lucrative remuneration offers can rescue the victims of hasty marking.

            Summing up, one can say that reforms in Pakistan can only succeed if they are directed towards the development of our underprivileged masses. A committed and visionary leadership is undoubtedly the most important factor in this framework of reforms in education sector. Our safety is not in blindness, but in facing our dangers. There is no time left. We must rise to the occasion and act. In actions is our life, in slogans is our death. Let us choose life, let us educate ourselves.

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