The government has a significant role in providing its citizens with proper education. Pakistan has undergone several changes since the 1980s. Recent policy changes are slowly shaping the nation, making it look like Western countries are embracing “Americanization.” Pakistan is rapidly losing its social democratic status. Unfortunately, the so-called economic restructuring adversely affects the Pakistani school system and its students. By analyzing the changes made to Pakistan’s education system, we can track neoliberalism’s level of growth in the country. Privatization of education means transferring taxpayers’ money designated for public education to luxuries of the Government, corporations, and individuals instead of to public schools, colleges, and universities. For the poor and middle-class people to have access to proper education, the Government’s educational, accessible facilities are most vital; they should be available.
It is undisputed that the commoner creates Government. The government exists to assure and protect the will of the people. Contrarily, against our will, almost all our living costs, including the cost of education, are now blatantly rigged against us. A considerable percentage of our taxes ultimately ends up in the pockets of politicians. Experience of the past five years proves that our tax money is not going into our community but into the pockets of the billionaires called our leaders – it is obscene. Our ruling elite has engineered a financial coup and has brought war to our doorstep; they have launched a war to eliminate the Pakistani middle and lower class.
They have deprived the people of getting an affordable quality education. Private and self-finance public institutes have high fees, so low-income people cannot afford that fee. Private or self-financing education is nothing but returning to our country because rich people can afford it, and lower-class and middle-class families have brilliant children. They want to study further in sound institutions, but financial problems create much stress upon them. Students get a lot of pressure, sometimes making them so desperate that they think of committing suicide; thus, who loses their talent? Our leaders, our country!
The state of the Pakistani educational system began to change and ultimately crumble after the 1980s. So-called reforms have dramatically changed Pakistan’s educational system from an economic and pedagogical perspective. There are clear signs that affordable quality education in Pakistan is under threat. Pakistan’s education system has fallen victim to neo-liberal globalization. Neo-liberalism has regarded educational institutes more as a commodity exchange and commercial body than as sacrosanct academic institutions or means of social and national integration.
It is generally accepted that the educational level of each country has a direct relationship with its development; as many people have access to education, the country has more opportunities to grow. Therefore, the Government has to spend an essential part of its budget on providing good educational levels for its people. With the Government’s help, public institutions should promote access, affordability, and attainment in education, including higher education, by reducing costs, providing value for low-income families, and preparing students with a high-quality education to succeed in their careers. The more hardworking students must be provided with a fair shot at pursuing higher education because education is not a luxury but an economic imperative that every hardworking and responsible student can afford.
Today, the educational system is formulated only to meet the Government’s demands to meet the neo-liberal agenda. Political leaders have been able to get away with these changes. The quality of education is going down, students are feeling the pressure to get the grades, and teachers are left to deal with the ambiguity and the uncertainty of how to achieve the objectives and standards set by the state. This has negatively affected Pakistan’s educational system, impacting students, teachers, and communities. Our educationists and the Government have done nothing to upgrade the quality of Pakistan’s education system.
The bitter truth is our corrupt political elite don’t want ordinary people to get a world-class education. PPP Government is out to systematically wipe out the HEC’s achievements and destroy them in absolute terms. People with low incomes are more marginalized after education is commercialized. Our children want education but fail to cope in universities because everything is out of reach for middle and lower-middle-class students. Pakistan needs highly educated people to deal with the growing political dynamics that prevail – we should not be looking at the possibilities of outsourcing decision-making to external forces simply because we do not have people educated enough to strategize Pakistan’s policies. To achieve this goal, there must be affordable higher education in place. The Government should also direct its efforts toward villages. It should open more schools and employ more teachers.
Opening schools does not mean erecting costly buildings and employing an army of unwilling teachers who are not fit to do what they are required to do, as has been the case during the last five years. Only merit-based dedicated staff can make the dream of education for all a reality. The Government should provide scholarships to brilliant students. The Government should be committed to placing a good education within reach of all willing to work for it to help build a solid Pakistani middle class. Equal opportunities for development for all children during the growth period should be the Government’s aim. Healthy and educated citizens drive a nation’s productivity; the Government should invest in this to achieve their optimum well-being. We believe the Government should ensure that funding is available to the education sector. The Government will invest in its human resource development success story by investing in education.
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