Our education systems have officially failed and there is a dire need to revamp the entire system. Every one in three child is out of school in between the ages of 5-16. This is ridiculous!
Pandemic was an easy way and an opportunity for the Government and authorities to improve the Education system and bring reforms however, even that was neglected. There were a series of educational policies that were introduced but no guidelines were laid as to how the policies would be implemented and run. How there would be check and balances, there were no funds allotted for the policies to work out.
India has made an effort to ensure that as many students as possible are in schools and they do this through provision of transport, school meals and stipends. If they being our neighbor sailing in the same boat can do that, why can’t we?
Everyone talks, the authorities, Court, civil society and members. Yet, nothing is done. If more students keep dropping out then whatever little progress is made will also diminish and this will lead to countless issues. We all know what happens when there is unemployment and illiteracy.
It is high time for the government to take steps. Firstly, there should be same curriculum throughout the country, be it public or private. This will encourage rural area students to compete with urban area students in job market. Vocational and technical education should be made mandatory for everyone regardless of age and gender. More emphasis should be placed on acquiring skills and brainstorming should be encouraged.
There is social and cultural problem that is so deeply rooted in the society that families don’t encourage their children to go to school if public-private joint efforts are taken then problems will be eliminated. Emphasis is placed on acquiring vocational and training education but the important thing to note is that already existing centers be made efficient.
Departments involved in making policies should also ensure that they are implemented and achieving goals set. Ways to generate funds should also be sorted out and special grants should also be given out to provinces where literacy rate is low. Better packages should be offered to teachers so they too will be more motivated and more educated teachers will be recruited.
Pakistan gets funds from various international organizations and scholarship grants this is positive as it can help the nation overcome problems of 21st century. Universities should place great emphasis on R&D it will help overcome various problems and students get more knowledge about the world.
There should be a special unit established in every institute that would assess the performance of teachers at the end of day and give suggestions on how to improve their performance more. Honesty should be the key element of teachers and any cheating in examinations or malpractice should be discouraged, if found it should be reported. Teachers should be given the license of teaching and if they abuse their power, it should be revoked instantly.
Another thing which institutes need to acknowledge is the fact that not all PhD teachers can teacher. Well known universities have hired staff who can barely structure sentences in proper English. The message and meaning gets lost in translation causing more issues. Where are the counselors? We have ghost counselors in universities these days. Most of the students upon graduation are lost and have no clue as to what their aspiration and goals are. We need counselors who can help guide them and get them a job. It is important to groom a student properly. Internships should be encouraged and made mandatory throughout these 4 years of university as every organization looks for candidates that have a minimum of 5 years’ experience. Where will that experience come from if students are denied opportunities’ every now and then?
There are still a lot of issues that needs proper addressing and if this isn’t done anytime soon then the entire system will collapse, rather experts say it has to an extent but we can still make reforms and take steps to prevent it entirely from falling apart. I sincerely hope that our generation and the one’s to come after don’t have to face such issues and we progress as a nation!
