Is Pakistan ripe for a social revolution? My answer is ‘no’.
A former finance minister, Dr. Mahbub ul Haq (previously
chief, planning commission at the world bank), advocated investment in people
and on that basis presented the country’s budget as finance minister in the
1985-86. He even advocated a scheme of ‘each one teach one’ on the Chinese pattern.
However, after his departure, the successive government paid little heed to the
social sector namely education and health, except from lip service.
Before partition, I belonged to Patiala state in east Punjab,
India. My dear mother hailed from Banaur in the Patiala district. Then Banaur
was a small village. Now it is a small town with a number of universities
namely one medical college and hospital, three engineering universities, one
institute of business administration and one institute of information
technology to cater to a population of 15000. All institutions are privately
owned (source: Wikipedia). My cousins, who are almost of the same age as I am,
are familiar with the name of Rajpura. It was another town of Patiala state,
before it became a district. It has now a population of 85000. It has 20 colleges,
universities and hospitals. Similarly all institutions have been established privately.
(Source: Wikipedia).
When India became independent the prime minister gave the
portfolio of education to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and kept science and
technology with himself. Together they ensured that India placed on a solid
footing as regards education, science and technology.
As India’s education minister, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
oversaw the establishment of a national education system with free primary
education and modern institutions of higher education. He is also credited with
the establishment of the Indian Institutes of Technology and the
foundation of the University Grants Commission, an important institution
to supervise and advance the higher education in the nation (Source: Wikipedia).
A similar University Grants Commission (now renamed as the higher
education commission) was set up twenty years later in Pakistan. Although both India
and Pakistan achieved independence together, there is a wide gap between the
literacy rates: India 81% Pakistan 69%. However, these rates do not give a
clear picture in as much as people who sign their name were also considered.
A union leader of a white elephant was addressing us when I
attended a public administration at NIPA, Lahore. He demanded from the federal
government to give them a grant to establish an educational institution and a hospital.
I referred to the huge amount of money accumulated in the union fund and asked
him why should he depend on the government when the union had an enormous
amount to meet the expenses to establish both institutions. But he was not
willing to budge an inch.
Unlike India, education has been given a step motherly
treatment both in terms of financing and in terms of the low importance in
choosing the ministers for education. Ministers vie with other to snatch more
important portfolios of foreign affairs finance, defence and commerce etc.
Before partition, various Christian missions set up schools
and colleges in different major cities. In the fifties and sixties, Dawoods,
Adamjees and the Habibs invested in education, but no longer. However, in Karachi,
the Memons and the Bohras established schools for their communities. Imran Khan
started a trend among the new generation of celebrities to establish hospitals
and educational institutions. The Bhutto administration nationalized the
education sector at the cost of the new generation of Pakistan. The Zia
administration introduced Urdu as a medium of instruction. Both acts of Bhutto
and Zia retarded the progress of the country towards full literacy. It may be
apt to mention that in India, the education policy has been reviewed only twice
since independence whereas in Pakistan it has undergone revision with every
change of government.
A company placed an advertisement to market mobile telephone
in Pakistan which featured rustic village folk dancing. I am distressed to see
this advertisement. Whenever any politician holds a public meeting, he directs the
administration to round people, cram them in buses to listen to his speech. An
overwhelming majority of the poor go for the sake of pittance they get. They
have no idea what they listen or the issues involved.
Education has been plagued by cheating by the students and
plagiarism of books from other renowned scholars by the university professors.
The situation is dismal, unlike India where the moneyed classes set up
hospitals and educational institutions. Here the moneyed classes are unwilling
to part with their money to set up these institutions. Even some of them in the
urban areas look towards the government. In the rural areas, the moneyed
classes discourage education. Many ghost schools have been established to
siphon off funds.
A social revolution in Pakistan can only come when the
government shows serious commitment to employ effective long term educational
policy inclusive of enhancement in budgetary allocations from a negligible
percentage to a more healthy percentage. The private sector should also be more
involved to invest in these sectors. It also involves greater public participation.
I am sixty seven and it appears a mirage to me.
I am sixty seven and it appears a mirage to me.
Mahfooz Ur Rahman
rahman.mahfooz.pk@gmail.com
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