Schools, Syllabuses, and Human Rights: an Evaluation of Pakistan's

Schools, Syllabuses, and Human Rights: An Evaluation of Pakistan’s Education System SYED JAFFAR AHMED any writers and even a few official documents acknowledge education to be a basic human right (Government of Pakistan 1998:1). Although the Con- Mstitution does not include the right to education in its fairly long Funda- mental Rights, in Principles of Policy it declares it the State’s responsibility to • promote the educational and economic Overview of the Education System interests of the lower classes, combat illiteracy, and provide free and compul- Pakistan’s educational system has a checkered sory secondary education as soon as past of high ideals and promises and a dismal possible; record of achievement. Education in the last • make technical and professional education 53 years has remained an arena of experimen- generally available and higher education tation, and implementation of divergent, often equally accessible to all on the basis of contradictory, policies. Human Development merit; and in South Asia 1998 states that “while South • enable people of different areas, through Asia is the most illiterate region in the world, education, training, agricultural and in- Pakistan is the most illiterate country within dustrial development, and other methods, South Asia” (Haq and Haq 1998: 51). Unof- to participate fully in all forms of national ficial but authoritative sources put Pakistan’s activity, including employment in the ser- literacy rate at about 38%. The literacy rates vice of the country (Government of Paki- for males and females are 50% and 24%, re- stan 1985). spectively. Of the total adult population of 76 million, of which 60% are women, 49 million, The Constitution was enacted in 1973, but about two thirds, are illiterate. Moreover, of its high ideals have yet to be achieved. all primary-school-age children, 37% of the Education has a multiplier effect: an edu- boys and 55% of the girls do not go to school. cated individual is more likely to be aware of More than half the children who do go to all other fundamental rights. Moreover, Sankar school drop out before completing grade 5. Sen writes: “Only the people who are aware of The average mean years of schooling is just their rights can ensure that their rights will not 1.9 years, which compares poorly with 3.9 years be trampled on. Learning about one’s own for other developing countries (Haq and Haq rights builds respect for the rights of others 1998: 51). and gives confidence to assert them” (Sen Enrolment at the secondary level is only 21%, 1998: 53). or half the South Asian average. Pakistan’s ter- 69 70 • HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS tiary enrolment ratio is 2.6%, the lowest in the an eight-year education policy, whose numer- region and half that of India’s. Only 1.6% of ous objectives included equalizing education secondary-school students opt for technical and opportunities, arresting declining educational vocational education. From 1951 to 1997, the standards, and correcting the growing imbal- literacy rate rose by a mere 1.2% per annum. ance among various types of education. The In Balochistan—the country’s most backward policy claimed to adjust educational programs province—female literacy is just 1.7%. This dis- according to society’s economic needs. It com- mal record is the reason that Pakistan ranked mitted itself to make education an instrument 134 in human development out of 174 coun- of social change and development and to bring tries in 1997 (Haq 1997: 40), despite the fact about a democratic social order by nationaliz- that it has had 12 high-level education reports ing schools, thereby expanding educational and 5 major education policies, of which the opportunities for the poor and improving World Bank made 6, and the Asian Develop- teachers’ salaries. The policy failed and educa- ment Bank, 1 (Ahmed 1999). tion deteriorated. In the absence of commu- Government efforts to evolve an education nity participation, nationalization paved the policy began soon after the creation of the way for corruption and a greater role for the country in 1947, when the All-Pakistan Edu- bureaucracy. cation Conference was held, and again in 1951. In 1977, Pakistan once again fell under a In 1958, General Mohammad Ayub Khan military dictatorship, led by General Zia-ul- imposed martial law and established the Com- Haq, whose education policy of 1979 can be mission on National Education under S.M. summarized by its slogan, “Islamization of Sharif. The commission’s report, published in Education.” Neither the government nor its 1959, recommended that the education sys- educationists could define Islamization, which tem should meet individual and collective needs produced only confusion.1 General Zia also and enable people to live productive lives ac- reversed the policy of nationalization and priva- cording to their talents and interests. The policy tized schools, soon turning schools into busi- thus undertook to develop people’s skills, train nesses more concerned with profit than the a leadership group, and promote vocational improvement of education. abilities. Although the report identified the With the restoration of civilian rule in 1988, objective of education as the creation of a wel- successive governments came up with their own fare state and possessed a liberal and Western education policies. The 1992 education policy outlook, the educational system it projected proclaimed a number of objectives: was elitist. The Ayub regime was toppled by • Modernize the educational system. General Mohammad Yahya Khan in 1969. To • Promote the teaching of Islam in social pacify student unrest, which had contributed sciences to strengthen students’ cultural to the downfall of Ayub Khan, General Yahya moorings. established a new commission under Air Mar- • Bring out students’ creative, critical, and tial Noor Khan, whose new education policy dynamic abilities. was published in 1969. • Provide equal opportunities to the poor The Noor Khan Commission report sug- and rich alike. gested some bold measures such as democra- • Ensure 100% participation of children in tizing education and freeing it from bureau- education at the primary level by the year cratic control. Most of the report’s recommen- 2000. dations, however, were not implemented. In • Eradicate illiteracy through formal and December 1971, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto estab- nonformal methods. lished a civilian regime and in 1972 introduced Schools, Syllabuses, and Human Rights • 71 • Revise the curriculums to improve the prevalent parallel systems of education. It quality of education. sought to demilitarize educational institutions • Promote an academic and democratic without realizing that violence could not be culture in schools. curbed at the point of its occurrence and that • Improve the role of the private sector in without demilitarizing society itself, the edu- education. cational institutions could not be demilitarized. • Urge the community to participate in The policy also did not offer to end the social- educational affairs. class and gender biases in the syllabus (Gov- ernment of Pakistan 1998). In 1998, during his second term, Nawaz Pakistan was thus never short of policies and Sharif introduced a 12-year education policy programs that, despite their different ideologi- aimed at preparing Pakistan to enter the 21st cal and motivational thrusts, suggested posi- century as an advanced country. The policy also tive measures. If the country did not move set high targets. For example, it aimed to make toward educational emancipation, it was due education universal by 2010 by accomplishing to the failure of the implementers, the lack of the following: political will on the part of the successive gov- • building 40,000 new primary schools; ernments, and wrong national priorities. • starting evening classes in 20,000 schools, apart from establishing a similar number The education system of mosque schools; • establishing 15,000 middle schools and The Constitution provides that legislative 7,000 secondary schools in the next five and executive competence over various sub- years; jects be divided between the federal and pro- • increasing enrolment in the polytechnic vincial governments. The federal government institutes from 42,000 to 62,000 by 2002; alone has jurisdiction over the federal list of • making curriculums relevant to the needs subjects, while both the federal and provincial of the 21st century; governments have jurisdiction over the con- • suggesting innovative programs such as current list. The Constitution does not have a nonformal basic education, community separate list of provincial subjects, but all sub- schools, use of mosque schools for for- jects not included in the two lists mentioned mal primary education, provision of edu- are left to the discretion of the provinces. The cation cards for needy students, setting subject of education has also been bifurcated up residential model secondary schools in in parts: while curriculums, syllabuses, plan- rural areas (initially one in each district), ning, policy, centers of excellence, standards introducing competitive textbooks at the of education, and Islamic education come un- secondary-school level, introducing a na- der the concurrent list, the rest are in provin- tional education testing service, decentral- cial competence. Since the Constitution also izing the system, and mobilizing the com- lays down that federal legislation has primacy munity, etc. in any case over subjects on the concurrent list, the central government dominates

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