Public Education

                       THAT out of the 15 top position holders in the Matriculation Examination this year only two belonged to government schools indicates the sad state of the public education system in Punjab. For decades after the creation of Pakistan, state-run schools had remained the mainstay of the educational system and the standards were generally tolerable and in cases fairly good. However, deterioration gradually started due to the neglect of the education sector by successive governments. While the vast majority of people still send their children to schools run by local bodies and the provincial government, their standards have deteriorated for a number of reasons. On account of the low pay they offer, trained teachers are not keen to join these schools. Cases have been reported where students are required to attend classes in the open. Many government schools lack basic facilities. The supervisory system is highly unsatisfactory leading to the creation of ghost schools. In rural areas, many teachers frequently remain absent from their schools because they other jobs on the side. The focus of the PML (Q) government remained on high enrolment, where it was possible to make fake claims, rather than quality education. Meanwhile the dropout level could not be contained, and despite increased emphasis on the education of girls, the gap between the literacy rates of males and females could not be bridged. Funds that could have been used to improve the quality of education were wasted on giant advertisements splashed across newspapers to gain political mileage.
Mian Shahbaz Sharif has done well to be personally present at the ceremony organized to encourage the position holders. The pledge of free higher education to position holders and an award of Rs 5 million to one of them would provide an incentive to students to work hard. What is however needed is to take measures to redeem the fast deteriorating public education system, which caters to the needs of the lower middle and poorer sections of society.
A demand was made by the position holders to abolish the entry tests. The system was introduced following complaints of large-scale malpractices in the examination system, which helped children from influential families to secure more marks than they deserved. During his last tenure as Chief Minister, Mian Shahbaz had tried to put an end to the so-called “booti mafia” responsible for these activities. It is the government’s responsibility to eliminate malpractices, thereby rendering entry tests unnecessary. One hopes that Mian Shahbaz concentrates on overhauling the public education system to improve its quality.

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