Social sector, especially the education sector, has been the most neglected sector in Pakistan. It never featured in the priority list of our governments right from the birth of Pakistan. It has been a forgotten story. In mid and late fifties, Pakistani politics was infested with palace intrigues and governments hardly lasted for months. Once Jawaharlal Nehru sarcastically commented that he did not change his ‘Dhoti’ as frequently as governments change in Pakistan. Qudratullah Shahab in his famous autobiography “Shahhabnama” had written a very interesting incident that highlights the plight of education in Pakistan.
Shahab writes that when palace intrigues were in full swing every day a new government was formed and a cabinet was administered the oath. After administering oath to the new cabinet it was revealed that the education ministry had not been given to anyone, as the new prime minister forgot the ministry as no one was interested in such a ‘dry’ ministry.
This is not an incident but the sorry state that exists even today. Education has been a forgotten sector since the 50s. Pakistan is far below in human development index. It ranked 125 among 169 countries on UN 2010 Human Development Index (HDI) that measures achievements in health, education and income indicators as an alternative to purely macroeconomic assessments of national progress. Literacy rate in Pakistan is very low compared to the regional countries and public expenditure on education is the lowest. In the wake of the prevailing situation, the government should have declared education emergency but it shelved a plan to set up seven new foreign universities, as it did not release the initial funds required for establishment of four universities in the first phase.
In 2007, the then HEC Chairman Dr Atta-ur-Reham evolved a plan to establish seven world-class foreign universities in engineering sciences in collaboration with Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Austria, China and Korea. Interim Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro, in February 2008, approved the plan. Four universities including an Italian at Karachi, an Austrian and German at Lahore and a Chinese University in Islamabad were to start functioning. A sum of Rs160 billion was approved in the budget and the funds were to be spent on the four universities in different phases of development. The plan for three other universities was also in the pipeline. Out of the remaining three universities, two of them one Korean and other French university, were to be established at Karachi, while the third university, a Swedish, was to be founded in Sialkot.
The Sindh government allotted 1,300 acres for the proposed universities on Link Road between the Super and National Highways and two buildings were built near Hawkesbay Scheme to expedite the teaching process of establishing the universities. At that time, Dr Atta-ur-Rehman expressed his desire to see the commencement of master’s level classes at the proposed universities in Karachi in October 2008. However, the plans were dumped without any reason after the new government assumed power.
Some industries including Siemens and Ericsson had shown their interest in investing Research and Development (R&D) centers. A newspaper quoted a senior official of Ericsson company as saying that they were interested in establishing R&D centers and investment was on the anvil. “We need to have standard universities that could affiliate such centers. We are observing that interest of the students towards Mathematics and Physics is waning and we want to revive the interest to have sound physicists and mathematicians, who could bring some revolution in improving the machines and their work. We are sorry that the plan could not be implemented,” the paper quoted him as saying.
Dr Att-ur-Rehman explained said that they had formed a strong consortium of the top engineering universities of respective countries. We went for this approach, rather than collaborating with single universities in each country, because the single, most important aspect of the programme was getting high-quality faculty from foreign universities. This would have been difficult for the foreign universities to manage alone, but the burden was made much easier since many universities joined hands to provide faculty.
“Each of these universities was divided into two parts — one part was for education and research, the other part was a technology park. Technology park was indeed the heart of each university. It was agreed that we would judge the success of these universities, not just from the PhD output or international publications but from international patents granted, as well as from the new products (developed and commercialized). A great deal of effort was made in approaching the foreign companies abroad to convince them to establish R & D centers within the technology parks of these foreign universities. The argument that succeeded in convincing the multinational companies to set up these centers was a very convincing one — the graduates produced by the Pakistan-German university, for example, would have passed the examinations of the German partner university and thus would be identical in standard to students passing the same examination in Germany. They would, however, be able to hire the Pakistani engineers at lower costs for the technology parks than similar personnel available in Germany.”
But the incumbent government shelved the plan and did not release the required funds for the projects. The daily expenses of the president are well over Rs1 million and the expenses of Prime Minister’s foreign tours are well over Rs3 million. The rulers never bothered to cut their unnecessary expenditure and the axe always falls on the crucial education sector.
Dear TNT Reader,
At The News Tribe, our mission is to bring you free, independent, and unbiased news and content that keeps you informed and empowered. We are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism, as we understand that we are a platform for truth.
Apart from independent global news coverage, we also commit our unique focus on the Muslim world. In an age marked by the troubling rise of Islamophobia and widespread misrepresentation of Muslims in Western media, we strive to provide accurate and fair coverage.
But to continue doing so, we need your support. Even a small donation of 1$ can make a big difference. Your contribution will help us maintain the quality of our news and counteract the negative narratives that are so prevalent.
Please consider donating today to ensure we can keep delivering the news that matters. Together, we can make a positive impact on the world, and work towards a more inclusive, informed global society.
Donate Monthly Subscription Annual Subscription