Is Pakistan Likely To Increase Access To Quality And Affordable Basic And Higher Education For Boys And Girls By 2030

Running head: SDG

Is Pakistan Likely To Increase Access To Quality And Affordable Basic And Higher Education

For Boys And Girls By 2030?

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Institution

SDG

Introduction

The Sustainable Development Goals provide a blueprint for sustainable development in

the 21

century. They have been adopted by many countries in 2015 and are aimed at eradicating

poverty and ensuring that individuals live decently, protecting the ecosystem and ensuring a

clean and safe planet, and guaranteeing prosperity for all. These goals were developed to support

sustainable development. Each SDG has a specific target to be realized by 2030. The realization

of these goals depends on efforts from all the concerned parties. The government has to play its

role in ensuring the appropriate policies are developed to support the realization of these goals.

Private sector organizations, civil society, communities, and individuals must also work towards

the realization of these goals. One of the Sustainable Development Goals that countries ought to

pay considerable attention to is access to quality education. Countries should strive to ensure that

every boy-child and girl-child has access to quality and affordable basic and higher education by

2030. However, a country such as Pakistan is not likely to realize this goal by 2030. A low rate

of enrollment at the primary school level, wide gender disparities, poorly trained teachers, lack

of appropriate instructional materials, and bad physical infrastructure of schools have hindered

the realization of meaningful progress in the education sector. This paper examines how Pakistan

has fared so far in ensuring quality education for all. It also explores the challenges that may

hinder the country from ensuring that all boys and girls have access to quality and affordable

basic and higher education by 2030.

Historical Factors

The significantly low level of investment in the education sector has been a major cause

of lack of progress in the sector. Government expenditure in the education sector remained

below two percent of Gross National Product before the 1984/1985 financial year. It has recently

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risen to 2.2 percent which is still low considering the importance of the education sector to the

realization of some of the Sustainable Development Goals. The Pakistani government has mainly

focused on allocating more funds to higher education, a policy mistake that has seen only the

upper-income section of the population benefit from quality education in the country over the

years (Memon, 2007). It means that access to quality and higher education in the country is a

preserve for the rich. This has contributed to the growing income gap in the country. Highly

educated Pakistanis tend to go abroad to seek higher education. Many of them fail to return to the

country to make meaningful contribution to nation-building, a factor that has led to brain drain

and a shortage of highly qualified professionals in many fields.

Pakistan has traditionally had a weak budgetary process that fails to adequately address

the development needs of the country. Over the years, the Pakistani government has earned a

reputation for developing effective budgets and failing to implement or monitor projects in the

social sector. This has contributed to the lack of significant growth in the education sector.

The quality of education in the country has historically had a deteriorating trend. Science

education, in particular, has been falling in quality and over the years. At the time the country

was gaining independence and in the years that followed, a serious shortage of instructors, poorly

equipped school laboratories, and a curriculum that could not meet the needs of the job sector

and the modern economy of Pakistan characterized the country’s education sector.

The performance of the education sector over the years shows that the country cannot

meet its educational goals without meeting minimum primary and secondary schools enrollment

targets. The country can achieve a higher rate of university enrollment when it ensures that net

primary school enrollment is about 80 percent (Rashid & Mukhtar, 2012). A similar target

should be achieved for secondary school enrollment.

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Cultural Factors

Culture has also significantly contributed to the likely failure of Pakistan to increase

access to quality and affordable basic and higher education by 2030 for both the boy-child and

girl-child. The position of women in the society in Pakistan is significantly influenced by

sociocultural norms and values. The Pakistani society is widely patriarchal and, the society is,

therefore, generally male-dominated (Luqman et al., 2015). Men mostly hold positions of power

as women take a supporting role. Pakistan is the country with the widest gender disparity in

South Asia. Discrimination against the female gender is common in many parts of the society.

A patriarchal culture has substantially affected the education quality in Pakistan. While

the education of boys is seen as important, the education of the girl-child is not viewed as a

necessity. Most girls end up in marriages at an early age, meaning that they only attend basic

education (Holmes, 2003). The gender disparity in education and in Pakistan, in general, is

mainly attributed to a male-dominated culture that tends to treat women as second-class citizens.

Increasing the number of girls enrolling for higher education can help the country

guarantee that each boy-child and girl-child will have access to quality and affordable basic and

higher education by 2030 (Herz & Sperling, 2004). As it is, Pakistan has fallen behind its targets.

The country was ranked at position 122 out of 157 countries on the SDG index according to the

results released in July 2017 (Kiani, 2018). The country has fared poorly than most of its

neighbors. Improving quality and affordable education access for both boys and girls in Pakistan

would help it achieve its educational goals by 2030. However, the country faces a daunting task

because it has to find a way to change its culture that confines women to domestic roles as men

take charge of major industries and sectors. This seems to be the most difficult thing to achieve

in improving education quality and school enrollment in the country.

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Another socio-cultural factor that has contributed to the poor performance of the

Pakistani education sector is the country's attitude towards child labor. While in many countries

child labor is illegal and even frowned upon, it is common to see children working in factories in

Pakistan (Ray, 2000). As children begin to take part in gainful employment at an early age, they

set aside schooling, contributing to the high number of people without basic or higher education

in the country. Child labor is more common in low-income families in the country. Parents that

are unable to meet the family needs due to financial constraints tend to send children to work in

factories in order to contribute to the family income. Children working in factories seem to

improve the financial situations of their families. However, lack of higher education or any

formal education at all means that they will be confined to low incomes for most of their lives. It

also invites the question of where they fit in the contemporary business environment driven by

technology and knowledge. Employers tend to pay higher for skills and competencies that are

difficult to come by. Unskilled labor is common and, therefore, less competitive in the labor

market (Anderson & Pontusson, 2007). Child labor further impedes the sustainable development

of Pakistan by denying it important skills that can drive its growth and development in the

modern world. The age of globalization has especially made it important for countries to take

advantage of industrialization in order to achieve growth objectives (Meng, 2012).

Structural Factors

Failure by the Pakistani government to invest more in the education sector has

contributed to the lack of progress in the sector. Government policies play a significant role in

solving socioeconomic challenges (Fägerlind & Saha, 2016). The government has not shown a

willingness to invest more in the education sector and enhance access to quality and affordable

education in the country. Much of the investment made in the sector is channeled towards higher

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education. This does not benefit the majority of the population because only a few people

manage to continue their education up to the university level. By failing to invest in basic

education, the government has essentially confined the poor to low-income status because most

of them cannot afford to finance basic education, which is the gateway to higher education. The

country faces even more problems because those that study to the higher levels tend to depart the

country for greener pastures elsewhere. The Pakistani government should strive to ensure that

each boy-child and girl-child has access to quality and affordable basic and higher education by

2030 by developing specific policies that make achieving this goal realistic.

Education in Pakistani is neither free nor compulsory. Most governments have increased

the rate of school enrollment by making basic education free and compulsory (Malik &

Courtney, 2011). This ensures that many children join school and study up to the college level.

With education being a matter of choice in Pakistan, parents that do not value education may not

see the need to take their children to school. Studies show that parents without advanced

educational levels pay less attention to the educational needs of their children. It creates a cycle

of low enrollment rate that further prevents Pakistan from ensuring that all boys and girls have

access to quality and affordable basic and higher education by 2030.

Conclusion

The study finds that Pakistan is not likely to realize a significant increase in the number

of boys and girls accessing quality and affordable basic and higher education by 2030. The

significantly low level of investment in the education sector has been a major cause of lack of

progress in the sector. The Pakistani government has mainly focused on allocating more funds to

higher education, a policy mistake that has seen only the upper-income section of the population

benefit from quality education in the country over the years. Culture has also significantly

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contributed to the likely failure of Pakistan to guarantee that each boy-child and girl-child will

have access to quality and affordable basic and higher education by 2030. A patriarchal culture

has substantially affected the quality of education in Pakistan. While the education of boys is

seen as important, the education of the girl-child is not viewed as a necessity. Education in

Pakistani is neither free nor compulsory. With education being a matter of choice in Pakistan,

parents that do not value education may not see the need to take their children to school. Parents

without higher levels of education tend to pay less attention to the educational needs of their

children. In conclusion, unless the Pakistani government develops effective policies to improve

access to quality and affordable education in the country, it will not realize much progress in the

sector.

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References

Anderson, C. J., & Pontusson, J. (2007). Workers, worries and welfare states: Social protection

and job insecurity in 15 OECD countries. European Journal of Political Research, 46(2),

211-235.

Fägerlind, I., & Saha, L. J. (2016). Education and national development: A comparative

perspective. Elsevier.

Herz, B. K., & Sperling, G. B. (2004). What works in girls' education: Evidence and policies

from the developing world. Council on foreign relations.

Holmes, J. (2003). Measuring the determinants of school completion in Pakistan: analysis of

censoring and selection bias. Economics of Education Review, 22(3), 249-264.

Kiani, K. (2018). Sustainable Development: How far has Pakistan come and how far do we have

to go?. DAWN.COM. Retrieved 7 April 2018, from

https://www.dawn.com/news/1360165

Luqman, M., Shahbaz, B., Ali, T., & Siddiqui, M. T. (2015). GENDER DISPARITY IN

EDUCATION: AGRICULTURAL & RURAL DEVELOPMENT DILEMMA IN THE

PROVINCE OF KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA-PAKISTAN. International Journal of

Agriculture & Applied Sciences, 7(1), 72-77.

Malik, S., & Courtney, K. (2011). Higher education and women’s empowerment in

Pakistan. Gender and Education, 23(1), 29-45.

Memon, G. R. (2007). Education in Pakistan: The key issues, problems and the new

challenges. Journal of Management and Social Sciences, 3(1), 47-55.

Meng, X. (2012). Labor market outcomes and reforms in China. Journal of Economic

Perspectives, 26(4), 75-102.

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Rashid, K., & Mukhtar, S. (2012). Education in Pakistan: Problems and their

solutions. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social

Sciences, 2(11), 332.

Ray, R. (2000). Child labor, child schooling, and their interaction with adult labor: Empirical

evidence for Peru and Pakistan. The World Bank Economic Review, 14(2), 347-367.

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