Need to establish reliable education system emphasised

In a rapidly growing population as in Pakistan, the need for a "Reliable Education System" is strongly desired. Pakistan's education system, although not as contemporary and efficient as that of the developed countries, has displayed significant improvement during the last decade.
In a report on "Education as SME", jointly prepared by the International Finance Corporation of World Bank, State Bank of Pakistan and leading chartered accountants, mentioned that Pakistan in the past has managed to develop reputable schools and colleges in the public sector. But lately, the high achievers on national and international level have appeared from the private sector education system of Pakistan, which continues to impress the general public perception. Hence the public confidence lies in the private sector education creating a demand for more schools.
Recent floods have added to worsen the cause, infrastructure across a significant part of semi-urban and rural Pakistan has been affected as a result, and government is trying to undertake reconstruction efforts. According to UN, more than 10,000 schools have been hit and destroyed countrywide. Like many other developing countries, the situation in the education sector of Pakistan is not very encouraging.
Low enrolment rates at the primary level, lack of trained teachers and extremely low level of public investment is the major cause of its poor performance. Public expenditure on education remained 2.05 percent of GDP, which is the lowest compared to surrounding Asian countries. On the other hand, literacy and primary school enrolment rates in Pakistan have shown improvement during last five years but they are still low when compared to other countries of the region, proving there is potential for demand for education in the private sector.
Despite lack of interest on part of the federal government, admirable initiatives by government of Punjab over the past few years have been the introduction of: "Parha Likha Punjab Programme" which offered provision of free education and books to primary school level students and a recent launch of "Danish School Systems" by Chief Minister Punjab. "Danish School System" provides quality education with high standards and state of the art campus facilities for the poor. Similarly, Sindh Education Reforms Programme is also underway by the government of Sindh in Pakistan to operationalize the closed schools, provide scholarships to girls and distribute free books.
Due to fewer initiatives taken by the government, many NGOs and trusts appeared in the education industry to address this core issue and opened many schools to cater to the poverty-stricken masses who cannot afford even the basic necessity of life. They work towards providing not just the basic education but also new state of the art educational techniques and technologies to prepare children to encounter challenges of present time, Report pin pointed.
The report stated that Zindagi Trust gained its popularity not due to providing free education but paying poverty-stricken children Rs 20 each day for coming and attending the classes. This not only proves to be a great incentive for these children but also discourages child labour, which their parents are forced to impose on their children. All the developments have been made at the primary level.
The recent advancement and publicity of educational programmes have raised awareness and will amongst the masses to gain education, which in turn has raised the demand for private sector educational institutes, as the public sector is not well positioned to cater the emerging demand. Unstable economic and political situation and worsening law and order situation have been major impediments to growth. According to educational institute sources, general perception of the segment is optimistic and they perceive that industry will experience increase growth in the next five to 10 years. Some are concerned about the economic and political outlook of the country citing government support and friendly policies, which are imperative for the growth of this industry in the future.
At present, the private education segment in Pakistan is relatively organised with the services provided inside the school premises. In some instances, schools also serve from private homes and owned premises of the individuals. They usually possess good financial and banking history. Most businesses are partnerships or family owned businesses with members of one family serving different functions of business. Underlying issues inherent to the segment include:
1) Inability to assemble and deploy intellectual, human and financial resources effectively
2) Lack of vision for growth
3) Limited perception of business requirements
4) Restricted funding sources
5) Inability to invest in school infrastructure
The report mentioned that the segment is largely dispersed across Pakistan, predominantly operating from detached locations in various cities of the country. There is a lack of vision for expansion and restricted access to finance. There are nearly 225,000 schools providing primary, middle and secondary school education in Pakistan. Whereas the number of enrolment is approximately 2,600,000 at all levels. Degree colleges and Universities amount to 1350 only with 1,100,000 students' altogether.
Education in Pakistan is provided by government schools, private education providers, and missionaries and madarsa system. Due to the failing education standards and facilities of government-based system, private schools and universities are more favoured than government institutions as the quality of education is closer to international standards with regular revision of curriculum, thus ensuring globally updated research and trends incorporated in the syllabus.