Education around the globe is
considered as the defining feature of economic and social development. Pakistan
on the supply side has clearly lagged behind in provision of adequate
educational resources and consequently on the demand side has failed in creating
a clear demand for education. However, it is important to realize that the
problems which hinder the provision of education are not just of mismanagement
by government but some of them are deeply rooted in the social and cultural
orientation of the people. Overcoming the latter is difficult and would require
a change in attitude of the people until then universal primary education is
difficult to achieve.
Many reasons could be attributed to it:
Gender Discrimination
Major factors that hinder enrollment rates include opportunity cost, poverty,
cultural constraints, illiteracy of parents and parental concerns about safety
and mobility of their daughters. The economic benefits from schooling are
particularly doubtful for girls as society approves of Pardah. Also, since girls
have a labor force participation rate of only 4.3% of total population (Tahir
et.al, 15), the returns to education seems minimal. Female enrollment rates are
low as schooling system is considered to have a bad impact on girl’s character.
Society’s emphasis on girl’s modesty, protection and early marriages may limit
family’s willingness to send them to school. Enrollment by rural girls is 45%
lower than that by urban girls; while for boys the difference is of 10% only,
showing that gender gap is another factor (Lloyd 106). There exists a positive
relation between enrollment and household incomes. Recent studies have shown
that income shocks (death of family member or animals) affect enrollments, with
greater impact for girls (Lloyd 102).
Cost Of Education
The cost of education is another determinant for parents to decide whether to
send their children; to government schools, private schools or no schools. Cost
of education has increased further due to increased inflation. Educating a child
in public school costs twice to society as would cost in private school.
Although private schools appear cheaper but government fees appear “free” to
parents, however society bears the cost by paying taxes (Andrabi et.al 40).
Societal “cost of learning” is lower in private schools, but private schools are
located in richer settlements only. The paradox is that private schools are
better but not everywhere and governments schools ensure equitable access but do
not provide quality education.
Returns to Education - A Misconception
The issue with non-achievement of primary education to all is due to the low
enrollment rate coupled with very low retention rate; especially for girls.
Geeta Kingdon, in “Education, Skills, and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from
Pakistan” explained that returns to education are significantly greater for
women than men in almost all occupations. This could be due to scarcity of
educated women nevertheless; women actually earn less than men because of lack
of equal opportunities. Moreover, returns to wage employment as well as returns
to self-employment increase with the increasing years of education for both
genders. This implies the presence of misconception of education having negative
returns due to the forgone income. Thus there is a strong need to make the
students and their parents aware that returns to education increase with an
additional year of education.
Thus, to improve the cynical condition of education in Pakistan not just
provision of education has to be focused upon by the government but the problems
of demand side of education needs to be addressed as well. Only then could there
be a hope for higher enrollment rates accompanied with proper retention and low
drop outs rate. Parents and society in general has to reshape its preferences
and thinking about education for the system to improve. And to supplement this
government has to provide the resources along with diverse opportunities to
provide proper returns to education. Equality of opportunities where returns of
education could be compensated is the key to fix the demand side problems of
education.