Government Schools 2

 

Introduction:

Education is the most important aspect of a society and state. It is the basic and fundamental right of every human being and it helps people prosper socially, culturally, economically and politically. Every government, past or present maintained educational institutes relative to the age, and worked hard to improve and maintain the educational process. From old eras of Socrates to early modernism (16^th century), states formed educational institutes with education varying from arts, social and philosophical knowledge to science and modern science. In this era, education has become another tool for improvement of society and state. Where education helps states to improve their masses in fields of daily life, science, modern technology and international affairs.

Education in Pakistan and resources:

in Pakistan, government educational institutions face severe challenges due to the lack and mismanagement of resources. These challenges include insufficient funding, inadequate infrastructure, a shortage of qualified teachers, and ineffective government. These educational institutes include:

1.      Schools (primary, secondary, high)

2.      Colleges

3.      Universities for specialized and technological education

4.      Vocational institutes

5.      Educational institutes for special children

6.      Education of the elders and institutes for education about social issues

Unlike developed or other developing countries, Pakistan does not give special attention to effective resource management at these educational institutes. Although government already provides a meager amount for education, yet the resources available are not utilized effectively due to a large number of reasons.

Causes

Causes of Lack of Resources:

Insufficient funding:

·         Pakistan allocates only about 2% of its GDP to education, which is insufficient to meet the growing demands of the sector.

·         Difference between the amount of actual educational fund needed and provided fund. This means sometimes more funds are needed but less funds are provided, that leads to hindrance to the completion of the specific task. Sometimes some politicians provide more than enough funds for some task, and give it image that they are paying that from their own pocket. This leads to the mismanagement. The funding is wasted on flower beds or some other useless tasks in the institution.

·         Inadequate financial support for infrastructure, training, and research.

Corruption:

·         Ghost schools that exist only on papers but are not functional, mostly present in rural areas.

·         Political figures diverting the resources for educational institutions to their personal ownership.

Teacher Shortages and Training Deficiencies:

·         Lack of qualified and well-trained teachers. When the teachers are not well qualified, they will not emphasize on the practical aspect of the knowledge.

·         Insufficient teacher training and professional development.

·         Appointment of underqualified teachers due to nepotism.

·         Overburdened teachers handling multiple classes without adequate support.

·         Most teachers lack the motivation to deliver knowledge. In Pakistan, being a teacher at a government educational institute is considered a ludicrous job, but teachers do not fulfill their duty. This hinders the education process.

Economic challenges:

·         Due to lack of resources and stipends, most parents are not able to support their children in education. Although government institutions provide free education, yet good education can take long. The economic mindset forces the children to drop out of school and work in order to support the families.

·         The issues like unemployment especially in fields of technology and skills demotivate students from vocational institutes. These institutes provide practical training and skills for ready earning, but the mindsets that this education will not profit financially demotivates the students from getting to these institutions.

·         Meaningless conditions to education also demotivate students. Most vocational institutions have age limitations at different ways. eg. There is a condition that if a student enrolls in a vocational institute, he becomes ineligible to apply or take further education at any other government education institute in the future. Although it may have helped in the past to restrict the education to needy students, it is not practical these days and it also demotivates the students.

Political Instability and Policy Failures:

·         Frequent policy changes without implementation. Never changing the course, (although now the syllabus is being changed like we made our constitution after so much time). But jumping from provision of clean water to institutions to provision of books, computer labs, playgrounds, never fully completing the previous one.

·         Lack of consistency in educational programs such as DigiSkills, PSDF, and virtual learning initiatives.

·         Political influence in the selection of school administrators and educators.

Causes of Mismanagement of Resources

Lack of Accountability:

·         Resource utilization is not monitored. There is no check and balance on the use and utilization of resources.

·         Teachers and heads of institutions are not held responsible for the use of resources, and have never to face the consequences of mismanaging the resources.

More focus on advertisement rather than improvement:

·         More focus on acquiring new resources rather than maintaining existing ones. The utilities established by others are advertised as useless and money waste.

·         Those policies are given importance which give politicians an opportunity to advertise their own image. Examples include the laptop scheme, where it is used as a way to advertise, however the same resources can be used to improve labs and facilities at schools and governments. The students can use computers provided at their institutions with a better approach and utility.

·         Most educational initiatives, like the technical education of adults, are solely created to highlight the hardwork of the government in educating the citizens, so these initiatives do not play any positive part.

Bureaucratic Inefficiencies:

·         Long-term educational strategies are often ignored

·         Slow decision-making processes delaying fund distribution.

·         Small schools (often in rural areas), the administrations lack autonomy in resource management.

Failure to Utilize Existing Facilities

·         Computer labs established but remain unused due to a lack of trained teachers.

·         Practical subjects such as agriculture, home economics, and vocational training are only taught theoretically, wasting resources.

·         Equipment and tools, like the established chemistry and physics labs, remain locked away, never used for student learning.

·         Similarly, playgrounds are maintained with a lot of money, but good physical activities and sports are rarely maintained, because such activities lack support at government and provincial/national level.

Resistance to Change and Outdated Teaching Methods

Teachers prefer traditional teaching styles and avoid technology integration. This is because they are unfamiliar with the new technology and are unable to use them effectively, so they just cling to traditional methods. The orthodox mindset of technology being a tool of entertainment hinders them from using it positively.

Lack of Maintenance and Infrastructure Management

·         Government allocates maintenance funds, but school administrations misuse them.

·         Poor upkeep of school buildings, classrooms, and facilities.

Lack of Community and Parental Involvement

·         Weak parent-teacher associations failing to monitor educational quality.

·         No community pressure to ensure proper utilization of school resources.

Defective Examination System:

 Promotes rote memorization instead of critical thinking. Teachers do not have to work hard because students pass due to cheating and other unfair means. Especially in practical exams, this kind of behaviour leads to more destruction.