Daily Times

The plan for this week was to write about the forthcoming demonstration at the end of the month and the government’s very recent and intrepid response thereto. I even thought up the title, ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me’. However, as is the case with all manmade plans, a disturbing comment at a networking gathering changed all that: “One out of every three children not in school on this globe is a Pakistani.” On the lighter side of the phrase, this brings to mind a joke from a television sitcom where, upon the expected birth of a fifth sibling, a child suggests a Chinese name with the logic that every fifth person in the world is Chinese. On a serious note, however, the statement has sinister connotations.

One must confess not having Googled the statistic to confirm its accuracy simply because it would not have made a difference. Irrespective of whether Pakistan tops the list or not in this statistic, the mere fact that the nation is a contender is deplorable. One more confession: I never had any intention to write on the dharna (sit-in), best left to expert media analysts more practiced in concocting conspiracy and doomsday theories. In retrospect, it did make the beginning of the article amusing. The advent of the Industrial Revolution brought about a fundamental change in a world trapped by a Malthusian economy; manpower was substituted by machine power, which allowed mankind in general to enjoy better quality, healthier, longer lives and, for those nations that led the aforementioned revolution, the result was a bonanza. Guns, germs and steel, identified by at least one theory as the primary catalyst behind the rise of the empire, were a direct by-product of industrialisation.

The Information Age, on the other hand, has substituted brainpower with computing with the consequent effect of migrating mankind into couch potatoes fiddling with handheld devices and, at the same time, has facilitated the dawn of a new kind of imperialism. Once again, the nation leading this technological evolution rules the day. While Pakistan’s modest aspirations, at least in the medium term, might not include being the globe’s only superpower, they, on the other hand, cannot be limited to being a colony of one or the other empire either. Having always held the view that it is well nigh impossible for a developing nation like Pakistan to jump a few rungs on the ladder of growth and move from an agrarian economy to a technology-led service economy, the drift of the arguments in these columns has been to suggest a focus on export-oriented and import-based manufacturing. In addition, one has always advocated that while trade is absolutely necessary, developing nations need a mercantilist mindset to ensure that they are not relegated forever to producing raw materials for the world, and hence abject economic slavery; comparative advantage does have its disadvantages. However, deliberations on growth conclude with one critical realisation: an education trumps everything else, even trade.

Unskilled labour can only plough farmland; skilled labour, a literate population in the true sense, is the one ingredient necessary for growth, if Pakistan wishes to ever achieve the status of a developed nation. Democracy might be better than dictatorship or, perhaps, vice versa. It really does not matter except that Pakistan has tried them both and neither was or has been successful in improving the education sector; the amount spent out of the annual budget on education was, is and for the foreseeable future appears to be pathetic by any standard for a populace this size. Even the amount spent on education, including aid money, is wasted. Building schools and paying parents to ensure student attendance does not ensure quality education; only good teachers will accomplish that task. The difference between education and quality education is the same as the difference between electricity and cheap electricity; it is of no use. A constitutional requirement to provide primary education to every child is not worth anything if such an education does not enable the child to read or write or do simple math. Let us not even venture towards higher education.

So, what is the solution? Can the government train teachers or force them to impart better education? Perhaps, if the government puts a gun to every teacher’s head, which in itself would be a tall order given the cost of guns. Were I to venture a guess, I would say it is highly unlikely. In order to impart a good education it is necessary that teachers themselves are well educated, which in turn requires that the cream of society adopt this noble profession. Will that ever happen? In a society where teachers are paid a pittance, are not respected, are made a spectacle of in the media, are bullied by parents and are dependent on politicians and the bureaucracy for their sustenance and survival, never!

So, what can motivate gifted students to opt for this profession? Respect, authority and independence are necessary and would make a huge difference but at the top of this decision matrix is (once again) money. The debate about whether a free market economy is better than a planned and regulated economy or whether maybe the golden mean lies somewhere in between the two extremes aside, in this particular case man’s innate greed is good. Everyone will agree that a student’s choice of career path is fundamentally driven by hopes of lucrative employment in the future. In the good old days, medicine, engineering and government service led the options. Today, the best of the best probably choose journalism or to be a politician or perhaps the government administrative services, including the police. Does anyone want to be a teacher by choice? Certainly not! So, take a guess who is teaching the future generations of Pakistan; it is definitely not the brains of the country.

Admittedly, these are not the views of an educationalist and obviously the experts may have lots of game plans for improving education in Pakistan, although nothing seems to be working and, yes, there are many people who are running numerous programmes in the sector. However, as the famous saying goes, pay peanuts and you get monkeys. So, how does the change come about? The first step is recognising the problem and while the simplest answer is to pay teachers more, things are never that simple. Even so, if we do not want to be controlled, quality education, not education, has to be our top priority.

The writer is a chartered accountant based in Islamabad. He can be reached at syed.bakhtiyarkazmi@gmail.com and on twitter @leaccountant