Daily Times

Education is critical for economic development as well as human and social interaction within society. Economic development without substantial investment in human capital is unsustainable. Education enriches people’s understanding of themselves and the world. The level of education among the people determines the quality of life in a society. Without education or quality education, there will be higher poverty, lower economic development, and lower quality of life. Therefore, to have a happy and prosperous economic and social society, the majority must be educated. Few things in life are more important than an education. Developed countries worldwide have well-developed educational systems and opportunities for higher education, which helps the citizens of those countries obtain higher-paying jobs and a better quality of life.

Further, the education of girls and women is the most effective investment for creating conditions for better family health and nutrition, improved birth control, lower infant and child mortality, and enhanced educational attainment of children.

Education level varies among countries for many reasons, such as economic development, poverty, government corruption, and level of democracy. Each hurts or helps the educational quality provided in a country. Developing and underdeveloped countries do not have the resources to provide universal education.Developing and underdeveloped countries have higher poverty. Poor people cannot afford to send their children to schools, and many do not appreciate a need for education. The level of corruption determines how much the bureaucrats siphon off, leaving less for the education of children. The level of democracy determines how much people can influence the policies of the government. If people have more say, then the government is more likely to listen and provide resources for public needs.

Pakistan will always be a developing country having to deal with an expanding population due to uneducated people, relying on the export of Pakistanis to earn money for Pakistan that is spent on useless projects, and continually borrowing money that the country can never repay

Currently, countries are ranked by education standards using a compilation of scores on three equally weighted attributes:1)the country has a well-developed public education system, 2)people would consider attending university there, and 3) the country provides top-quality education. Using these attributes, the European Union, Canada, and the United States have the highest education standards.

Some organizations use factors such as literacy or graduation rates to determine which nations have the best education systems. For example, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) looked at the number of people between 25 and 64 who have completed a vocational program or received a two- or four-year degree. These data were then used to determine which countries have the most educated population.

Based on this data, Canada is the most educated nation, having over 56% of adults continue their education past high school. Coming in second is Japan, with over 50% of adults completingsome form of post-high school education. Israel is next, with 49.9% of adults finishing a higher-education program. Other nations ranked highlybased on these data include South Korea, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Finland, Norway, and Luxembourg. Other organizations such as U.S. News and World Report and the Business Insideralso measure education standards. Their rankings may vary but are consistent with OECD.

Nations with poor educational systemsthat are considered the world’s worst educational systems include Burma, Central African Republic, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Georgia, Liberia, Libya, Monaco, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Zambia.

Pakistan’s education systemis considered the worst among 200 countries. It requires a complete overhaul if its education is to be worth anything. Instead, no one in Pakistan understands how to educateor what a quality education even is. For example, as I was writing this Op-Ed, DAWN had a news item, “Reforms Initiative Introduced to Improve Quality of Education in School, Colleges” (Aug. 13, 2020). The suggested reforms are laughable as none will improve the quality of education. For example, the list of reforms consists of measuring students’ personality development, setting up Urdu and English clubs and debating club, setting up news media, coaching to pass exams, planting trees, learning to code and a foreign language, implementing courtesy rules for staff, providingfor the needs of staff members’surviving family members, and ensuring that a significant number attend funeral prayers.

Countries with fewer educated citizens and low quality of education also have lower economic development, lower quality of life, and higher population growth. All of these factors further impede economic growth and quality of life.

Education is an essential determinant of economic well-being. The economic theory of growth emphasizes at least three mechanisms through which education may affect economic growth. First, education can increase human capital, causing an increase in labor productivity and thus higher growth in output. Second, education increases innovation, which further spurs growth due to new technologies, products, and processes. Third, education increases the ability to diffuse and transmit the knowledge needed to understand and process new information and implement new technologies devised by others to promote economic success.

Education in Pakistan faces many issues that it cannot solve. Currently, millions of children are not in school, and those who are lack proper classroom facilities, such as electricity, bathrooms, adequately trained teachers, and appropriate curriculum and other materials needed for learning. Thus, some of those in school may drop out. These deficiencies contribute to widespread illiteracy, and even those who may make it through the system receive a low quality of education.

In addition, educational opportunity does not exist in many rural areas. If it does, many cannot take advantage of it due to social and economic hardships, leaving them at a disadvantage compared to those in urban areas and those having economic means. In addition, many girls and women do not receive an education due to social stigma or religious limitations.

All these hardships make it harder for a young child to deal with and low-income families to overcome. As a result, many children drop out, increasing illiteracy in Pakistan and further compounding the social, economic, and religious problems. Due to high illiteracy, more and more people marry at an early age, causing tremendous population growth. As a result, more people require more resources to support, which leaves less for economic development and educating children. This cycle of illiteracy causes population growth, requiring more resources for unproductive needs, causing more population growth, and so on. The vicious cycle will never end and will force Pakistan into more debt and destruction.

The vicious cycle of lack of education causes little or no economic development, and low economic development creates a lack of education. Thus, Pakistan will always be a developing country having to deal with an expanding population due to uneducated people, relying on the export of Pakistanis to earn money for Pakistan that is spent on useless projects, and continually borrowing money that the country can never repay.

Will Pakistan ever learn the root causes of its problems and how to solve them? If not, Pakistan, as a country, will never come out of poverty and will be a country of perpetual borrower asking for loans. It seems that Pakistan has still not realized that it is ina dire situation, and things are getting worse. For example, a recent news report said that Pakistan has had to borrow a billion dollars from China to pay the debt it owed to Saudi Arabia. I wonder how long Pakistan expects these countries to provide a lending hand to rescue it. Someday, one of these countries may say enough is enough and tell Pakistan to take care of its problems, or they may even demand it repay almost $110 billion debt or Rs.18,150 billion debt, which Pakistan does not have.

As is well known, relying on loans from “friendly” countries that may be at their last straw,and that could likely tell Pakistan to save itself or declare bankruptcy. Unfortunately, by declaring bankruptcy, it will have no resources to help the people and will put Pakistan in a further vicious cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and no economic development. There is no hope for Pakistan unless the people and the politicians wake up and realize that the end is near.

The writer is Ph.D. (USA), Professor Emeritus (USA)