KARACHI: Causes of poor education standard highlighted
KARACHI, May 31: The task force on higher education has attributed the current deteriorating standard of higher education in the country to inadequate government funding, ineffective governance, politicization of educational system, lack of provisions for research, dearth of incentives for development of faculty and improper use of available resources.
The task force was recently constituted by the government to critically identify and analyze core issues and problems plaguing the higher education as despite spending billion of rupees no improvement was witnessed in the overall standard of education.
Consisting of some serving vice-chancellors of reputed public and private sector universities, academics, intellectuals and educationists, the task force has prepared and presented a detailed analysis of deteriorating standard of higher education and compiled a comprehensive report containing proposals and recommendations for its improvement.
Among other causes, inability to attract and retain quality faculties, inefficient distribution of funds and a lack of research and knowledge growth were cited as some areas requiring significant changes in the universities.
Absence of accountability and transparency, incongruity of responsibility and authority, inadequate financial systems and the lack of systems for supporting the quality of academic programmes and research were mentioned as some major flaws in the system of higher education.
The report further states that external political influences and pressures are compounding the already poor conditions of learning and academic productivity, which have sought to deploy energies of youths for their own purpose.
Consequently, the seats of higher learning have lost their focus on academic excellence, disabling the spirit of meritocracy and promoting a culture of dishonesty and nepotism, the report adds.
The federal government’s grants to 41 public sector universities and degree-awarding institutions and 20 other centres of excellence, area and Pakistan study centres in 2001- 2002 amounted to Rs3.3 billion (recurrent Rs2.9 billion and developmental Rs0.4 billion), the report reveals. Total allocation for research is Rs0.04 billion (approximately $670,000) and financial allocation for research stands at 1.2 per cent of the total grant from the federal government.
The universities’ self-generated income amounts to approximately Rs3.2 billion, thus the total funds available for the support of 41 degree-awarding institutions become Rs6.5 billion (approximately $108 millions).
A windfall allocation by the government of Rs5 billion to the ministry of science and technology in the financial year 2000-2001 benefited higher education system.
However, its impact has been felt exclusively by the science faculties all over Pakistan, much to the dismay of the social sciences and humanities faculties.
The average expenditure per student per year in a public sector university is Rs55,000 (nearly $920), assuming the total enrolment of 117,830 in the sector. Of the expenditure, salaries and utilities account for 75 and 8 per cent respectively.
The government’s five-year plans show that the proportional expenditure on the development of education was reduced from 7.5 per cent of all development in 1960-65 to 3.5-4 per cent during 1983-98.
The total public sector expenditure on education rose from 1.7 per cent of the GNP in 1970 to around 2.3 per cent in the 1990s and 2,1 per cent in 2000-2001. Surprisingly, this was still well behind the 4 per cent of GNP recommended by Unesco.
Low salaries, compared with institutions in the private sector, poorly-supported operating conditions and poor rewards for achievement often led to disaffection and lack of motivation.
Despite a rise in the self-generated funds, covering the total expenditure from 26 per cent in 1992-93 to 49 per cent in 2000- 2001, the overall funds available for the higher education remains entirely inadequate and require considerable enhancement, at both levels of government financing and the independent fund raising by the universities.
If fiscal resources are made available, they cannot be utilized properly because financial management is archaic and non- transparent, which emerges as a fundamental structural problem with the current system, the report concludes. — PPI
