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Ending the neglect of education By Nadia Khar and Amna Yasser Of late, there is a growing recognition of the fact that the acceleration of economic progress requires an improvement in Pakistan's lagging social indicators, particularly in the education sector. Responding to this realization, the government in the early 1990s shifted the focus of its budgetary allocations towards the social sector. However, the government experienced fiscal stress in the second half of the 1990s owing to declining growth rates and revenue collections - an outcome that coincided with the need to raise defence expenditure following India's nuclear tests and the subsequent imposition of sanctions. These factors led to the reversal of the hitherto rising trend of spending more in the social sector. As a result, our literacy rate continues to be significantly lower than that of other countries similarly placed economically; 60 million children of primary school-going age are not enrolled in school and there is a wide differential between enrolments rates for girls and boys. The reasons for low participation and high dropout rates can be attributed to both demand-side and supply-side factors. The demand-side factors include low levels of household income, high opportunity costs of sending children to school, and the low priority accorded to education by many households. The supply-side factors are linked to the poor quality of education delivered by public schools. Among the demand-side factors, poverty continues to be a major constraint especially in rural areas. According to the Pakistan Integrated Household Survey (PIHS) 2002, the participation rate (number of children attending primary level as a percentage of children from five to nine years) of children from the upper-most income bracket is nearly double than that of those from the lowest bracket (i.e. 94 per cent as compared to 47 per cent). However, even where the cost of schooling is a small proportion of the total household expenditure (especially after the government's decision to make education free up to the secondary level), there is a low demand for education because of the longer-term nature of returns for households struggling at subsistence level. There is also the issue of the high opportunity costs of educating children, especially boys, who can supplement family incomes. Although poverty and other demand-side limitations are critical in restricting access to schooling, the poor quality of education in public schools continues to be a key supply-side factor that contributes to poor sectoral outcomes (low rates of enrolment and poor learning achievements of students). In view of these shortcomings in government schools, even less affluent households are opting for private schools (charging less than Rs. 100 per month) owing to the unsatisfactory services rendered by government institutions. The availability of qualified staff is critical for ensuring a minimum standard of education-related services. The past recruitment of teachers on the basis of political patronage coupled with weak accountability mechanisms has resulted in rampant teacher absenteeism, further exacerbating the problem of poor quality service. On a random visit to a government school, it is not uncommon to find fewer teachers than those required, conducting classes in cramped, unhealthy surroundings and the absence of essential facilities such as toilets, electricity, drinking water, etc. If the education sector is to be improved, the first step the government should take is to create greater awareness amongst households about the importance of education. To overcome poverty-related constraints, the government needs to provide, and build on, incentives (such as compensation to households for sending their children to schools) to encourage parents to enrol and retain their children in schools. To address the supply-side constraints for a more effective delivery of education-related services there is need for a re-prioritization of government expenditure, an enhancement in budgetary allocations for education as well as an improvement in the mix of spending with a higher proportion earmarked for complementary non-salary inputs. There is also a need to strengthen official mechanisms to hold teachers accountable for any dereliction of duty. In initiating far reaching reforms aimed at addressing factors constraining access to, and the quality of, education, the Punjab government has taken a step in the right direction. This multi-pronged strategy to improve core education indicators includes both demand-side and supply-side interventions. The government has initiated the Punjab Education Sector Reform Programme (PESRP) in collaboration with international financial institutions, which includes the provision of incentives for parents to enrol and retain their children in school. These include initiatives like provision of free textbooks to all children enrolled in primary grades in government schools and compensation to parents in the form of stipends for their female wards enrolled from grades six to eight in 15 selected districts with the lowest literacy rates. Awareness campaigns are already in progress to inform potential beneficiaries of the demand-side interventions made by the government to improve enrolment levels. Moreover, the academic qualification requirement of teachers has been enhanced to graduation, and in future, all teachers will be recruited on contract and an institution-specific (non-transferable) basis as opposed to being inducted as regular employees of the provincial government. This will help improve mechanisms for holding teachers accountable for poor performance and absenteeism. The provincial government also intends to carry out an extensive training programme whereby all teachers will be trained once in three years. Acknowledging the need to improve the environment for schooling, and in line with the desire to provide all schools with the basic minimum facilities, the government has allocated resources for financing infrastructural improvements (such as additional classrooms, toilets, drinking water facilities) in schools. Keeping in view the importance of community participation in the management and supervision of schools, the PESRP includes a plan for the reactivation of School Councils (SCs) (comprising parents, teachers, community members and district government officials). School Management Committees (SMCs) were first established by the provincial government in 1994 with a view to involving parents and community members in monitoring schools and improving the learning environment. However, in view of the limited effectiveness of these committees, the provincial government has redefined their mandate, increased their funding, granted them greater financial powers, and has prepared plans to strengthen their capability to manage government schools. While PESRP is a step in the right direction, some issues still need to be addressed to achieve the objective of better education outcomes. There are two objectives underlying the decision to introduce a system of contract teachers. One, a contractual mode could be more effective in holding teachers accountable for showing a casual attitude towards duty. Two, such teachers, although paid a higher salary, would not be eligible for pensions thereby saving costs for the government. However, past experience warns us that courts could play a proactive role in getting the employment of contract staff regularized by forcing governments to make them permanent employees. If contract teachers are able to secure their positions in this manner, the benefits envisaged from such an initiative are likely to be lost. This may require a change in the Civil Servants Act so that contractual employees can be legally and legitimately treated differently. Since the accountability mechanisms under civil service rules to proceed against government employees guilty of neglect of duty are rather weak, the benefits from the initiative to involve communities in managing schools can only be realized if these councils are empowered to recruit and fire teachers. In other words, we would eventually have to move towards a system under which funds flow from the government to SCs to manage schools, empowering them to enter into contracts with teachers thereby ensuring that the service provider - the teacher - is directly accountable to the service recipient - the parents. Although stipends could prove to be an effective mechanism for increasing enrolment rates of girls at the elementary level, the sustainability of the scheme is doubtful since the financial implications of continuing with the programme do not appear to have been fully taken into consideration. For instance, the cost could go up significantly if pressure builds up on the provincial government to extend it to the remaining 19 districts. And then, if the government, deterred by the high expenditure requirements of maintaining this programme after foreign funding has ceased, decides to withdraw this incentive, the psychological and political costs of such a decision are likely to be excessive. If demand and supply-side interventions by the government (provision of textbooks and stipends, etc.) are successful in increasing enrolment and retention rates, a problem could arise if additional facilities are not created quickly enough to accommodate the increased numbers seeking admission in middle and secondary schools. A sharp increase in the social demand for education would not only require the expansion of the existing infrastructural capacity of public schools, but also require quality staff to upgrade the standard of education delivered through public schools. This will require improvements in higher education so that the system can produce better qualified teachers. Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
