POOR quality of education being imparted in schools has been instrumental in raising the number of private tuition centres – a shadow education system -- in the country.
The incidence of private tuition-taking in rural Pakistan among children studying in both public and private schools is high. The private tuition-taking prevalence increases with the ability to pay but the average spending on tuition is roughly the same for poor and rich households though it imposes a double burden on the poor.
This case was presented by Dr Monazza Aslam, a researcher at the University of Oxford and the Institute of Education, University of London, while giving a presentation on “The ‘Shadow’ Education Sector in India and Pakistan: the determinants, benefits and equity effects of private tutoring” at a seminar. Titled “Trends in privatisation of education and shadow schooling in Pakistan,” the event was organised by South Asian Forum of Education Development (SAFED) and Idara-i-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan this past week.
Dr Monazza, a Rhodes scholar, said the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2010 survey report revealed that some 15.7 per cent children of 3-16 years age cohort in rural Pakistan take tuitions and pay Rs293 per month. This is over and above what parents spend on general schooling -- government or private.
Stating that the ASER survey had covered more than 900 villages, more than 19,000 households and more than 54,000 children aged 3-16 across the country, she said investigations suggested that children in government schools taking private tuition and especially those belonging to the poorest classes appeared to perform better than those who did not take private tuitions. She said the situation hinted at the hugely inferior learning the poorest children were receiving in government schools in rural regions. It also suggested that private tutoring did appear to substitute for poor quality schooling for the children in Pakistan.
She said expansion of private schooling in Pakistan had assumed the proportion of an industry and changed the dynamics of education provision. “Most significantly large effects of taking tuition on learning occur in reading.”
She said the children in the poorest and richest quintiles appear to benefit equally. For instance, she said that “taking tuition increases the likelihood that a child in the poorest quintile would be able to read a story text.”
ITA Director Programmes Baela Raza Jamil spoke about dimensions of privatisation of public education. Referring to a study conducted in Rawalpindi and Peshawar in 2011, she said the number of private schools in both cities’ selected urban and rural areas had witnessed a massive growth.
She said 61 per cent children were identified as enrolled in private schools, 38 per cent in government schools and one per cent in madrassahs.
She said the survey of private schools revealed that 62 per cent of institutions were English medium and 83 per cent were co-educational. She said the private schools’ enrolment was highest (66.5 per cent) at primary level. She said 65 per cent of the primary enrolment in private schools was in the low-cost schools, while in rural areas in both cities the ratio stood at 80 per cent.
She said more than 50 per cent of the teachers in rural and urban Peshawar were paid less than Rs5,000 per month.
Ms Jamil said the study revealed that almost 84 per cent of the tuition-takers take regular lessons to supplement their school learning, while meagre one per cent uses tuitions to prepare for entrance tests.
She said 68 per cent of the students stated that grade improvement was the main motivating factor behind the decision to take up private tutoring. “Peer pressure by friends, parents and even teachers is another major factor stated as a reason for taking up private tutoring.”
Ms Jamil said: “The study informed that facilities in private schools were slightly better than that in public schools and they offer more choice to community. However, the cost of education in private sector is high forcing some households to choose which children or gender to send to which school.”
She said the use of relative benchmarks to measure the quality of public and private sector show that both are bad; private sector is just lesser of the two evils.
Discussant Dr Yaqoob Khan Bangash, assistant professor of history at Forman Christian College University, said more and more children were going to private schools, while the government had just failed to enact any rules to regulate the ever-growing private sector.
He said it was unfortunate that students were more interested in scoring high grades instead of learning and for this reason also they take up tuitions.
Open Society Institute senior adviser Dr Faisal Bari said the implementation of Article 25-A would be a tough job as the government would be required to take all children up to matriculation level. This endeavour, he said, would also change the meaning of examinations.
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THE University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences’ photographer, Basharat Ali Khan, has won “Honourable Mention” for his photo print at the 72nd International Photographic Salon on Japan organised by the All-Japan Association of Photographic Societies (AJAPS).
The photo print “Spiritual Journey” has won the position from amongst 9,410 works including 6,125 received from 42 countries and region. Of these works, 130 (80 overseas and 50 Japan) works were selected.
The winning pictures will be displayed at an exhibition at Canon Open Gallery at Sinagawa, Tokyo (Japan) scheduled for April 10 to May 8, this year.
Mr Khan said he had taken the “Spiritual Journey” picture at Sharaqpur, while devotees were going to Shergarh near Pakpattan. — mansoormalik173@hotmail.com
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