Pakistan :Slaughter of higher education

By Dr. Muhammad Hafizullah

“World has changed and the economic wheel is no more turned by the Capitalists and Capital, not by Fords, Tatas and Adamjees; but by the knowledge and skills of the dedicated and committed, by Einstein, Christian Barnard, Bill Gates and their followers”.
Prof. Zafar Ullah Chaudhry,
President CPSP.
The crowd has found the door into the secret garden. Now they will tear up the flowers by the roots . . . .
Alan Bennett (1969) Forty Years On: 78
There was a time, not so long ago, when the way into the secret garden of higher education even in the developed world was known to a very few. Over the last four decades in UK, successive governments have worked very hard to change things: increase accessibility of higher education from being the privilege of a middle class élite to being accessible to a huge section of society. In the 1960s only about one in 18 young people made their way to university; today in UK it is over 40 per cent, and it is the declared aim of government that half of all young people will go through higher education in the near future. Education policy announced by the elected government of Pakistan in 2009 committed to 7% of GNP to education with 20 percent going to higher education. The policy, also, aimed for increase in access to higher education to 10% by 2019 which translates to 2.3 times increase in current enrolment in universities. The envisage increase to 15% in 2020 means 3.8 times increase in enrolment which will be a herculean task by any standard. The goals that HEC has set for herself remain increase inaccessibility, relevance and maintaining quality.
Trevor Hussey and Patrick Smith wrote in ‘The Trouble with Higher Education -A Critical Examination of our Universities’ set in British scenario: “Let us start by stating the obvious. Education is of eminent value and profound importance to any liberal society. But how should we interpret that statement? With our contemporary commercial habits of mind, it was tempting to see it in terms of an investment that a nation makes so as to get a profitable return. Like buying shares or bonds, we invest in education so that it produces the people and ideas we need to repay the expense and make us even more prosperous.
There is, in this picture, a simple feedback loop: society invests in education and education repays with interest. By this means we can keep the tills ringing even in the face of severe international competition.”
HEC has been able to achieve a lot to be proud of! They have been able to create a vibrant university culture and enhance the choices available to students passing higher education.
At the time of independence Pakistan had only 2 universities; in 2005-6 we had 53 public universities. The number of universities has grown at a high rate in the last few years due to the higher education commission’s active encouragement. Pakistan today boasts of 133 universities: 73 in public sector and 60 in private sector. Of them we have 41 in Punjab, 39 in Sindh, 24 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 8 in Baluchistan. Of the rest 16 are housed in Federal area, 1 in Gilgit and 4 in AJK. Academic standards have been brought to internationally acceptable standards and quality enhancement cells are now operational in most universities. Major investments have been made in human resource development and around 8000 PhD scholars will be available in Pakistan in coming 5 years. These scholars are the real hope for a prosperous and educated Pakistan. The number of research papers has increased many folds and research is being recognised as a major responsibility of universities. The input in the form of improvement in infrastructure is obvious in most universities. The ultimate benefit of all this, of course, goes to general public.
In Pakistan only a meager 4% population in the age group from 16 to 26 years have access to university education. Total number of students enrolled in university is 244,513 males and 178,723 females. In 2004 total students enrolled for PhD were 4,662 males and 1,810 females. In 2004-5 total number of students studying for Masters were 65,000 males and 44,000 females. Students attending colleges for bachelors are 167,000 males and 128,640 females. This resulted in total enrollment of students in university from 276,000 in 2001 to 332,000 in 2002-3 and 423,000 in 2003-4. As per current data, 18 to 26 years of age enrolment in university in 2001-2 was 1.46% males and 0.87% females, total being 1.16%. In 2004-5 it increased to male 1.99%, female 1.41% and total 1.70%. But this has to be increase exponentially! Even if we double it up in five years still it remains abysmally low. Still a lot lower than most nations in the developing world!
Only in the field of medicine and health sciences, 57 development projects have been approved and implemented. In medical / health sciences 350 scholarships have been awarded for studies in technologically advanced countries and 444 scholarships for indigenous studies. Post-doctoral research facilities were offered under the scheme “Post Doctoral Fellowship for University Teachers” to 88 university teachers in Biological and Medical Sciences. Travel grants in Medical Sciences, Pharmacy and Nursing were awarded to 79 members of faculty of public and private sector universities and degree awarding institutions to present their research papers in International conferences abroad. As many as 63 Assistant Professors, Associate Professors and Professors were recruited in medical universities under the tenure track system. Pakistani Universities produced 105 PhD scholars in Medical/Health/Biological Sciences. HEC has 130 approved Ph.D. Supervisors in Pharmaceutical and Bio-medical Sciences working in universities and have 89 National Research Projects in progress in Medical Sciences. In Social Sciences/ Arts & Humanities 298 scholarships were awarded for studies in technologically advanced countries and 522 in Pakistan. HEC can be proud of producing 2,287 PhDs by Pakistani universities in Social Sciences.
The increase, the little that we had, has been proportional to the input in the form of budgetary allocation being 3,801 million in 2001-2, 8,375 million in 2002-3, increasing to 10,281 in 2003-4 the epic being 14,319 million in 2004-5. Suddenly education and especially higher education has lost priority in the eyes of those at the helm of affairs. Drastic cuts have been slapped on higher education –the worst so far. If enemies of Pakistan had to plan to inflict severe blow to the progress of country, they will neither target our nuclear arsenal nor State Bank but attempt to thwart the progress in higher education to ensure that Pakistan is deprived of future thinkers, scientists, engineers and doctors. They are the hope of tomorrow - the critical mass which can possibly revolutionise the condition and accelerate Pakistan’s journey to progress. Imagine the plight of a large developing country with deprived present but more importantly with no hope for tomorrow!
The only way forward for developing nations is to invest in education and perhaps more so in higher education. Those in power have to understand that the way to progress and earning a better place in the comity of nations is to equip maximal number of citizens with purposeful education. The education has to be directed and goal orientated. Education should create individuals equipped with skills - to be a driving force for the nation. These educated persons should contribute towards the country’s progress and not merely add to the pool of job seekers. Many exciting new fields await us; the need is to encourage the higher education to take on the challenges. Urgent steps need to be taken to reap the benefits of education and it will be most unfortunate to withdraw at this critical junction where the huge investment of last few years are about to bear the fruits. As very aptly quoted by Chairman HEC, we have to follow the advice of Rabindarnath Tagore, “if they answer not to your call walk alone, if they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall, o thou of evil luck, open thy mind and speak out alone.”