The Honorable Chief Justice of Pakistan,
Supreme Court of Pakistan,
ISLAMABAD
September 22, 2010
Respected Sir,
The people of Pakistan are now absolutely happy and satisfied that the present Supreme Court is constantly stepping in to protect the interest of the citizens without discrimination, whether it has been has the case of consumer protection, missing persons, social evils or poor pensioners or be it representation of suppressed classes, and is aiming to ensure the basic dignity of the citizens of Pakistan. In fact it is only the social justice which ensures life to be meaningful and livable for the poor, who have no house to live in, generally no clothes to wear, who do not get food to eat, who have no facility for proper education of their children & sometimes even clear drinking water is beyond their reach and foremost they have no access to legal assistance. No doubt, The Supreme Court of Pakistan is now pulling the people out of frustration, ill feeling and brooding sense of injustice and delivering justice expeditiously to the needy victims of accidents curtailing delay.
Brief facts leading to the instant request are as under:
1. That education is the right of every Muslim, and it is made necessary for every person in Islam. Special emphasis is made on getting education for every Muslim. This education includes both Islamic and technical education conforming to the needs of modern life. The concept of education in Islam is not only getting decent earnings but practicing it in real life for the betterment of the others. It was as a result of application of knowledge that Muslims were the superpower of the world for twelve centuries. We need to get both Islamic as well as modern scientific education to get our regime back. We need to hold the Islamic values tightly in order to get stronger again.
2. That according to the Constitution of Pakistan (1973), too the Federal Government is entrusted the responsibility for policy, planning, and promotion of educational facilities in the federating units. Implementation of the policy devised by the Federal Government is a provincial subject to be carried out by injecting sufficient funds in this most vital sector. The Federal Ministry of Education administers the educational institutions located in the federal capital territory. According to the constitution, education being a provincial matter; the provincial governments are responsible for imparting quality education to their respective provinces. However, the provincial governments despite having a certain degree of autonomy in managing education still ignore this vital sector. Basically there are three conspicuous problems that need the attention of the provincial and federal governments. These include: revamping the provisioning of compulsory universal education, a uniform curriculum and finally improving the administrative capacity at all levels to provide quality education.
3. That even though the 1973 Constitution propounded the Right to Equality for all sections of the Society yet in Article 25A of the Constitution provisions have been made apparently to give extra leverage to the underprivileged and downtrodden section of the society so that, they can catch up with the privileged section of the society. However, in the past, through enactments and other notifications and rules the Government have shown the urgency and importance of universal secondary education to children yet it is the Government itself which has become the biggest stumbling block in imparting such education. Since long there is no level playing field in the domain of education. Consequently, the poor have become poorer and the rich, richer. Education policies adopted by successive governments manifested the least respect even to the constitutional guarantees and international human rights standards on education. A wide range of policy, budgetary and implementation issues have held back progress at ground level and the country lags behind in literacy and standards of education.
4. That it is a settled issue all over the world that education must be imparted in the national language. But our successive Governments are constantly evasive and seem bent on keeping this issue unresolved merely in the interest of elite class, having its long-term adverse implications for rest of the society at large. It is fact that the people of Pakistan are living in an unjust and exploitative system that is heavily biased towards the rich. It must have been kept in view that almost all who went through the public sector Urdu medium schooling also shone and were more successful in their careers.
5. That the Education Act of 1976 clearly provides that all schools, colleges and universities of Pakistan must follow a uniform system of examination. Conversely, the law has been abused continually, and the country's feudal and privileged classes have continued to plot against it by promoting a multiple system of education. It is no secret that the 'A' and 'O' level system of education is flourishing under their patronage over and above all rules and regulations. Our ruling class has a vested interest in keeping the majority of the population ignorant, unskilled, irrational, underfed and unproductive. In order to achieve this objective, they have deliberately divided the system into two/three classes and inequality in the education system is the result of sustained state policies and an established societal order that is based on elitism. Equality is one of the fundamental human rights but Feudal traditions in Pakistan are obstacle to uniform and equal fundamental education. The division is well profound and extensive in Pakistan. Its ultimate result is that the society has been divided into two nations representing two totally different mindsets, ethos, skills and abilities. Unfortunately, no government has ever tried to bridge this gap purposely and have failed to evolve as a nation. The privileged class has very successfully developed an educational apartheid system in which only the selected few can get good education and skills and the rest of the populace is supposed to be subservient to them. On which side of the fence one would land depends on the accident of birth and inheritance and the fissure lies on this division.
6. That today Pakistan's Education System is among the most deficient and backward in Asia, reflecting the traditional determination of the feudal ruling elite to preserve its hegemony. Now due to the collapse of the public sector educational system, our society represents the prevalent class structure of society. Students coming from government schools or madressahs can never compete with students from the private sector who are given the better education money can buy. So they end up doing menial or semi-skilled jobs and are left behind in the neo market economy as it is very difficult for them to break the class ceiling or succeed on the same level. Extremism is also the result of this class-driven educational system as the under-privileged who have been neglected by the state are catered by the extremist outfits who then exploit them in the name of religion. The class-driven educational system is highly injurious for economic development and national cohesion. Today the divide between the rich and the poor in Pakistanis so great that it negates the concept of the welfare state that the founding fathers had envisioned. Nearly half of our national issues could be solved easily if an educational system is devised that provides one and the same opportunities to all its citizens.
7. That this dubious education system has created number of problems for the Society. Despite huge educational expenditures and budgets allocated by the Governments and making time and again high pledges, the double standards are still there rather deepened. This has been one of the reasons that the true talent in lower and middle class never gets an opportunity to prove them. While entering the practical life one of the most horrendous discrimination that is made in employment sectors, is that individuals with better command over English language are given priority on those who cannot speak this language in a fluent way. Some times this kind of altitude adopted by organizations gives an impression that the required merit is not dependent on marks and distinctions but rather a command over English language. Obviously one can not underestimate or denounced the importance of English language but it is absolute discrimination if the real qualification and capability is ignored and merely a speaking power is given more importance. The need of time is to bring education in its original form to masses. According to the vision of the father of the nation Pakistan was based on the concept of equal citizenship for all Pakistani. Irrespective of their color and creed and Pakistanhad to facilitate by curbing corruption and partiality. Though 63 years have been passed and 23 policies and action plans have been introduced by the successive governments yet the educational sector is waiting for an arrival of a savior even today.
8. That presently there are basically three kinds of schools: the elite private institutions and forces cadet/public schools that cater to the upper class; the government-run schools serving the lower echelons of the population and the Madrassah, the religious school thereby creating different classes within the society; the privileged class that can afford quality education for its children by bearing high costs and the deprived class that is unable to meet high cost and as such is forced to send its children to government schools or Madrassas With incorporation of universal education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years becoming a part of the basic Fundamental Rights it has become a solemn duty of the State to provide equal opportunity of universal education to all children within the age of 5-16 years.
9. That the curriculum of private schools is quite upgraded with special emphasis on listening and speaking English and most of those schools particularly in cities teach "O" and "A" level subjects. On the contrary the students of Government schools study absolutely outdated syllabus even not knowing the meanings of "O" and "A" level. There is therefore no level playing field in both the sections of the students and due to this discriminatory system of education the students studying in Government schools can never compete with those studying in private schools. The trend among the upper-middle and affluent classes to opt for private educational institutions has further created a discriminatory environment and has strengthened a negative perception.
10 That the system also lacks a comprehensive national educational policy with well-defined goal posts. It is imperative that a national curriculum in national language responsive to the growing national needs and aspirations is vital which is necessary to be designed and uniformly implemented in private and public sector schools by all the provincial governments.
11. That education remained the most neglected aspect of national life during the last more than half century. The literacy level are low, the female literacy levels are among the lowest in the world and the lowest in the Muslim countries. The emphasis in education is still on a general and liberal type of B.A. or M.A. degree. The change towards scientific and technical education has still not taken place. The quality of education is low, the teachers are under-paid, under-trained and dispirited. The students are apathetic as they see no relationship between education and higher earnings or status in the society. Poor planning and lack of effective mechanism are the major reasons behind low literacy rate and low quality of education. The successive governments in Pakistan deliberately pushed education to the lowest rung of their agenda with Mass illiteracy helps keep weak and corrupt governments of Pakistan in power and that is why meager allocation of funds so that they can deploy the maximum funds in co called development projects which generate heavy kickbacks, drive in bullet proof million dollars cars enjoy the wealth of the country take family and friends on official trips while the people continue to live in abject poverty denied the very basic right to even minimal quality life.
12. That the National Education Policy 1998-2010 proposed that there shall be regulatory bodies at the national and provincial levels to regulate activities and smooth functioning of privately managed schools and institutions of higher education through proper rules and regulations. A reasonable tax rebate shall be granted on the expenditure incurred on the setting up of educational facilities by the private sector. Grants-in-Aid for specific purposes shall be provided to private institutions. Setting up of private technical institutions shall be encouraged. Matching grants shall be provided for establishing educational institutions by the private sector in the rural areas or poor urban areas through Education Foundation. In rural areas, schools shall be established through public-private partnership schemes. The government shall not only provide free land to build the school but also bear a reasonable proportion of the cost of construction and management. Liberal loan facilities shall be extended to private educational institutions by financial institutions. But most of the commitments of the Government are still unattended. The policy has failed to deliver once again on its implementation of a uniform curricula for all private and public schools. Where language is concerned, UNESCO studies on education research recommend that the initial compulsory fundamental schooling or early childhood learning should be in the mother tongue.No proper regulations have been framed regarding curriculum or fees to be charged by the private institutions with the result that every school is teaching curriculum and charging fees at its own whims and will. Fact is that implementation of policies has been blocked by vested interests and through corruption and inefficiency in the education sector, time and again.
13. That a few decades ago education was sought for cultural, religious and social progress. In 1960s, the pioneering work of Schultz and Becker working on the concept of investment in human capital proved that a high level of education is a necessary condition for economic growth and no country can make significant economic progress if majority of its citizens are illiterate. The rapid progress of East Asian Countries is largely attributed to their excellent system of education. Pakistan is facing multiple socio-economic problems that can be best addressed only by revamping the existing educational system in the country by investing maximum funds in this vital sector should be second in line to national defense and security.
14. That despite Pakistanis conspicuously deficit on well established fundamentals such as uniform curriculum and national academic standards, essential for imparting quality education. Designing and implementing a uniform curriculum responsive to national needs and aspirations has not drawn the attention of the governments. Public sector as well as Self-governing universities such as LUMS, NUST and others normally set their standards for admission which coincide with the students obtaining 'O' and 'A' level and students of rest of public sector schools and madressahs can not compete them.
15. That the condition of government schools all over the country and the quality of education being imparted there are going from bad to worse, day by day. Thousands of government schools are "ghost schools," existing on paper only.School buildings are often used by feudal for housing farm workers or livestock, not for education. Thousands of "ghost" teachers have been drawing salaries from the education departments of the four provinces. They do not do any actual teaching since there are no functioning schools. They simply show up to collect their salaries on the appointed day. The feudal state of Pakistani society has prevented meaningful educational reforms from taking place. And, in many rural areas where the local tribal chief's word is law, schools will not function without his say so. There are many cases where chiefs will not allow any schools in their "jurisdiction." Consequently, literacy and enrollment rates have remained much lower than the desired level. They are even lower than the South Asian standards.
16. That provision of books either free of cost or at low cost, bare minimum tuition fee or free education and teaching of some sort of technical skills to students to enable them to earn their living later in life are some of the incentives that would attract parents to get their children admitted to schools. The provincial and federal governments should give top priority to achieving universal primary education within next 5-16 years.
17. That Article 25A, according to the 18th constitutional amendment, declares "education free and compulsory for all children of the age of 5 to 16 years, in such manner as may be determined by law." For proper implementation of this law here must be public private partnership and the government should devise a strategy to subsidize private educational institutions, operating in the areas where the government-run institutions had either failed for deliver or are non-existent. The government should decide per child education budget and the private sector should be patronized in the far-flung areas of the country to enhance literacy rate in the light of National Education Policy 1998-2010.
18. That public spending on education as a percentage of total government expenditure has remained very low in Pakistan, 1.8 percent of GDP, well below prescribed international levels that ranged between the 20 percent recommended by UNICEF and the 6 percent laid down by the Dakar Framework of Action at the World Educational Forum 2000. This spending is the lowest in South Asia. Pakistan remains among the 12 countries of the world that spent less than 2 percent of their GDP on education. (HRCP annual report 2005) This indicates that education has remained a low priority. Public spending on education in fact declined from 2.6 percent of the GDP in 1990 to 1.8 percent in 2002-03. We should keep in mind that between 1906 and 1911, education consumed as much as 43 per cent of the budget of Japanese towns and villages. By 1910, Japan had a universal attendance in primary schools. Amartya Sen in "Identity and Violence", writes, "By 1913, even though Japan was still economically very poor and underdeveloped, it had still become one of the largest producer of books in the world, publishing more books than Britain and indeed more than twice as many as the United States." The Government should increase allocation of funds from existing 1.8 per cent of GDP to at least 7 per cent in the next ten years
19. That Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provides that The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to education. They agree that education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity, and shall strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. They further agree that education shall enable all persons to participate effectively in a free society, promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups, and further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
20 That the rural schools lacked physical infrastructure, furniture, basic facilities and the level of teaching staff remained dismal. This has contributed greatly to the high drop-out rate, which led to the lack of interest on parents' part in sending children to schools where teachers often failed to appear, fans or drinking water were not available and children were often beaten. According to official data, 78 percent of primary schools in rural areas do not have electricity, 40 percent have no drinking water and 60 percent are without toilets. The same was true of middle, high and secondary schools. 15 percent of government schools across the country are without buildings, 52 percent without boundary walls, 40 percent without water, 71 percent without electricity and 57 percent without toilets (HRCP annual report).
21. That Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of the country, was prepared to go to any extent to establish Urdu as the national language of the fledgling state. He got nine resolutions passed in this respect from the platform of the All India Muslim League between 1908 and 1938. Later also he consistently declared Urdu the national language of the Muslims of the sub-continent and, in 1948, he categorically announced, not once but four times, that Urdu was the state language of Pakistan. It may, therefore, be appropriate to say that Urdu formed as one of the basis of the struggle for Pakistan. How unfortunate it is that, against this backdrop, the country's educational planners are not heeding to it in spite of constitutional guarantee provided in 1973 constitution. The grace period offered by the Constitution to implement Urdu as national language expired on 14th August 1988. In spite of the so many flagrant violations of the Constitution, the pledge remains there, but there are no actions to fulfill the pledge.
21. That Pakistan also signed and ratified the "UN Convention on the Rights of the Child" on 12th Nov. 1992which resolves to provide education to all children. That on 10th December, 1998, United Nations adopted Universal Declaration of human Rights. The Preamble to the UDHR stated that: "every individual and organ of society...., shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms...." Pakistan being a member of the UN adopted the said declaration. Article 26 (1) of UDHR proclaims that: Every one has a right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. "Article 26 (2) of UDHR states that Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for maintenance of peace. Further, Article 26 (3) provides that parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children."
22. That the Constitution of Pakistan framed in 1973 promised to its citizens in Article 37 (b) & (c) that "the State shall remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary education within the minimum possible period; make technical and professional education generally available and higher education equally accessible to all on the basis of merit".
23. That education is accepted as a basic right of everyone both at national and international level. The Constitution 1973 clearly lays down the provision in Article 37 (b) that:
"The state of Pakistan shall... remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary education within minimum possible period".
In Article 26 (1), UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, it is clearly laid down that:
'Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory."
The Constitution also corresponds with Article 26 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which says that "Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit."
Keeping in view the above submissions a uniform system of education needs to be introduced to eradicate the problems as pointed out earlier. Two important things that the government should attempt in this regard are:
Introduce Urdu as medium of instruction to be implemented uniformly in all public and private schools. However, in the international environment of competition today, English has assumed unprecedented importance. It may therefore be taught as a compulsory subject from class one. Religious education may also be incorporated in the mainstream education. For this purpose, the most important thing is introduction of Arabic as a second language at the initial stage education.
Moving forward to the present, may I request that this letter of mine may kindly be treated as a petition and the same may be heard by taking suo moto action by calling the Federal as well as Provincial Governments and Directorates of Colleges of the Armed Forces in order to remove disparity and to ensure equality between all the sections of the Society. There is an awful need for strictly adhering to the rule of law and this has to begin instantly, lest the result would only be dreadful, as it has been so far for the last more than half a century.I request your kind honor urgently to look into the matter to prevent this utter injustice, discrimination, continuous violation of law and policies, misappropriation of public funds in the name of education, and destitution of the poor people of Pakistan being carried on for so many decades by passing an appropriate order regarding:
- Increasing funding for education by allocating a minimum of 7% percent of the GDP at least during the next 10 years
- Introduction of a uniform curriculum and provision of equal facilities by bridging the gap between various types of public, private schools and Madrassass in the country.
- Introducing "Urdu" as meidum of instruction in all the public and private sector schools at least in case of fundamental compulsory education (from 5 to 16 years students)
- Offering free and compulsory fundamental education to all children in Pakistan, and achieving 100% Enrolment in fundamental education by the year 2015.
- Taking admission tests by all the higher universities in urdu language.
- Conducting all the interviews either for admission in universities or for employment in urdu language.
- Achievement of complete gender equality in fundamental Enrolment by 2015.
- Eradication of political interference and favouritism in education department and ensuring transparency in appointments, postings, and transfers of teachers and other education officials.
- Addressing disparity in progress towards Education for All among various provinces, areas and districts in Pakistan. Since policies and plans take time to produce results, more so in the case of Literacy and Education, there is a pressing need to have a continuity of policies and consistency of approach in a broad sense.
- Provincial governments should take initiatives to improve the quality of the basic education. To ensure the quality education to fix the appropriate ratio between students per class. It's nearly impossible to carry good results from class of 200 students.
- Providing free education through private schools where public schools are not available.
- Implementing National Education Policy 1998-2010 as discussed in Para12 ante in letter and spirit.
- Introducing a foolproof accountability system to be implemented in all public sector schools.
I am obliged to Your Lordship and thank you.
Sincerely,
