Pakistan is among the countries of the world, the governments of which spend very low part the annual budget on education. In South-East Asia, PakistanÂ’s rate of education is the lowest.
The growing level of private institutions have aggravated the situation as the fee and other charges which are taken by these “Commercial” education institutions are beyond the reach of salaried class. As far as the situation in education institutions, working in public sector is concerned, there seem other issues.
The government school and colleges are facing acute shortage of teaching staff and the teachers who are available, are bound to perform other official duties which refrain them to pay full attention on their teaching responsibilities. The current economic crisis and high level of inflation in the country has worsened the educational condition in Pakistan.
According to a report of Punjab Education department, the dropout rate of students in educational institutions in the province is extremely high. The dropout rate is between 28-30 percent for the students in the first through fifth grades. It is between 40 to 50 percent for the students in the fifth to tenth grades and the dropout rate is 60 percent for the students in the eleven and twelfth grades. The overall dropout rate among the students in the first through twelfth grade is 60 percent.
The report says that the students are turning away from the education due to the current English medium and single curriculum system. Another reason for this big dropout is the lack of teachers in the public sectorÂ’s education institutions.
Consequently when the parents see that their children are not being educated properly or they cannot afford the high fee, they prefer to send the studying young people to the work. Another reason for this educational crises is the expansive books which are also from the reach of salaried parents.