T HE education sector needs administrative and institutional reforms.
Previous initiatives floundered because of bureaucratic hurdles. A Social Action Programme was launched in 1992. The allocations for primary education under SAP were doubled over the next five years.
However, only half or less of the targets were achieved, and SAP was discontinued in 2002. Any further reforms are likely to meet the same fate unless the weaknesses identified are rectified.
Institutional reforms have to move in two directions: decentralisation from the provincial to the district and lower levels, and the association of civil society at the planning and implementation stage, as well as management of educational institutions at all levels.
This point is proved by the success of many NGOs in setting up and running quality schools for the poor. Thankfully, now there is a growing pool of businessmen, educational experts andsocial workers committed to the cause of education.
There is also a high correlation between education and income levels. Households with higher incomes have access to better education. Education inequalities are thus a major cause of growing income inequality and poverty in Pakistan. This is proved by a recent Social Policy and Development Centre study.
The SPDC study reveals that in Punjab 14 out of 34 districts are in the highest quintile and only one is in the lowest quintile. In Sindh, Karachi is in the highest quintile while two districts are in the lowest quintile. The remaining 13 districts are in the middle. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, three out of 24 districts are in the highest quintile and three in the lowest. In Balochistan, only Quetta out of 26 districts is in the highest quintile while 15 districts are in the lowest quintile.
We need to expand investment in education in the districts f alling in the lowest quintile. This will enhance the income earning capacity of the poor as education is the starting point for a social transformation process.
