Education in Pakistan: All Demand and Little Supply

Mutahir Kazmi CPA

They say a good marketing person can sell a fridge to an eskimo. Yet the only way for us to solve our problems is to physically eliminate the problem. Why is that?

An indication of an intelligent man is to win his ways by discussion and not by sword. So the question is what are our options to educate the masses without killing them.

A suggestion is that get the large number of students that waste time during six months holidays every year to go and work in the rural areas.

Another is that, have the army (just like for the census) go to the rural area and educate the villagers for six months rotation. (effectively translating the unproductive defence expenditure into productive educational expense).

Salman Khurram

Ask not what the government (or the 2%) can do for you, ask what you can do for the people (which includes ourselves).

Re : Salman

Dear Salman,

Kudos for exposing the hidden agenda, and for stating without meandering words the exact truth about the mirage behind the importance of education as viewed by Pakistani policy makers..and also the feudals..

the simple and elegant point of it all is who would want to disturb the precarious balance of 2% of elite and 98% labour, correction, bonded labour. Indeed the feudals have the upper hand in suppressing the silent masses, effectively, i might add, and keeping them on a tight leash. The current state of feudalism is indeed a modern day farce, about calling our country Independent, for still a fair number of population, living below the poverty line, in the mostly rural areas of this country are shackled with invisible chains of bonded labour, which the owners manipulate to suit their needs.

Indeed why would they even let a school master stay in village to educate the future ``slaves``,when they know education removes the fear of the unknown, which the peasants learn to live with. Without this fear, and the ability to think like human beings, their hold will of course weaken and even one day, God Forbid result in them breaking away from the invisible chains which bind them to their masters..

Once again Salman thank you for voicing your honest opinion, and in pretty clear-cut words.....incisive, glaring, and irrevocable..

Kind Regards

Asim

Very good nuts and bolt type details in thei srticle really enjoyed it.

Re:Amin Saleh.

Very good interaction. maybe you should write an article (or sevral :)) on this topic and others.

Excellent Article.

As usual I have to add a few words to make my self-importance felt.

While there is merit for the NGO concept to establish primary schooling, I would suggest another suggestion. Ms. Habib mentioned about the annual schooling cost of Rs. 2000. This I believe would be the operating costs. She did not mention the impact of fixed costs.

In this regard, I felt that a private initiative should be taken in the primary schooling in a similar context of university education.

1) This means a primary school is incorporated, funds are raised from parents (whose children qualify entrance exam and can afford the equity share) and the remaining will be raised from debt.

2) The children whose parents purchase the share would basically occupy 90% of the seats, while the remaining would be occupied by those who could not afford to particpate in the equity but qualify otherwise.

3) The shares will not be able to be transferred except with the approval of the board of directors that will be choosen by the parents having the shares.

4) Each share will carry one vote and no parent may own more than 5 shares.

5) These shares may be tendered back to the board of directors once the children pass the age of schooling.

6) The parents would participate in the teacher appointments, curriculum setting, and school administration through the creating of committies.

7) The Teachers will be evaluated on the basis of their continuing education (in the field of education) and/or research articles. This will lead to promotions or remuneration enhancements.

8) Since the shares will be owned by the parents, the school would save paying a return on equity to the owners` as is the case with the currently owned private institutions.

9) This would mean that 100% of the tuition fees would be used to pay the cost of teachers salaries, administrative costs (less time voluntered by parents), and infrastructure costs (as this will be borrowed from financial institutions).

10) This will also provide the opportunity for less privilaged students to study in the same institution as privilaged students.

11) Such institutions can be created in all areas where 1000 parents come together to form this institution.

12) All these institutions can be linked up so that they may entertain exchange of students also.

13) The economies of scale would lead to create teachers training institutions leading to better quality teachers. (This is a major concern currently).

14) The trickle down effect would lead to self sufficiency in quality educational institutions.

The economics would be as under:

The first school can be established on the basis of the following:

810 students @ Rs.30,000 = Rs.24 million(30%)
Debt 22%p.a. 56 million (70%)
Total Funding 80 million

Land Rs.4000 * 10,000 s.yd = Rs.40 million
Building Rs.4000 * 10000 sft = 32 million
Furniture & equipment = 8 million

Cost of Operation
1:30 Teacher/Student Ratio
10,000 pm * 30 3.60 million
Debt Servicing 13.86 million
Other costs .54

Total Cost 18.00 million

Total Students 900
Fee Paying Student 810
Average fee per student per year 22,200
Average fee per month 1,850

1) Although this may seem a very high fee structure, it should be understood that this school is expected to provide not only academic facilities but also sports facilities.

2) Furthermore, the land cost has been taken at cost of residential land in Defence Phase VIII in Karachi. A less expensive land in other locations will have an impact of reducing the overall costing.

3) If land is provided by KDA, or KMC out of its allocation of amenities plots would aslo reduce the cost of the project.

4) If the school is located close to a park then, land can be reduced for playground.

5) These reductions not only reduce the cost of the project but also operation due to lower debt.

6) The high cost of teachers is to attract the best teachers currently teaching in the top private schools. Less qualified teachers may be hired at substantially lower costs.

7) The upfront cost of Rs.30,000 may be financed through the banks. Since this will be an asset of the parent, it may be pledged to the bank and as such will not be an upfront outflow.

8) It should be noted that public floations of companies have received billion rupees in subscription money which is an indication that there is no shortage of capital. Furthermore, while most companies raise a minimun of Rs.5000 per subscriber, a number of companies have floated shares at a premium which requires the subscriber to put up in excess of Rs.10000 per application.

Encouraging this sort of activity would go a long way for citizens to stop depending on the government to build facilities for it but it can start serving itself. The lending institutions will find itself providing funding for an entity that will have a lower risk of default.

This may be replicated in other fields of infrasturcture activity like Health (covered by Health insurance), Water (Reverse Osmosis process used in the middle east), etc.