Education System and Human Resources in Pakistan | Need QuickImprovements:

Pakistan Independence Objectives:

Pakistan came into being because of the massive sacrifices of our beloved forefathers. Since the creation and foundation of Pakistan, no civil government has so far attached due importance to two significant sectors of the economy, namely human resource development and creation of tax culture. 

As a result, illiteracy rates have remained high and a major percentage of the country’s population has remained uneducated, untrained and unskilled. At the same time, due to the absence of tax culture in the country, budget allocation for the education sector has always been one of the lowest, especially in the region. This is one of the reasons why we have been unable to attain self-reliance and self-dependence and reach the objective of sustained development and improvement during the last more than 60 years.

A detailed study of the literacy condition in the country demonstrates that the literacy rate in urban areas has been relatively higher against rural areas of the country. However, it is noticeably on the lower side in rural areas and the case of the female population of the country. Several structural obstacles have stood in the way of bringing about considerable progress and improvement in the literacy system of the country – particularly in the backward areas where the majority of the population lives. 

Firstly, according to popular belief, feudal lords in the least developed areas do not support literacy programs in their areas as they frighten that it would result in the loss of their only source of economical labor which is currently available in large quantity to work for them and to fulfill their requirements according to their wishes. Secondly, many poor people are reportedly not in favor of sending female members of their families to schools to get a proper and basic education.

Female Education Concept:

Many of them also have a way of thinking that spending money on female education is a misuse of their precious money, as the girls will end up being housewives after their marriage. As a result of poverty, many parents send their children – 9 to 10 years of age - to work as child labor. Instead of spending money on the education of their children, they have made them a source of family income, because of absolute poverty. It is because of the above-mentioned factors, many schools that opened in rural areas by the federal/provincial authorities are not functioning and doing so satisfactorily. If the government wants that, Pakistan to be a progressive and developed state and one of the leading players in the region it will have to increase its efforts to raise the country’s literacy rate.

Human Resources Development:

As in the case of human resource development, most of all civil and military forms of government failed to create and impose a tax culture in the country to boost the economy so that the basic needs of the people could be provided by the governments. The present tax situation is characterized by a lack of understanding about the nation-building role of taxation, reluctance to pay one’s due taxes, tax avoidance, corruption and continual insufficiency of tax revenue to meet the government’s day to day needs. This, unfortunately, has led to complex circumstances for the economy and the government in many ways. Due to the shortfall of tax revenue, the country has to depend heavily on foreign aid.

Increase Tax Culture:

Since foreign aid/ investment is unpredictable and IMF programs carry tough conditional ties, the national economy has always been surrounded by uncertainties and the government can not make its own decisions to put the economy on the right path. Besides this, as the tax revenue is always covering behind government expenditure, budget allocations for education, health, and other social services can not be improved to the desired level. As a result, there are higher budget deficits, enlargement of internal and external debt, a weakening currency and high inflation.

As a matter of fact, lower tax collection not only endangers economic self-reliance, self-sufficiency and progress; it also gradually weakens the security of the country by denying the resources essential to building its strength. In the absence of plenty of local resources, nation-building projects can not be undertaken. Over time, most of the other countries in the region have moved ahead, leaving Pakistan far behind most of all developmental fields. A significant improvement in the tax-to-GDP ratio can be raised only to impose a suitable tax on the rich and well-to-do, who are not paying their due taxes, at the existing time but in the reality that tax is really important for the country so that to improve country’s poor economy. We must think and the government must take serious steps and concrete measurements, to make the country self-reliant and progressive.