Educational Apartheid in Pakistan
by Prof. Adil Najam

posted on February 17, 2002

Of all the ills that plague Pakistan's educational system--and there are many--none is more virulent than the curse of educational apartheid.  And yet, one can confidently predict that not only with the soon-to-be-announced educational policy not address this issue, it will not even be mentioned. 

The defining principle of Pakistan's education system is a simple and familiar one: "Idhar hum, udhar tum!" (Us here, you there!).  It is a stratified system of social and economic prejudice: A system that offers a quality education to the selected few and an abysmal alternative to the neglected many.  It is designed to ensure that those of us who were born privileged--or have become so through hard work, good luck, or sheer thievery--will pass on to our children the same unfair advantage that we enjoyed and that has enabled us to hold on to those privileges.  If the remaining 95% of the country are condemned to second rate existence just so that we and our children can continue to bask in the undeserved successes that we assume to be our birthright, then so be it! 

In essence, it is a system that tells the unborn generations of Pakistanis that while all children are born equal in the eyes of God, some will be treated as more equal than others by our educational system.   Despite all the forced doses of Islamiat in our curricula, the defining essence of Pakistan's educational policy continues to be based on a caste system.  The type of social and economic segregation that defined the Brahmin as being superior to the untouchable Harajin may now be on the decline in Hindu India but is alive and thriving in Muslim Pakistan. 

Ironically, it is nowhere more alive or more thriving than in our educational institutions.  Those who are born privileged enough to be allowed into an Aitchison College in Lahore, a Karachi Grammar School, or the multitude of private elite schools like Beaconhouse or Froebels are the Brahmins of Pakistan.  Following on their heels is the next tier of our new social caste--people whose children can go to the slightly less prestigious, but equally elite and invariably English-medium schools (most of them government-run).  Between them, this group comprises no more than five percent of society.  

The bulk of those who do go to school are condemned to attend government-run Urdu-medium schools, most of which are chronically plagued with poor staff and worse facilities.  About half never make it beyond five years of schooling; about half of the remaining do not make it beyond Matric; most of the remainder stop at the Intermediate level.  The brightest and luckiest do make it to the University level and a few even go on to break the caste barrier--by becoming a doctor, engineer, CSP officer, etc.--and thereby transcending into the elite class.  However, as soon as they do so they acquire the indulgences of the elites including the vested interest of maintaining the system of educational apartheid intact. 

An even bigger group does not even have the option of Urdu-medium schools.  Some end up in Madrassas; the majority joins the workforce.  You will see them as 'chootas' at tea stalls, as apprentices in mechanic shops, and as domestic help in your houses.

While there are many manifestations of apartheid in Pakistan, its most poignant exemplar is the differentiation between English and Urdu medium schools.  It is a system that, true to its original design, produces two distinct sets of citizens--future rulers and future subjects.  Starting from a deliberately unleveled playing field, it is no surprise that those from the first camp overwhelmingly come ahead.  A few from the later occasionally make it to the top, but only after facing much hardships and after embracing the rules of the elites--in essence, becoming "English medium" by default.

It is a criminal injustice that the feet of 95% of the population are tied simply so that the remaining 5% can win the race.   As a result, the country is robbed of its best minds.  Intelligence, after all, is not restricted to any one class or caste.  The system of apartheid as now instituted forces the best minds from the elites to end up abroad while even as the rest of the population is restrained from reaching its potentialities.  Those who could have been physicists end up as mechanics; potential economists end up running tea-stalls; potential poets end up polishing the shoes of some spoiled brat!

The problem of educational apartheid is a complex one, but the solution is very simple--though exceedingly difficult.   It entails replacing the multiple systems that are currently in place with one unified system.  There are those who will try to confuse the issue by making it a debate about which language should be the medium of instruction.  That is NOT the issue.  The issue is about leveling the playing field and providing the same educational opportunity to all our children.  Until we do that we will never be able to reap the full potential of our talent.  We will be condemned to the continuing servitude of a self-proclaimed and self-consumed elite.