Education Quetta

 Introduction

Education is a key instrument to lift a society out of poverty. The relationship between education and economic development is well recognized. Investment in education is essential for the future and betterment of the present generation. It is sad and unfortunate that successive governments, bureaucrats, and politicians have never given due attention to this issue. The expenditure on education has never exceeded 2% of GNP. The irony of this is that even this meagre amount was never spent on education. It was often diverted towards other sectors like defence. As a result, the literacy rate has been around 36% in Pakistan and far lower in Balochistan.

A class room of a Govt: Primary School.

In Quetta District, there are 30 mosque schools for boys, while there are 232 primary boys schools and 127 primary girls schools run by government. The number of privately run primary schools is 78. The number of government middle schools is 51, of them 29 are for boys and 22 are for girls. The most important observation is that the number of middle schools, is far too low. There are 38 government and 40 private High Schools in the district. The proportion of girls’ High school within the total number was 44.7%.

Mosque schools were established to increase the number of primary schools in the society . The idea was to use the mosque from morning to Zohar time for education. They were not successful and government was forced to merge them into existing primary schools. Primary schools are basic education units up to 5th grade. Six years schooling is carried out under this system.

In addition to the primary schooling, Middle school further provides three years of schooling. High schools are those schools where education is provided up to 10^th class.

In district Quetta, government controlled primary, middle and high schools are Urdu medium. Only private schools are mostly English medium. There is one technical school, one polytechnic institute and one agriculture college in the district. There are many English language centres in the city. Over the last few years, they have grown like mushrooms in and around the city. Similarly there are many computer training centres operating in the city both in public and private capacity. There are many private driving schools including one by the public department (specifically for police personnel).

A local private school.

Abnormalities in enrolment particularly in the case of girls have some deep-rooted causes, like:

1 - Parental attitude toward girls’ enrolment in schools.

2 - Shortage of female teachers and schools

3 - Social and cultural constraints.

4 - Rural girls help their mothers in household work.  

Comparing formal education with non-formal, formal education requires age restrictions while the method of instruction is different from non-formal education. Moreover, there is specific time schedule for regular schooling. For non-formal education, there is no age limit, and the methods of instruction are specially designed. Non-formal education is funded through the following sources. 

• Provincial Social Welfare Department

• Federal Government through Ministry of Education

• Prime Minister Literacy Cell and Asian Development Bank through Government of Pakistan.

Government School System

The school system in the district works on the same pattern as in other districts of Balochistan. Broadly the school system can be broken down into three types of schools, Primary, Middle and model High schools. The High school system is further divided into high schools and Model High schools. Primary schools are for boys and for girls. These schools are either single-teacher school or multi-teacher schools. In these schools, six years of schooling is provided. As far as government run primary schools are concerned, their cost is nominal and borne by the government. They have a uniform syllabus and examination system.

A classroom of primary school.

 High School System (Organigramme)

Primary Schools

Government primary schools are basic education units up to 5th class. They provide schooling up to 6 years . Mohalla and home schools do not exist. Mosque schools used to exist but now they have been merged in primary schools. Madrasas do exist in very large numbers in rural as well as urban areas. They provide religious education and are run by religious organizations. Their expenses are borne through social contribution. Enrolment in primary schools was 65,252 out of them the number of girls was 23,403 which was less than 36%. While the enrolment in private primary schools was 37656. Out of them 28.6% were girls. Total number of primary (private) school teachers is 1,215. Of them, 90.3% are female. The number of middle school teachers is 1,347, of them 452 female and 895 male.

Govt: Girls School.

Government Schools

Source: BEMIS, 1996

A view of a classroom of a private school.

Private Schools

Vocational Training

There are few vocational training schools in the district. For the girls these schools provide embroidery, cutting of cloth, stitching, typing and computer learning facilities. These girls get productive employment afterwards.

Middle Schools

Middle school is composed of one to eight classes including primary section. There are 51 middle schools in Quetta district, 29 are for boys and 22 for the girls. The total enrolment for middle classes up to April 1996, was 24,504, out which 11,052 came from rural areas and 13,452 from urban area. There were 12,430 boys and 12,084 girls. In each Middle school, there is a Head master /Head mistress, secondary school teacher J.E.T, J.A.T, D.M, P.T.I, M.Q and J.V.T. There are 26 private Middle Schools. They are co-education institutions. Their total number of students is 8,059. The proportion of girls is 31%. There are 407 teachers, of which 72% are female.

A view of class room of girls primary school.

Middle School System (Organigramme)

High Schools

The high school comprises up to 10 classes with primary and middle classes included, humanities and science are taught in the school. The staff for each school is one Head master/ Head mistress, S.ST, S.A.T, G.E.T, G.A.T, D.M, P.T.I, M.Q and J.V.T. There were 38 Government High School in April 1996 in district Quetta. Out of them 21 for boys and 17 for girls. The total number of enrolment was 50,814. Out of them 9,011 were from rural areas and 41,803 from urban areas. The number of girls was 26,071, while the number of boys was 24,743 (48.6%).

The examination body for high school students is the Balochistan Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Quetta.

It is worth mentioning that the number of private High School is higher then the number of Government controlled schools. There are 40 schools, 7 for boys, 5 for girls and 28 are mixed schools. In addition to these schools, 4 High School are administered by the

Federal Government and 4 High Schools are controlled by Pakistan Army. Excluding federal government and Pakistan Army controlled schools, the number of private high school students is 3,834. The number of female students is 1,161 while the number of male students is 2,673. The number of teachers in these schools is 468 of which 237 were female.

Intermediate College , Degree College & University

The private as well as public sector is involved in the provision of higher education in the district. There are seven colleges which are under the administrative control of the provincial government. The number of intermediate colleges is 4 and 3 colleges are degree colleges, which provide education up to graduate level. Out of the 3 degree colleges, 2 are for boys and 1 is for girls, while out of the 4 intermediate colleges 3 are for girls and 1 is for boys. In addition, there are 2 intermediate mixed colleges run by the Federal Government. Moreover, there are two private intermediate colleges for boys and there is one private degree college for girls.

The number of enrolled students in the government intermediate colleges in 1996 was 8,155 (5,342 male). The number of enrolled students in the degree colleges was 2,310 out of them 38% were girls and 62% were boys.

A view of Bolan Medical College Quetta.

Quetta is the centre of economic, social, political and educational activities. Students from all over the province seek admission in the colleges situated in Quetta. This is despite the fact that almost every district of Balochistan has at least an intermediate college. Most of the institutions are centred in Quetta city e.g. Bolan Medical College, Agriculture College which also provides training facilities to the Field Assistant of Agriculture Department for a period of two years. Further there are two Law Colleges, a Teachers Training College for male and female is also situated in Quetta district.

University

There is one University in Quetta. Bolan Medical College and Beleli Agricultural College (both in Quetta) are functioning in the frame work of the University of Balochistan. The University of Balochistan was established in 1970. Prior to its establishment, undergraduate -, graduate- and postgraduate colleges were affiliated with the University of Punjab. This situation meant that higher education was limited and rather expensive for the residents of Balochistan.

Since its inception the University has been playing a significant role in the development of the province by providing society with professionals and scientists in a range of subject matters.

Despite meager financial and human resources the University has developed physically and has maintained a fairly acceptable standard of education. There is however still much room for improvement.

The University offers postgraduate, doctoral and advanced programmes in science, arts, humanities, computer science and other professional disciplines. The University started with eight departments, but now has 11 in the Science Faculty and 21 in the Arts Faculty. Moreover there are four Centers: Area Study Center for the Middle East, Center of Excellence for Mineralogy, Pakistan Studies Center and Women Studies Center. Except the Women Studies Center which is still in a pioneering stage, these Centers offer programmes leading to a PhD.

Total number of students of the University of Balochistan was 1261 in 1992-93, 1303 in 1993-94 and 1373 in 1994-95 respectively. These figures do not include the above mentioned colleges.

Recently the first private university (Juniper University) was started in Balochistan. To encourage female education, this university offers courses for women only, parallel to courts for men. Juniper University provide education in business administration; the university has a Dental College and also a private Law college is starting its activities. These initiatives have been well received by the government and the public.

School Administration 

District Level (Organigramme)

School Buildings

The primary school building for boys is normally composed of two classrooms and a veranda. For girls primary schools in addition to the above, a toilet and a boundary wall is included. In the middle school building, both for boys and girls, on average five class rooms and toilet facilities are available. In the case of high schools 15 to 20 class rooms with toilet facilities and a boundary walls are included. In addition to these (area/location permitting) a play ground is also present. In the high schools where science subjects are taught, a laboratory is also available.

 GO/NGO/private, etc. involvement in Education Development

In the educational development of district Quetta, many organisations are involved. The degree of their involvement varies from the type of institutions to the place where those institutions are working. Looking at the entire set-up, it seems that the involvement of provincial government is substantial. Local government is also involved at a minor scale. Federal government is involved at all levels of educational development. The involvement of the private sector is also very encouraging. With the passage of time they have involved themselves from primary level of education to the university level education. The opening of Juniper University is a step in that direction. International donors have been found in creating a conducive climate, particularly for female primary schools and also in the rural areas of the district. The development of primary education in Balochistan particularly for girls is funded to a greater extent by World Bank. It has been noticed that except provincial government, none of the agencies is involved in providing teacher training.

 School of Infantry and Tactics

After partition, the School of Infantry and Tactics was set up in Quetta in 1948 to meet professional demands of a newly born army. Roots of this gracious institution can be traced back to the Infantry School established in the later half of the second war in central India at Mhow by the British Government. Presently, school is imparting training in war doctrines and employment of weapons in various operations of war to armed personnel of Pakistan Army and allied countries. The lofty buildings and grassy fields of the school has added an extra dimension to the beauty of Quetta valley.

 Command and Staff College

This precious institution of the Pakistan Army is located at the entrance to the picturesque sites of Hanna Lake, Spin Karez and Urak Valley. Established about ninety two years ago, the first course in 1905 comprised only twenty-four students. The College is equipped with modern training facilities such as educational television, language laboratories and computers to make the curricular activities more realistic and interesting. Language laboratories offer courses in Arabic, Urdu, French, German and English. Some of the outstanding personalities of international reputation who have visited the college as students and/or instructors are Field Marshals Wavel, Montgomery, Slim Maneckshaw and Generals Lorel Ismay, Muhammad Musa Khan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq etc.

Conclusion and major Development Issues

Quetta district offer a range of educational services, from primary to university education. The main issues are not much different from those in other districts: high dropout rates, especially for girls; concerns about the quality of education, bad state of buildings etc, low levels of funding.

Other observations are:-

• The average number of years to complete primary education cycle in the rural areas of district Quetta is 8 years, while in the urban areas it is 7 years for Urdu medium school. For English medium schools it varies from school to school, depending upon the type of courses taught. It ranges from 6 to 8 years. The main difference between Urdu medium and English medium at primary stage is that the dropout rate in Urdu medium is much higher than English medium.

• To complete middle education, the average number of years after passing primary school for rural areas is 4 years and 3½ years in urban areas. The absence of data makes it difficult to compute the dropout rates. However, BEMIS authorities have indicated that the dropout rate is very high, specially for girls in primary schools. There are a number of reasons for dropouts. Poverty is the major reason. Further, the greed/need of parents is also responsible for this situation. They want to involve their children in income-earning activities. Children are not enrolled in time. In most cases they are admitted at the age of 8 to 9 years. Consequently, their adjustment to school becomes difficult. Lack of parental attention is also one of the reasons. Moreover, in rural areas teachers (as they are untrained and underpaid) have no interest to motivate children for schooling. The dropout rate of girls is much higher than boys because girls have to assist their mothers in house work. The defective social set-up is another reason for the high dropout rates of girls. The boys are considered an asset for the family while girls are treated as a liability, therefore, a girls’ education is not preferred.

• The total number of school opened by MPA and MNA in the district is 10, which are without shelter, while 10 class rooms are constructed. In 30 schools repairing work has been done. It has been pointed out that the MPAs, MNAs force the authorities to open the government schools in their constituencies irrespective of their need. By doing this, they give an impression to the community that they have done this for them from their own fund so as to develop their political image.

• Private schools and (English) training centres have mushroomed in recent years. However, quality remains a major concern. The lack of well-educated trainers/teachers is one of the major reasons.

• The quality of education is also deteriorating due to the political power of student unions, paralyzing all efforts to improve educational standards.

• Due to cultural norms girls higher education is suffering, as girls are often not allowed to take classes in the presence of male students. The solution implemented by Juniper University may be followed by government run institutes to solve this problem.

• Teacher training institutes need to be updated and expanded. The private sector could (should) play a role in providing this kind of training.

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