Education in Pakistan and China: A Comparative View

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By Mumtaz Ali Shazi

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There are many similarities between the education systems in Pakistan and China, as both countries have almost same levels of education, such as pre school, primary, middle, high secondary and higher secondary education. The number of subjects and textbooks being taught as part of the curriculum are also similar in many ways.  But when we see the results of the education, there’s a marked difference.

This gap, in my view, is because of differences in the  infrastructure, discipline, classroom management, teaching, school timings, examination methods, assessment, evaluation, and standards and quality of education in both countries. Pakistan lacks in all of the aforementioned areas, especially in the public sector educational system, which is the main provider of education for the masses.

We generally fail to achieve the desired results because we have not been able to improve in all these areas. Without developing a comprehensive and robust learning system, based on science and logic, we will not be able to overhaul  the system, and the vicious cycle will continue. If we want to make the system better, we will have to improve all these area, instead of blaming the system.

Literacy rate of a country is an indication to measure how successfully education is being imparted. Nearly 90 percent literacy rate is an internationally agreed target for education of the population in a country. China has managed to cross this point. Pakistan’s situation, however, is not good in this respect. According to a survey performed in 2017 the literacy rate of Pakistan is around 66 percent, among the  lowest literacy rates in the world. And if we consider the quality of education being imparted, the situation looks even grimmer.

Another important area is higher education, which is mainly responsible to drive a country towards progress by providing  professional and expert manpower. The system of higher education of Pakistan shares many similarities with the higher education system of China as both the countries possess colleges, technical institutions and universities.

According to an estimation made in 2017 about 445,000 graduates and 80,000 computer graduates come out from the institutions of higher education of Pakistan annually. They have to face financial problems due to lack of employment opportunities. On the other  hand the higher education system of China has got popularity all over the world. China has broke the record of the USA with respect to the number of graduates who come out after completing their graduation and postgraduate. According to a survey conducted in2017 China produces 8 million graduates annually. Another aspect of higher education in China is that the universities and colleges in China are running certain educational programs for students to meet the international education standards, and China has managed to get this goal.

 Today China is the world’s number one country in terms of sending Chinese students to the world’s distinguished universities. Moreover  more research papers are published in China than in USA.

From this brief comparative study of the education system of Pakistan and China it becomes easier for us to point out the areas where we are lacking. We should not compromise with the standard of education howsoever difficult the situations may be. Because China also has many such challenges but it has not compromised with the standard and other requisites. Secondly; quality control is the main factor where we are lacking. Our education system should be put on international quality standards to work properly. Thirdly, there is need to give emphasis on practicality and reasoning in learning of content at each level. And, memorization system should be discouraged. Fair exams and evaluation procedures should strictly be followed without any compromise. Because in this way we could have  produce a potential manpower. Which has practical skills to meet the requirements of the modern challenges.

In the end  I would say that if we worked hard and abandoned unfair means to get success no power of the world can stop us in getting successful.