The Education Crisis in Gilgit-Baltistan: Challenges and the Need for Reform
By Umair Salik
The uniqueness of human beings among all creatures lies in their knowledge and intellectual evolution. A well-educated person and an uneducated one cannot be placed at the same level. That’s why, like other religions, Islam urges the education of both men and women. Quality education can bring a rapid change in society; it shapes the minds of the young generation and spreads awareness about the aims of human lives. According to the Constitution of Pakistan, quality education is the fundamental right of every citizen. Unfortunately, our public institutions have failed to offer two-thirds of that quality.
Despite the fact that well-educated scholars are being hired through merit-based evaluation by testing services, the poor performance in Gilgit-Baltistan erupted when the results of the elementary board came out last month. The majority of the educational institutions failed to achieve even a 50% overall result, and the students who couldn’t gain 40 marks in all subjects started protesting on Karakoram Highway to revise the passing marks to 33 out of 100. It is a mockery of the education department of Gilgit-Baltistan that decreased the passing marks to 33 after a handful of protesters blocked the KKH, rather than bringing effective reforms. After this non-serious decision, the performance of the education department of GB became a burning topic on social media platforms.
Most public analysts are of the opinion that this is totally the fault and a sign of the disqualification of the teachers. Some blame the higher authorities of the department, while people serving in the institutions argue that the students in government schools are non-serious regarding their studies and their guardians have no concerns about the output results. These might be valid reasons, but there are more grave issues; for instance, the insufficiency of teaching staff, lack of teacher training, the unapproved status of schools, technical gaps between curriculum and teachers, and flaws in administrative domains.
There are numerous schools across GB where the student-teacher ratio is 200:5. How can this limited staff manage the students who have just begun their careers? The insufficiency of staff means the insufficiency of class timing, which cannot fulfill the needs of students in the earlier stages. Similarly, most of the teachers are unaware of modern teaching techniques. They haven’t had the opportunity for teaching training and workshops, while the curriculum is designed according to the higher standards of modern education. The curriculum is a piece of paper until one knows how to deliver it; it depends upon a well-trained teacher who knows how to deliver.
Further, there are schools in our district Ghanche, like other districts of GB, which are unapproved to teach secondary levels. On an emergency basis, the local educational committee, after negotiating with the community, decides to offer secondary levels in a middle school with the collaboration of that particular community. They hire teachers on low wages to teach the lower stages, while the qualified permanent teachers teach secondary classes. Surely, this may be a huge compulsion of the society that education is one of the necessities of youngsters, but there is no opportunity for them, so they make it themselves.
For instance, there are two government schools in our village Yugo; the approved status of the girls’ school is primary, yet it is offering secondary education, while the status of the boys’ school is middle, yet it is also offering secondary education. This means the public demand is far higher than what the government is facilitating. These statuses were approved almost thirty years ago, and until now, they have not been upgraded despite huge demands. This technical flaw shows how our education department is working to uplift or upgrade its institutions.
Last but not least, another factor is flaws in educational administrative domains. Our administrative setup comes from promotions rather than test-based selections, and the promotions have no relation to performance. That’s why there is no way for changes in our educational institutions.
To conclude, there is a high demand for an educational emergency in Gilgit-Baltistan. The authorities must sit together and discuss effective solutions. The issues of insufficient staff, lack of teacher training, unapproved school statuses, technical gaps between curriculum and teachers, and flaws in administrative domains must be resolved on an emergency basis so that every child from every corner of Gilgit-Baltistan can avail of the right to quality education at their doorstep. Otherwise, we can say the world is progressing through artificial intelligence, and we are moving backward into backwardness.
