A Study On Role Of NGOs In The Basic Education Of PAKISTAN

Pakistan is a country with more than 190 Million people and a literacy rate of no more than 35-45%that seems to be very disappointing.The poverty level is also at 30-35%and almost 60%population is living in rural areas and is totally dependent upon agriculture for their living.School network is available throughout the country but there are still areas that are deprived from basic education.Some areas have school buildings but there are no teachers to work there or some buildings have been damaged.So there are many areas deprived from basic education in various forms and due to various reasons.The researcher chose this topic to study due to the reason that education is an important issue these days,United Nations has declared education as the basic human right for every citizen of the world.There are a number of stakeholders having a great deal of interest in education sector and they are investing in the education sector generously.This results in widening of operations of NGOs across the globe.The important aspect regarding significance is that there is no comprehensive study on this topic available in the literature regarding Pakistan so this study fills an important gap in the literature.This qualitative study has been undertaken to explore the situation of educational sector particularly at the level of basic education in Pakistan.This study aims to explore and analyze the participation of NGOs in the education sector particularly the basic education,and role of NGOs regarding any contributions in policy formulation and implementation at the basic education level.The study is aimed to answer the basic question of whether the participation of NGOs in basic education level contributes to the significant level in achievement of EFA goals in Punjab province of Pakistan?For the inquiry of this study,qualitative research methodology has been applied,using case study as research method and use of focus group,in-depth interviews and semi-structured interviews,documents review and field visits methods for collection of data.Through the study,the researcher finds that during last few decades the role of NGOs in Pakistan has been increased and their roles are visible on national levels.It has been explored by this study that for governments,it is not possible to provide the services to some of far flung areas of the country.While due to increased awareness and the NGOs started to intervene in the situation,there are different aspects of this issue.Historically,NGOs have been working in the country as well as region in different sectors primarily in health education and community service.Another finding of study revealed that during last decade NGOs have shifted their service delivery roles to the policy formulation,implementation,and advocacy and lobbying,this shift is due to the increased feeling that appropriate changes at policy level would result in much better output as the people responsible for the policy formulation and implementation are unaware of the problems and situations of field.The findings of this study show that NGOs are playing important and key role in Basic education sector of Pakistan since the prevalence of market based approach in Pakistan.The research findings show that majority of NGOs in Pakistan are involved.in service delivery of education sector,some of the NGOs are also involved in advocacy and lobbying while some perform both service delivery and advocacy.Through the agenda of service delivery,NGOs have become key factor in the implementation of reforms made for Basic Education in the country.They contribute and play their part in the areas of construction of schools,rehabilitation of schools,provision of textbooks to the children,and providing financial support in form of payment of school fees,text books purchase and other relevant ways to help students and their parents.While some NGOs reach government through advocacy efforts and they try to communicate the problems from the grass root level to the government.The participation of NGOs in basic education has improved the situation and increased the number of students attending the schools but at the same time,problem of access to education,retention of children in schools and quality of education are still there.So,despite all the efforts made by NGOs and the government and other relevant stakeholders,achievement of EFA goal is far away.This problem is due to the insufficient funding and lack of NGOs' own resources.Though,NGOs are involved in service delivery and advocacy efforts but at the same time it has been observed that majority of NGOs is dependent on the foreign donor agencies for financial resources.This results in discrepancy among the interests of government,NGO and donors.It therefore creates a situation of tension between government and NGOs.From the findings of this study,it has been observed that NGOs have been helping in the neo-liberal agenda implementation.In order to do something for less privileged segments of society,NGOs must put their efforts to help the access of education easy for every child in Pakistan.The findings of this study suggest that participatory role of NGOs in policy formulation and implementation should be re-visited in order to solve the problems of access to education and social issues like justice and equality..