The Economist - USA (2021-11-13)

The Economist November 13th 2021 Asia 45

EducationinSouthAsia(2)

Levelling down

F

ewinpakistanwoulddenythatsome­

thingneedstobedonetoimproveits

educationsystem.Thecountryiswellbe­

hindBangladesh,IndiaandIran,andjust

barelyaboveAfghanistan,inuneducation

rankings.Lessthan60%ofpeopleover 15

canreadandwrite,havingattendedschool

onaveragefor5.2years.InBangladesh,by

contrast,theliteracyrateis74%,with6.2

yearsofeducation(seepreviousstory).

Theheadlinefigureshideasmuchas

theyreveal.Inthecountry’seliteschools,

thechildrenofthewealthystudyinEng­

lishforinternationalexamsandsettheir

sightsontheworld’sbestuniversities.At

theotherendofthespectrum,23mchil­

drenare notinschoolatall, withgirls

muchlesslikelythanboystobeenrolled.

Government schools, where available,

havea reputationforrotelearning.Private

schoolsofvaryingqualityfillthegap.Ma­

nypoorfamiliessendtheirchildrentoma-

drasas,whichtendtoskipsubjectslikesci­

enceandmaths.Somearevehiclesforex­

tremistideologies.ImranKhan,theprime

minister, calls this divide “educational

apartheid”andhasvowedtogetridofit.

Suchanaimisadmirable,butthetoolof

choicehascomeinforcriticismfromaca­

demics,educatorsandparents.Earlierthis

yearthegovernmentbeganrollingouta

single nationalcurriculum (snc) forall

schools,includingmadrasas. Thissetof

minimumstandardsismeanttoimprove

thequalityofteachingandboostthepros­

pectsofpupils.Butitsambitionsarewider

still.Amongtheobjectiveslistedbythe

educationministryistoincrease“social

cohesionandnationalintegration”.

The newcurriculum hassofar been

rolledoutonlyinprimaryschools,butal­

readysomeofitsdictatesarecausinga

backlash.Thesnchasincreasedthenum­

berofsubjects,suchasgeneralknowledge,

whichmustusetextbooksinUrduorother

locallanguages rather than English. Mr

Khan,himselfanoldboyofAitchisonCol­

lege, the country’s most prestigious

school,makeshiscaseinpunchypost­co­

lonialterms.“WhenyouacquireEnglish­

mediumeducation,youadopttheentire

culture,”heargues,addingthat“yoube­

come[a]slavetothatparticularculture.”

Yettheresistancetothesnc’simposi­

tionoflocal­languagelearningisnotjust

anelitephenomenon.Therehavebeenre­

portsofschoolsunwillingtoimplementit.

AndthereishugedemandforEnglishfrom

parents  who  see  it  as  a  way  for  their  chil­

dren to stand out in the job market, accord­

ing  to  teachers.  Mariam  Chughtai,  the  di­

rector  of  the  national  council  drawing  up

the curriculum, says the aim is not to drop

English but to elevate  local  languages.

“Whenwethink ‘multilingual’,  we  think

French, German and  English.  But  when

yousaybilingualin Urdu and English, the

eliteslookdownupon  it,”  she  says.  Still,

“nooneisdenying the importance of Eng­

lish.It’sheretostay.”

A bigger complaint  is  that  conserva­

tivesareusingthe curriculum to increase

religiousteachingin schools. Rather than

turningmadrasasinto schools, it will turn

schoolsintomadrasas,  charge  critics.  In­

deed,theeducation ministry’s list of “key

considerations”in drawing up the curricu­

lumputstheteachings of the Koran at the

very top. Non­Muslims  need  not  take

classesonIslam,but  religious  content  is

seepingintoother subjects, such as Urdu­

languagelessonsthat include passages on

Muslim caliphs.The  government  argues

thatthereisnothing wrong with teaching

religionina religious country.

The thirdcriticism  may  be  the  most

pertinent. Pakistan’s  abysmal  learning

outcomesarenotso  much  the  result  of

contentasofaccess, says Jasir Shahbaz, an

educationalistinLahore.  A  new  curricu­

lumwilldolittleto  fix  that.  “The  issue  is

notsomuchwhatthe kids are studying, so

muchashowmany kids are actually study­

ing, orare actually  understanding  what

theyarestudying,” he says.

Thebattlesarelikely to intensify as old­

er pupilsstartthe  new  curriculum  next

year.MsChughtaisays it will take time for

resultstoshow.But the furore, she says, is

becausethechanges  affect  even  the  elite:

“Anytimeyoutryto  bring  a  major  policy

change,forthesmall  minority  ofpeople

for whom even the  broken  system was

working,theyaregoing to get scared.”n

I SLAMABAD

A new national curriculum sparks a

backlash in Pakistan

The write stuff 

PoliticsinMyanmar

How to get a

promotion

B

efore theBurmese  army  took  power

in a coup last February, Aung Naing Oo

was  a  well­spoken  civil  servant  widely

praised  for  spearheading  economic  re­

forms under the governments of Aung San

Suu Kyi, the country’s de facto leader until

the  coup,  and  her  predecessor.  When  the

army  took  over,  it  detained  senior  mem­

bers  of  Ms  Suu  Kyi’s  government.  Yet  Mr

Aung Naing Oo did not just remain free. He

was promoted by the junta to the role of in­

vestment minister. 

Once  a  darling  of  the  international

community, Mr Aung Naing Oo, an ex­mil­

itary  officer,  now  speaks  the  junta’s  lan­

guage.  He  recently  told  Reuters  that  for­

eign executives of Telenor, a Norwegian te­

lecoms firm, had been barred from leaving

the country because of the regime’s need to

meet  them  in  person.  Myanmar’s  current

economic crisis, he argued, was caused in

part by “sabotage” backed by foreign states. 

After previous coups, Myanmar’s gener­

als did not immediately invite civilians on­

to their ruling councils. This time is differ­

ent.  Several  civilians  sit  on  their  council,

and  in  their  caretaker  government,  too.

Nine of 28 cabinet ministers are civilians.

Six ministers were senior civil servants in

the  ousted  government,  suggesting  the

junta wants to project a sense of continu­

ity.  Eight  cabinet  members  served  under

the presidency of Thein Sein, an ex­general

who,  between  2011  and  2016,  created  a

“business­friendly but military­controlled

state”, which the junta seems to want to re­

create, write researchers at iseas, a think­

tank in Singapore.

Why  the  top  brass  has  included  civil­

ians  in  its  government  seems  clear.  Why

civilians would want to work for the gener­

als is less obvious. Some may not have had

“much of a choice when asked by the mili­

tary”, says Ye Salween, the pseudonym of a

Burmese  analyst  based  in  Yangon.  They

may  also  not  have  expected  the  coup  to

meet with the overwhelming public oppo­

sition that it did.

There are more petty reasons, too. Sev­

eral  ministers  hold  grudges  against  the

junta’s  arch­rival,  Ms  Suu  Kyi.  In  2019  she

reassigned  Mr  Aung  Naing  Oo  from  the

government’s  investment  agency,  which

he ran, to the investment ministry, making

him permanent secretary. This was widely

regarded  as  a  demotion—though  appar­

ently  not  by  Mr  Aung  Naing  Oo,  who  says

that  it  was  a  promotion  and  that  he  bears

YANGON

Some civilian politicians are working

for the murderous generals