Energy efficiency is a key milestone for the socioeconomic development of any country. Pakistan being a developing country has been facing energy issues for decades and this has hampered Pakistan’s social, economic and educational growth in a great way.
Energy load shedding slows down the life of society as a whole whether it is mechanical or intellectual going forward. The energy crisis in Pakistan has impacted every sector of the country during the past two decades, but the growing population and increasing demand for gas and electricity production could not match the race in recent years. Industries are closing down due unavailability of gas and electricity; economic growth has decreased significantly.
Economic Outlook of Pakistan – Energy Crisis
Pakistan is mainly dependent on other countries for energy production. Pakistani rupee’s devaluation against the US dollar impacts the import bill and results in a further hike in energy prices in Pakistan. Pakistan mainly relies on LNG being imported from Qatar and other countries. According to the Pakistan Economic Survey, 2021-22 government has introduced different policies to ensure the smooth supply of energy to the general public and to boost economic growth.
One of the most iconic policies of the government, “The National Power Policy 2013”, aimed to develop an efficient and consumer-centric power generation, transmission and distribution system that could meet the people’s needs and boost the country’s economy in a sustainable and affordable manner.
Educational Saga during Energy Crisis in Pakistan – A Gloomy Panorama
Where every sector is greatly impacted by this energy crisis, the education sector is no exception which is most crucial for national growth trajectory. The swamp of the energy crisis wells up drastically and puts every sector in awe – silencing budding educational projects in Pakistan but sadly we hardly see any fruitful communication from public or private education stakeholders to highlight and mitigate the impact of the energy crisis on the education sector.
Due to the ripple effect of the crisis, recruitment in the educational sector has been stopped because the national exchequer is bleeding heavily. New construction projects approved for educational institutions are put on hold because the provincial governments are hardly grappling with staggering inflation. Moreover, an immediate surge in commodity prices has fueled tuition fee in private schools and colleges – making quality education inaccessible for rising talent.
“The educational sector could not be hurt if the educational infrastructure had a reliable foundation” That’s why we will shed some light on the existing educational infrastructure of Pakistan to better comprehend the vulnerability of the education system against surging energy crisis in Pakistan.
Educational Infrastructure of Pakistan in 2022
Pakistan’s public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP is estimated at 1.7 percent in the fiscal year 2021-22 against 1.9 per cent for the last fiscal year, which is the lowest in the region.
According to the ministry of federal education Pakistan, the current literacy rate of Pakistan is 62.3 which means that an estimated population of 60 million is illiterate in the country.
Remarkable Statements of Zaigham Naqvi
While discussing the energy crisis and its impact on the education sector in Pakistan, Zaigham Naqvi, a senior journalist and president Federal Education Reporters Association from Express News Pakistan said that the main reason behind not achieving the desired results in energy efficiency is the lack of long-term policies.
Especially when we discuss the impact of energy deficiency in terms of educational institutions, the situation is grave and hampering the growth of this all-important sector. We see a lack of political will to solve this issue.
COVID-19 just helped the government when the whole world gets an opportunity to go into energy-saving mode due to work-from-home policies and that was the moment when the government of Pakistan could do more towards a future approach to help educational institutors from possible energy but unfortunately, nothing has been done.
The world is moving towards cheaper and green energy solutions and Pakistan is still majorly relying on traditional energy sources and old infrastructure. He further stated that government has to invest in infrastructure development to decrease the ratio of losses.
“The key issue is a huge first-time investment and the growing cost of infrastructure deployment due to the upward trend of the dollar against the Pakistani rupee”.
Bottlenecks for Effective Handling of the Energy Crisis and its impact on students
Commenting about the issues being faced by the students and faculty, Saima Gul, visiting assistant Professor at International Islamic University Islamabad, said that the energy crisis has affected the performance of students, academicians, and the education sector as a whole.
I have seen media stories about how children went unconscious due to power failures in schools, especially in smaller cities or villages, the situation is grave, she added.
Ms. Saima believes that Pakistan’s worsening energy crisis has already done damage and is continuously doing so while this will increase the school drop-out rate at alarming levels. It was too difficult for teachers and students alike to continue studying with power load shedding.
Particularly, for those students who were living in remote or rural areas, it became a challenge to attend the online lectures, and other activities because of electricity and connectivity failures.
When physical conduct of the classes without an air conditioner or even a fan in the scorching heat of summer is almost impossible, then how a student will join an online class if he or she will be unable to charge the electronic devices in the absence of energy sources.
This situation has severely impacted the quality of education as students are not well-focused and do not have peace of mind also.
I believe that mental and psychological health is more important for students and restless nights and days due to load-shedding issues have greatly impacted the students’ life.
I have witnessed students tired and sleepy in classrooms and exams also. Poor performance in studies due to such circumstances will impact the psychological well-being of the student and that will affect his/her social life also.
Shallow Trenches in Communication Channels – A Far Cry from Rural Areas
The Ministry of education, telecommunication, and home affairs in Pakistan has no close coordination on the matters of educational uplifting of the mounting illiterate population. A plethora of issues circulating on social media platforms does not get coverage on national television despite their inevitable significance.
Puzzling hierarchies of educational policy and curriculum design are so complex for lower strata of stakeholders to understand and report pinching issues in the pedagogical practices.
Severe lack of communication among the triangle of teachers, policymakers and guardians has neglected to real-time problems of the students in these alarming times of energy crisis when everything is in hot water.
Combating Strategy for Pakistani Government and communication teams of the education sector to Outwrestle Energy Crisis
The government needs to come up with subsidies or special tax waivers for the green energy industry so that the prices can come down and a special subsidy for the educational sector to get solar set up will also help a lot.
We have seen the government ding special projects for individual students like Laptop schemes etc, but now is the time to be more creative with helpings solutions, governments at the federal and provincial levels can offer special loans for a student to buy a solar system for one person that will help a student to study even during load shedding hours.
Any possible solution being faced by any sector can only be initiated once it’s highlighted through the media and then policymakers give the issue its due importance. However, Mr. Naqvi believes that the situation is very unfortunate and this is the most neglected area by the PR and communication teams of the education sector in Pakistan.
We never see any specially designed campaign on the negative effects of the energy crisis on education launched by any educational institute to sensitize the media and policymakers on this matter, he added.
Mr. Naqvi said that Pakistan is doing well in the education sector for the last few years and the private sector has contributed a lot in this regard. But if Pakistan needs to achieve a high literacy rate to grow as a nation, then the government has to come up with sustainable long-term policies specifically for cost reduction and cutting-edge solutions.
Subsidized electricity, easy smart loans for energy infrastructure development for private educational institutions, or at least an uninterrupted power supply to the education sector can help. This will not only help achieve education growth but will produce great talent across Pakistan in cities, towns, and villages.
Stakeholders to Joining Hands on Defeating Energy Crisis at Educational Fronts
Political instability is another reason behind the lack of long-term policy making and Pakistan, unfortunately, could not achieve political stability since 1947. Policies are being formulated and then poor implementation becomes another issue where we see a lack of political will toward solving national issues. The young population is considered to be the driver of sustainable growth.
According to UNDP National Human development report 2020, Pakistan is not just a young country; it is going to remain young into the 2040s. Pakistan’s burgeoning youth population comprising young people between 15 and 29 years old – will be a potentially vital factor in accelerating the pace of economic growth. The report suggests a cohesive policy is essential to address youth development as a cross-sectorial issue.
Pakistan’s educational statistics are already not very charming while any further dent in educational growth due to energy issues and lack of proper policy to help the young population will cause a huge loss to future generations.
The education sector has to take the lead to survive and bring some innovative communication campaigns to sensitize policy matters and relevant stakeholders in this regard. Media can only help if the education sector takes lead otherwise media has many other issues which divert media’s attention towards ongoing political drama.