According to the constitution of Pakistan, the state is responsible to provide free and compulsory education to children of five to sixteen years of age (Hussain, 2015). After the 18th amendment, the responsibility rests on provincial governments except for three areas where the federal government is supposed to work on namely curriculum planning and development, policy-making, and collaborating with other national and international funding agencies to arrange for funds. Ashfaq, Dahar, and Malik (2018) define the term administration as a tool to carry out the managerial functions of an organization. It is a way to operate the system in an organization smoothly and efficiently.
The functions of educational administration is to plan, direct, control, and coordinate within the educational setting in school or district to ensure the activities are smoothly conducted. However, in Pakistan, it has been observed that administrative problems persist in public sectors schools. An analysis of the local research studies conducted in Pakistan about the administrative problems of public sector secondary schools of Pakistan revealed that political interference, lack of infrastructure, recruitment processes, lack of coordination among the administrative structural bodies, pressure groups and so on are some of the issues heightened.
Ashfaq, Dahar, and Malik (2018) conducted a descriptive survey study
regarding administrative problems and found that the teachers’ transfers
are done untimely and frequently without any solid justification. Some
political groups interfere in teacher transfer/postings due to which schools
suffer from administrative problems. Similarly, Ahmed et al (2013) revealed in
their study that teachers are transferred on nepotism and favoritism. Such type
of untimely and unnecessary transfers creates problems for the smooth conduction of
school activities. However, Iqbal (2012) conducted a study comparing private
and public sector schools where many other issues were explored but teachers’
transfers were not a highlighted problem.
Recruitments in the public sector
secondary schools are on a political basis due to which the quality in
education cannot be ensured because of the incompetent teachers being appointed
(Hussain, 2015). Likewise, Ahmed et al (2013) found the same problem of
recruitment of the teachers through political pressures which creates problems
for the administration to run the school effectively.
Regarding the infrastructure, Iqbal (2012) found that due lack of funds for providing sufficient space for a huge number of students is challenging. The existing infrastructure is not sufficient as the laboratories for separate science subjects are not available. In contrary to it, Hussain (2015) found that in schools the existing physical facilities like the building is not efficiently utilized. Lack of competency of administrative staff is a problem to effectively manage to utilize the space available in public sector schools in some parts of the country. On the other, Ashfaq, Dahar, and Malik (2018) showed no findings in this regard. Ahmed et al (2013) indicated the lack of physical facilities such as availability of well-equipped libraries, insufficient classrooms for a large number of students, lack of sports facilities, and so on are missing from various public sector secondary schools.
The parental pressure regarding the promotion of students has been
indicated by Ashfaq, Dahar, and Malik (2018) in their findings. They
reported that the behavior of the parents in this regard is harsh and they
unnecessarily criticize teachers while showing a lack of trust in teachers during the examination and compiling results. Unlikely, other studies did not indicate
such type of issue in their studies. However, Ahmed et al (2013) reported the
there is a lack of professional development opportunities for teachers due to
which problems are observed in carrying out professional activities among the
teachers. This may be linked with the assessment procedures which are not
aligned with the needs of the students and demands of the society. It can be
inferred that only traditional ways of evaluating students’ performance may
arise questions among the parents.
Ahmed et al (2013) found that there is a lack of coordination and
supervisory services buy the structural administrative bodies. They shared that
the bureaucratic approach of high and middle-level positions holding officers
of administrative structure seemed to be invisible in visiting schools so that
they could carry out coordinating and supervisory roles effectively.
Resultantly, administrative problems such as missing facilities could be brought
into their notice so that the problem could have been possible to address.
There are no mechanisms of check and balance systems in schools. Hussain (2015) found a different picture of
coordination within the schools as he reported that there is a shortage of
teachers, teacher absenteeism is common practice and there is a lack of
friendly environment among the teaching and non-teaching staff members in
schools.
Administrative services in schools play an important role in school improvement. In the case of public sector secondary schools, some highlighted problems such as lack of coordination between supervisory staff and teaching staff, missing physical facilities, lack of funds, traditional practices of evaluation procedures are hindrances in improving public sector schools. The public sector secondary schools can be improved while putting efforts and energies through ensuring proper utilization of allocated funds, teachers' professional development opportunities, improved coordination, and supervisory services, developing parental trust in teachers and schools. In short, all the stakeholders need to play their due role in addressing the administrative problem in public secondary schools in Pakistan.
References
Ahmed, et al (2013). Problems of Government Secondary School System
in Pakistan: Critical
Analysis
of Literature and Finding a Way Forward. International journal of academic
research in business and social sciences, 3(2), 85-96. Retrieved August 23,
2018 from http://www.hrmars.com/admin/pics/1549.pdf
Ashfaq, M. S., Dahar, M. A., & Malik, A. M. (2018). Administrative problems of headteachers
at secondary schools level in Pakistan. International journal of advanced research, 6(5), 1155-1168. Retrieved August 24, 2018, from http://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/7141
Hussain, H. (2015). Education system of Pakistan: Issues, problems, and solutions. Retrieved
August 22, 2018, from http://www.ipripak.org/education-system-of-pakistan-issues-problems-and-solutions/
Iqbal, M. (2012). Public versus private secondary schools: a
qualitative comparison. Journal of
research
and reflections in education, 6(1), 40 -49.
Retrieved August 21, 2018, from http://www.ue.edu.pk/journal.asp
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