Economic Crises
The warning bells have been ringing for the economy’s doom for some time now, but as the economic crisis worsens with the foreign exchange reserves depleting one has to ponder upon the consequences of “the economy in default.” The default refers to the state when the foreign exchange reserves, used for importing goods, have completely vanished. With Pakistan being a import reliant country and the international commodity prices increasing steadily after the covid pandemic, this will result in commodity prices increasing, shortages and hyperinflation. This has been further impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine that has sent economic shockwaves throughout the country.
Impacts of Economic Crises
One of the major areas that will be impacted as a result of this crisis is the education sector. This conclusion can be reached by drawing a parallel with Sri Lanka, a country going through a similar crisis. In Sri Lanka, they had to postpone the exams because of the lack of availability of paper and then the work week was shortened to 4 days a week and many schools shifted towards the online medium of education. But, we can already deduce from the online classes during covid where both the teachers and the students suffered equally as not a valid solution if the crisis continues to worsen. With the teachers lacking the formal training to operate latest technology and the students from far flung areas unable to access an active internet connection affected the quality of education being given to your youth.
A method of dealing with such a crisis is slashing government spending and incorporating austerity measures. We have already witnessed this with the Higher Education Commission’s budget being cut and this increased the tuition fees in schools and Universities alike. The increase in fuel prices have also increased the commuting cost for the students and this has also resulted in power cuts due to the shortfall in supply and demand of electricity. This will further increase the number of students out of school.
If the crisis is not averted, the education of the youth, who make up to sixty three percent of the overall population, will continue to suffer and will increase the disparity between our students and the global students in terms of quality of education and the skills attained.
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References:
Tribune
International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE)
TOLO News