Educated leaders are necessary for the country’s prosperity, growth and bright future
NAWABSHAH: In Pakistan, management systems, especially government ministries and departments, are headed by politicians. Although most of them are educated and are well-versed in administration, there are several others who are under-educated or even uneducated. The irony is that they control the bureaucracy manned by Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) officers, who are highly qualified and get selected only after a rigorous selection process that is conducted by the Federal Public Service Commission. These officers are from various faculties, including the humanities, science, the arts as well as engineering and medicine. There are many officers who come from the elite Pakistani institutes of technology and the Pakistani Institute of Management. They undergo thorough training and probation periods upon joining service.
In comparison, ministers are rarely highly qualified. At most, they may be graduates in some cases. Invariably, they are inadequately educated to handle the department and the officers who work under them. There are examples where in spite of this, a minister may have administrative acumen and can run the ministry efficiently but there are not many such instances. The situation arises wherein the ill-equipped minister faces a challenge in grasping a complex issue. The minister may have to rely heavily on the babudom. He may feel crippled without their assistance and face hurdles in taking a decision. At the same time, the highly educated officer may feel awkward to take instruction from the uneducated or under-qualified minister and it may be a hindrance in the way of day-to-day functioning. The bureaucrats do not even have courage to oppose the decisions of politicians and they are like toothless tigers in front of politicians.
The bitter truth is that in our country, politicians are very powerful people. Bureaucrats are like puppets in the hands of politicians. If a bureaucrat raises his voice against a politician, then he is transferred immediately or kept waiting for a posting. We may find a number of senior and competent bureaucrats awaiting posting for years. The question which arises from this system is: aren’t there enough well-educated people in this nation of more than 180 million people, who can efficiently govern the ministries across the provinces and at the centre? Isn’t there any way out from always electing candidates with little or no qualification at all who are responsible for the present condition of the country in several ways?
Educated leaders are necessary for the country’s prosperity, growth and bright future, but one can’t arrive at the conclusion that graduation has to be the sole criterion for selecting a candidate by political parties. Yes, education will certainly help understand issues and analyse the same for making a decision, but again, a lot depends on the inclination of the minister concerned to make the right one.
Ahmed Shad Umrani
Published in The Express Tribune, July 16th, 2016.
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