PRIME Minister Gilani's admission that the nationalization of schools and colleges in the early 1970s by the PPP`s founder, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was a mistake is likely to revive debate on the topic. In real terms, the policy has effectively been rolled back over the past couple of decades and now private schools and colleges proliferate across the country. But the prime minister`s assertion is nevertheless important for two reasons: one, because reflection on policy issues is a much-needed quality that political parties rarely display; and two, because the wider state of education in Pakistan continues to remain dismal and requires serious attention, said the Dawn in an editorial published Monday. Excerpts: The wave of nationalization across Pakistan under Mr. Bhutto – everything from banks to heavy industries to education – occurred in the context of an international lurch towards left-wing politics. It was fashionable, it was simplistic and it proved thoroughly ill-advised. The motivation behind nationalizing the education sector was laudable – free education for all –but it ended up destroying quality institutions while creating a new avenue for corruption (`ghost schools`, for example). Benazir Bhutto appeared to understand the need to reverse many of her father`s policies and used her periods in power to embrace the neo-liberal paradigm: deregulation and privatization. But while such shifts in national economic and social policy have had profound effects on citizens, there has been little debate on these matters. In part this is perhaps because of the personality-driven politics of Pakistan, where criticizing a party leader, former or present, is considered sacrilege. Mr. Bhutto`s policy choices in the 1970s continue to impact the economy and society in many ways today. If poor choices were once made, not being able to call a spade a spade, or a mistake a mistake, compounds the negative effects of those choices. __
