Waseela-e-Taleem in Pakistan - showing how education is an example of a merit good

I'm sure you don't have any problems convincing your students that education is a merit good/service. Every so often, however, it may be difficult for young people in the UK, aspirational and aiming high, to see how their own learning impacts so positively upon the wider society. Although we constantly debate the quality of education in the UK and strive to improve, many young people will take opportunities to access schools and colleges for granted - perhaps arguing about local differences and the cost of higher education but rarely about actual access to basic education. With such relatively high levels of literacy and numeracy amongst British youngsters it is difficult for them to imagine a society where this is not the norm. The Waseela-e-Taleem initiative in Pakistan, however, could prove a useful example of how government intervention into education is about more than just the structure of assessment and paying teachers - but a country's drive to improve access to basic education and shift its economic as well its political and sociological prospects.

The Waseela-e-Taleem scheme, coming in the wake of recent tragic events surrounding the shooting of 14 year old Malala Yousafzai for standing up for the right for access to education of young girls in Pakistan, hopes to offer financial incentives to poorer families to encourage them to send their children to schools. The hope is to increase the number of children attending primary schools to 3 million.

The questions I would be asking my students here is why would parents feel that sending their children to school does not have sufficient benefit currently? Why is the Pakistani government so keen for this programme to work and for poorer children to get a basic education. Why might this government intervention fail? Why would President Zardari of Pakistan say that he believes that ignorance and poverty go hand-in-hand?

Further information about this story can be obtained from this article from International News based in Pakistan.