Abstract
The COVID-19 outbreak has prevented students from contributing towards the economic growth of Pakistan. It first disrupted the education system in China and later entered Pakistan to close all levels of educational institutions/sectors since the middle of March 2020. This study aims to highlight the COVID-19 outbreak's effects on educational sector in Pakistan. Pakistan's overall public sector expenditure as a percentage of GDP before the pandemic was already low as compared to regional level, but due to the pandemic, it has dropped down significantly. This study seeks to answer two important questions: (1) What are the impacts of COVID-19 outbreak on Pakistan? (2) Will the closure of educational institutions impact the economic growth of Pakistan? According to empirical and theoretical findings, the results show that the lack of school education for a long period of time will contribute towards unskilled human capital. The COVID-19 outbreak has impacted student learning activities, which may increase the dropout rates, loss of mental health, and consequently, may impact the economic growth of Pakistan later.
TopAn Overview Of Pandemics
Human history has recorded numerous epidemics including smallpox, cholera, dengue, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), influenza, respiratory infections severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), West Nile disease, and tuberculosis. The flu pandemic is an unpredictable but repetitive event that can have serious consequences for communities around the world. The flu epidemic has hit nearly three times every century since the 1500s, or almost every 10-50 years. In the 20th century, there were three pandemics called the “Spanish flu” in 1918-1919, the “Asian flu” in 1957-1958, and the “Hong Kong flu” in 1968-1969. (Covid-19 and Children, 2020). Each pandemic affected human life and economic development. Recently, the origin of this catastrophic Covid-19 outbreak (Cov-19OB) first froze social mobility in Wuhan city in Hubei Province of China and the rest of the world. In December 2019, patients were reported with clinical features resembling viral pneumonia (Huang et al., 2020). Chinese researchers named initially as nCoV, but the International Committee on Taxonomy of Virus called it as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). World Health Organization (WHO) on the same day named pneumonia as Covid-19. Later, WHO declared Covid-19 as the Sixth Public Health of Emergency Service (SPHEC) on January 30, 2020. China’s bordering countries such as Pakistan with the first infected case was detected on February 26, 2020, in the city of Karachi, Sindh Province. The estimated population of Karachi is 204.65 million. The virus easily swept across the country and has currently become an epidemic (Abid, 2020). The total number of confirmed cases indicates in Figures 1 and 2 which shows that the virus multiplied more from April 2020 to July 2, 2020 (ZME Science, 2020).
Figure 2. Total fatalities reported per day
Key Terms in this Chapter
International Monetary Fund (IMF): The international financial institution, based in Washington, DC, with 190 countries working to promote global financial cohesion, safeguard financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce global poverty while from time to time depending on the World Bank for its resources.
Economic Growth (EG): Economic growth is the increase in the production of economic goods and services, compared to one period to another. It can be measured by design or actual terms (set of monetary values).
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF): Promotes the rights and well-being of all children. In partnership with its partners, it is working in 190 countries and territories to translate this commitment into action, with a special focus on reaching the most vulnerable and marginalized children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP): It is the total value or market value of all completed goods and services produced within national borders over a period of time. As a comprehensive measure of a complete domestic product, it serves as a complete credit card for the economic life of a particular country.
Higher Education Commission (HEC): A legal entity established by the government of Pakistan. Its main functions are funding, administration, control, and accreditation of higher education institutions in the country. The commission is responsible for developing higher education policy and quality assurance to meet international standards and to provide accredited educational qualifications, development of new institutions and promotion of existing institutions in Pakistan.
Human Development Indicator (HDI): It is integrated indicator of lifetime statistics, education (literacy rate, total enrollment at various levels and attendance), and individual indicators, which are used to rank countries into four categories of people.
United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO): It was born on 16 November 1945. UNESCO has 195 members and 8 Joint Members and is governed by the General Conference and the Executive Board. The Secretariat, headed by the Director-General, implements the decisions of the two organizations. The organization has more than 50 offices worldwide and is headquartered in Paris.
COVID-19 Outbreak (Cov-19OB): It is also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by (SARS-CoV-2).
World Health Organization (WHO): The United Nations special public body dedicated to public health worldwide.