Under Representation of Sindhis in Civil Services: The Role of Horizontal and Educational Inequalities

The fair participation and adequate representation of ethnic groups in the Civil Services promotes national integrity and social cohesion. However, in Pakistan, the Sindhi ethnic group has been under-represented in the Civil Services. This historical under-representation of Sindhis in the superior civil services, together with unequal allocation of budgets, less access to high-quality education and decent employment, insufficient recognition of the Sindhi language, Sindhi-Mohajir mistrust and cultural dissolution are the grievances that Sindh is perceive to have against the Federal Government, which is dominated by the Punjabi ethnic group. This thesis argues that the under-representation of Sindh is in the Pakistani Civil Services is due to the poor quality of education, and preferential nepotism by bureaucratic sections at federal level. The quota system provides for representation to the provinces, if inhabitants are able to effectively take advantage of the opportunities. However, disparities in the quality of education among ethnic groups and provinces cause discontentment and dejection amongst various ethnicities in the federation. Sindh province consists of the Sindhi-speaking ethnic group, Sindh is, residing largely in rural areas, along with the migrant Urdu-speaking ethnic group, Mohajirs, who settled in urban areas and have a major stake in the economic activities of the province. The inept educational system in rural Sindh, featuring traditional pedagogy, ghost schools, un-trained or poorly trained teachers compared to other provinces in the Federation of Pakistan, leaves Sindhis ill-prepared for Competitive Examinations. The main concern of this thesis, is thus to analyse the role of education in the creation and maintenance of inequalities among provinces/ethnic groups. Quantitative and qualitative research was carried out with stakeholders in order to understand the role of educational inequality in creating differences amongst the ethnic groups, placing the national integrity at stake. The inequalities between culturally defined groups – Horizontal Inequalities, an idea developed by Frances Stewart (2002), is employed here to analyse the role of educational disparities in creating inequalities, which is promoting social outrage and separatist tendencies against the Federation of Pakistan.