[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# Approaching the Enrollment Problem in South Punjab Through Systems Thinking

Bilal M, 2016, Cornell Policy Review — Public Policy

Patterns: [Perspectives](https://dsrpevidence.org/pattern/perspectives)

## In short

A student application of DSRP, from the Cornell Policy Review systems thinking special issues.

## What they found (results)

The problem persists because government and parents hold different mental models — development goals and public achievement on one side, school quality and economic payoff on the other — and any viable solution must consider both.

## What they set out to do (purpose)

A Cornell Policy Review piece applying systems thinking to the 1.2 million children aged five to nine who are out of school in Punjab, Pakistan.

## Abstract

Systems thinking is an approach to solve complex problems. The simple rules of systems thinking are making distinctions, organizing systems of part and whole, recognizing relationships, and taking multiple perspectives to break down complex problems. One such problem is that 1.2 million children aged five to nine are not attending schools in Punjab, and the government has been unable to reduce this number. I am approaching this problem differently using systems thinking through the deconstruction of both the government's and parents' mental models. The government wants to send children to school to achieve millennium development goals, show achievement to the general public, reduce religious extremism, and improve human capital. A parent's enrollment decision is based on the quality of the school and the resultant economic achievement of the student after education. Previous work done by the Punjabi government has only considered a singular mental model. Systems thinking tools reveal that the issue persists because of the difference in the government's and parents' mental models and, consequently, any viable solution must consider both viewpoints.

These researchers were not testing DSRP. The finding is theirs; the correspondence to DSRP is drawn by this site.

[Source](https://www.cornellpolicyreview.com/approaching-the-enrollment-problem-in-south-punjab-through-systems-thinking/)