SPOTLIGHT: What we need is leadership and 'each one teach one' programme!: Compulsory education or pie in the sky? Reality check first!

There were congratulations all round when the National Assembly followed the Senate and adopted last Tuesday the 'Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2012' which lays down that free and compulsory education will be made mandatory for all children aged 5 to 16 years on pain of a fine of Rs 50,000 and 3 months in prison for fathers who do not go along with the requirement, this being now a constitutional requirement, following insertion of Article 25-A under the 18th Amendment which also made education a provincial subject.
Though the Bill applies for now only to schools under the federal government and local government in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) (while all provincial governments are asked to follow suit) the difference between the objective and the reality on the ground is breathtaking!
THE DREAM VERSUS THE GROUND REALITY Consider Sindh for a start. At the end of nearly all five years of unbroken rule by the PPP-led coalition, primary and secondary education in the province is in shambles, with empty classrooms, falling apart walls, no water or electricity, no furniture and last but not the least, hundreds of schools with ghost teachers on payroll who turn up on the first of each month to collect their unearned pay only to disappear forthwith only to surface again on the first of the next month to collect another month's salary against no service rendered. Moreover the Sindh Minister under whom Education lies had also confessed recently about a number of "dead teachers" still drawing salaries there being no record with the department about their date of joining or of birth! Hundreds of empty and abandoned classrooms are in use though as cattle pens, bare living quarters and even as Autaqs (landlord's sitting rooms) according to some reports after provision of due furnishing with at least one which even had a dance floor. And we are now talking about compulsory and free primary and secondary education in a hurry!
Some dismal statistics In line with more of the same, look at some statistics pertaining to our literacy scene. According to statistics compiled by Pakistani as well as international organisations, as many as a third of the population in the 15 to 29 age bracket is illiterate. The number of out-of-school children now exceeds 7.2 million. Some 25 million children of school-going age are out of school. Pakistan now ranks almost at the bottom of the heap among the world's countries in these respects which is a shame because some two decades back we were not as bad as this. So the slide is inexorable. And no wonder! Statistical data shows that Pakistan spends no more than a miniscule 2 to 3 percent of its GDP on education as compared for example with 3 to 4 percent of its much larger GDP, allocated by India to education. Nearly 5 years' rule by PPP and its coalition partners have witnessed a total lack of attention to improvement of education, some glaring examples of this were cited above.
Chhotas at work Two other matters deserve serious attention in this connection. One, millions of illiterate children presently work across the country as helpers of mechanics, carpenters, shopkeepers, subsistence farmers (small land owners), rug makers, and so on and even as rag pickers.
They belong to families driven deeper and deeper below the poverty line thanks to the present corrupt governance and uncaring attitude of the rulers. And they are forced by circumstances to provide their families with vitally needed additional income and continue their toil despite low wages and exploitation by unscrupulous employers in most cases. If you arrest the parents for violation of the any legislation as envisaged in the said Article 25-A, that would be an absurdly cruel act. Without a level of prosperity in the country across the board the whole idea would be no more than a pipe dream. Failing that not only must the education provided be free as also the required books and the rest of the paraphernalia as envisaged, finance would also need to be earmarked to subsidise families deprived of vital income from their children's labour which would be no longer available once they start their "compulsory" studies.
Adult education Another matter which needs urgent attention is the illiterate state of millions of adults - construction labourers, factory workers, petty shopkeepers, carpenters, mechanics and so on who can hardly read and write. We cannot expect many of them to be conscious of the great need to educate their children even if they had the means. Many of them, I am sure would like an opportunity, to make themselves literate (in a rudimentary way), consistent with their ability to also continue to work at the same time because that is their livelihood. We therefore need to focus our thoughts, planning and efforts in this direction as well. Motivated adults would take much less time than children in getting to the basic literate level once a practical framework of study is made accessible for them.
An eye-opening example As a telling example of how education affects our lives let us take the case of two of the Indian States with the highest and lowest literacy rates in that country. Kerala the Southern-most state sits proudly at the top of the literacy table with almost 100 percent literacy rate whereas Bihar is at the bottom. Two social indicators demonstrate the impact literacy has on the lives of people in the respective states. Life expectancy at birth is 73 percent in Kerala, and 65 percent in Bihar, infant mortality per 1,000 live births stands at 10 in Kerala versus as much as 61 in Bihar, and death rate per 1,000 people is 6.4 in Kerala and 7.9 in Bihar. No doubt a high literacy rate would lead to a more positive life environment in several other ways as well.
Each one teach one! What we really need to be able to leap into the literacy age and more is to galvanise common people to come up with a major effort to enable Pakistan to reach the status of a truly literate nation in the shortest possible time. It has been done (see the Kerala example) and our people are dynamic enough to do the same given the right leadership. How will the people be galvanised into taking up the mission to achieve the seemingly "impossible"? Who will galvanise them? A dynamic and dedicated leader, of course! I can imagine (at least hope and pray for) a scene in which such an inspired leader would come on TV screens of the nation, chalk in hand, blackboard in front, launch a whirlwind literacy movement with the slogan "Each One Teach One", inspire the nation to form a volunteer army, each member of which would resolve to teach at least one person the basics of reading and writing within the shortest possible time, get the state apparatus to provide the necessary basic material (simple first level primers and simple, easy to follow teaching instructions, a "train the teachers" program and so on) on a crash basis and motivate linguists to design suitable programs on TV screens to supplement the literacy drive in other forums. Tall order at the moment? ([email protected])