EDITORIAL: In yet another pledge to improve the state of education in the country and to increase its literacy rate, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif marked International Literacy Day on September 8 by promising to prioritise the provision of “quality education to all children of school-going age”.
In a similar vein, President Asif Ali Zardari also underscored the need for every Pakistani to have the opportunity to learn and contribute to the fostering of a more prosperous nation. Both leaders went on to underscore the urgent need to enroll Pakistan’s 26 million out-of-school children and referenced the education emergency declared by the government back in May to address the growing education crisis.
It goes without saying that the alarming state of Pakistan’s education sector has long been a ticking time bomb that threatens to jeopardise the future prospects of countless children and the country’s overall development. On the one hand we have leaders who cannot stop waxing lyrical about the importance of education and literacy and, on the other, are the harrowing facts on the ground.
From creaking school infrastructure, where even basic amenities like electricity, toilets and boundary walls are often missing, to an inadequate number of qualified teachers and the lack of budgetary allocations for this vital sphere, our education system bears all the hallmarks of dysfunctionality, resulting in persistently low enrolment and high dropout figures, and also contributing to our dismal literacy rate of 62 percent.
The grim picture painted by the 2023 population census further confirms the decaying state of education as it shows that 20 million children have never even stepped inside a school, and more than 5.3 million dropped out at some stage.
In his September 8 statement, the prime minister was at pains to point to the various measures his government has taken to increase enrolment levels. However, it is clear that the authorities still have not come to grips with the systemic shortcomings and regional disparities afflicting the sector.
An apt example here is of Balochistan where the provincial education department has revealed that around 3,694 schools in its 35 districts have been forced to shut down due to a severe shortage of teachers. Belying all proclamations of education emergencies, it was further revealed that around 542 of these schools were closed down after the current government assumed power.
Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti’s hometown of Dera Bugti itself has 13 schools that remain closed due to the absence of academic staff. A lack of qualified teachers on the payrolls isn’t the only problem afflicting the state of education in the province.
As has been noted in this space before, the Pakistan Education Statistics 2021-22 report published earlier in the year had revealed that only 15 percent of schools in Balochistan have electricity connections, while just 23 percent have access to drinking water and a mere one-third have toilets. While the state of school infrastructure is significantly more worrisome in Balochistan, countless schools in other provinces are also similarly afflicted, explaining to a great degree why enrolment levels persistently remain in the doldrums.
The government’s initiatives in recent months to provide scholarships and cash transfers to students belonging to low-income backgrounds are welcome, but there is also a very obvious need to upgrade school infrastructure, as well as to ensure that adequate numbers of qualified teachers are employed in institutions all over the country. This necessitates enhancing education budgets at both the federal and provincial levels.
Moreover, it would be equally crucial to address more deep-seated issues, including poverty and cultural barriers, with the ultimate goal being to get more children into schools and impart them with the learning and skills necessary for future success.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024