Poverty is found in different shapes and sizes in the country. Not many families can eat meat even a few times in a month or for that matter enjoy the cheapest of fruits like apple or orange while the better placed in life not only enjoy these simple offerings but have a hard time deciding what will be their menu each day.
Will it be steak or Pizza or why not just go out to a fancy restaurant to try some new Italian or French cuisine recently introduced in the city. With the advent of home delivery services those who can afford can have all the dining facilities delivered to their doorstep and as you can see on our roads the delivery boys are having busy days zig-zagging in and out with boxes of goodies for which hungry mouths are waiting impatiently. The unevenness and depravity on one side and availability on the other is also evident in other fields. Let us consider education for a while.
The difference in availability of education is far greater than just steak and lentils for the ordinary person. According to available figures, Pakistan’s literacy rates range from 96% in Islamabad to 23% in the Torghar District.
Surprisingly, in the tribal areas the females are discouraged so their literacy rate is only 9.5%. I say surprisingly because the general impression is that tribal people are fiercely religious and our religion lays great emphasis on education urging people to acquire education even if they have to go to China for it. China at the time was considered a far away post so the general idea was that no matter what the hardships one must be educated and literate. In other parts of the country the situation is also alarming.
According to UNICEF, currently, Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children with an estimated 22.8 million children aged 5-16 not attending school, representing 44 per cent of the total population in this age group. Nearly 10.7 million boys and 8.6 million girls are enrolled at the primary level and these numbers drop to 3.6million boys and 2.8 million girls at the lower secondary level.
So where do these children disappear if they are not going to school? The UNICEF report does not say but I will tell you. Well, the girls are at this age inducted as house servants and most of the boys start working at menial jobs sometimes accompanying their father to his place of work where after persistent persuasion the owner inducts the young person who will now never aspire to be educated but will try to be the best mechanic without any formal education. The more ambitious try their hands at street crimes and eventually get shot or lynched by mobs.
It is not that most of these parents would shy away from educating their children. I know some middle class parents whose child goes to school but every month it is a mission impossible to pay his or her fees. Schools are limited and good schools cost much more than these parents can afford. I know for a fact that one of the boys in such a school was made to stand out in blistering sun for hours as punishment because he could not pay his fees on time.
It was only after some friends got together and pooled in their resources that the kid was allowed back in class. There have been some suggestions of making parents’ bodies of the better placed in life at such schools situated in poor neighborhoods who will gather enough funds to pay off fees for the less fortunate in schools where their own wards are being educated.
I myself am a little surprised that a school situated in a lower middle class locality is allowed to charge such high fees but than one must also understand the ever-rising costs being faced by schools. The long and short of this story is that there are hardly any villains. Only people trapped in circumstances beyond their control. A typical situation ready for a Thomas Hardy’s novel.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024