The international support generated by Swat girl Malala's fight for girls' right to education has spurred the Federal government into action. At a special ceremony held in Islamabad to mark the UN declared Global Action Day for Malala Yousufzai, President Asif Ali Zardari announced, in the presence of UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown, a four-year literacy programme, Waseela-e-Taleem, to provide free education to three million children, especially girls from poor families.
He also urged provincial governments to become partners in the programme and ensure that each and every child was enrolled in schools, adding that failure was not an option. These are fine words, but the programme seems to be aimed more at earning political mileage than to bring about real change since it is to be pursued as part of the Benazir Income Support Programme and also because fee is not the real issue hindering the spread of literacy.
The idea of free school education is not new. Article 25-A of the Constitution stipulates that " the state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law." Nonetheless, in the PPP-ruled Sindh and Balochistan, provincial governments have little to show for their efforts towards popularisation of education. The situation in the largest Punjab province is better though still far short of the UN Millennium Development Goals of providing Education to all. Under the 'Parha Likha Punjab' mass literacy programme introduced by the previous government with the help of Asian Development Bank, and continued by the present one using a different name, not only fees have been waived, the government also provides books, even uniforms to deserving students. The Sharif government has put in place other projects as well to encourage students from underprivileged backgrounds to acquire education at all levels. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government too has made considerable headway, despite the law and order situation, in raising school enrolment. The magnitude of the problem calls for concerted and consistent efforts for the achievement of the desired goal.
Fees in government schools, where charged, are already nominal. The more serious issue is that there are not enough schools to meet the requirements of a fast growing population. A further aggravating factor, especially in rural areas, is the lack of basic facilities such as electricity, drinking water, boundary walls, and latrines. In a warm climate country like Pakistan's if sitting long hours in classrooms - in many instances, set-up in open areas under trees - without fans and drinking water serves as a disincentive for all children, a further deterrent for girls is the absence of latrines and the security of boundary walls. Then there is also the issue of teacher absenteeism caused by bad working conditions as well as poor administrative control. The conditions being what they are free enrolment programme is not going to make much of a difference. The focus ought to be on increasing the number of schools and improving infrastructure and administrative control. Further more all this will require substantial funds. Unfortunately, however, education has always been a low priority item in budgetary allocations. In fact, a while ago the Federal government reduced the HEC's funding for universities, eliciting angry protests from vice chancellors of various public-sector universities. The spotlight on the Malala case has created an exceptional opportunity for betterment. During his meeting with President Zardari the UN Envoy for Education said that the international community was ready to support Pakistan in its efforts to tackle poverty and ensure all children, especially girls, could go to school. It is up to the government now to make good use of that support.