Pakistan is one of the few countries where basic sectors such as food, health and education are rife with destitution and no one is paying attention to it. If we focus solely on education, as per the statistics of five years ago, the number of children out of school was around 22 million, while now it has exceeded 26 million. This situation is a matter of concern for the federal and provincial governments, especially for those political parties who, before coming to power, raised the slogan of making education public, claim to provide free health and education across the country and promised employment to the unemployed educated youth. Still, after coming to power, they do nothing and all the claims are left in the heap.
Every developed country in the world perceives the importance of education. Free education is mandatory in public schools, and it is compulsory to bring children to school, but in Pakistan, no special attention is paid to this; promises and claims are made here, but the reality is quite the opposite; nothing is spent on education in the budget, nor are children brought to school for education. According to a report prepared by the Pakistan Institute of Education, a subsidiary of the Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with UNESCO, 11 million children in Punjab, 7.6 million in Sindh, 3.6 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 3.13 million in Balochistan while 80,000 children in the federal capital Islamabad are deprived of going to school but no one is concerned here, nor is anyone turning a deaf year to them.
IT Ministry lauds role of SIFC for increasing FDI in country The promotion of education has not been a priority under any government in Pakistan, everyone has been subordinated to their interests. If someone sees interest, a little more is done otherwise, everything continues as it is. During the Muslim League (N) period, there has been a lot of talk about Danish Schools, while during the Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, bringing children to school with a uniform-free curriculum has also been widely discussed. But the results of all these are in front of everyone in the form of 26.2 million out-of-school children (OOSC). These figures should be eye-opening for the rulers but everyone has closed their eyes and put on a blanket of indifference here.
This is a clear proof of such indifference that all the technical sectors including education are entrusted to such bureaucrats whose ambitious vision is only for their privileges. They sink the raft of one department for some time and then they move towards the other. Ever since the 18th amendment, the Federal Ministry of Education, the Federal and Provincial HEC have been consuming billions of rupees illicitly while their output is not significant. This can be inferred from the lack of funding for research and other academic activities. On the other hand, even when funds are received, the heads of educational institutions prioritize spending on themselves over investing in research and researchers. For a long time, the World Bank has been advocating that the federal government devolve the education and health departments to the provinces and even after devolution of power to the provinces, still the bureaucracy and policymakers are not making enough fruitful efforts to devise policies to enhance education quality. Thus, HEC amendment bill 2023 suggested reviving the authority of the higher education commission in enforcing standardization in the educational sector because all stakeholders are merely rooted in personal gains rather than national interests and there is no one to stop them.
Tarar tells 'Sindh landlord' that a worker is waiting for him in Lahore No one cares that children are the future builders of the nation, nor is there any regret that these future architects spend their days away from school washing dishes in hotels, blackening their hands in workshops and working at brick kilns. Such children are forced to bear the financial burden of their home. The poor education strategy of the government along with the economic hardship has also played a major role in these children being out of school. According to a research, approximately 60% of out-of-school children live in rural areas of the country where there are no schools at all or if there are, they lack teachers and infrastructure. With a large number of ghost schools across the country, the majority are schools whose buildings are occupied by powerful people. These vandals are taking not only schools but also other government buildings for their personal use whereas there is no one to question them and bring them under the law.
FM terms heinous attack on Pakistanis in Iran an attempt to spoil bilateral ties In this country, the powerful are doing what they want and the child of the poor is deprived of health and education. Education and care of children is the national responsibility of all with the government. If we work together with government to consider the deprive kids as our children and don’t equip them with the best education in the spirit of compassion and love, then these children will become a time bomb of extremism, terrorism and societal crimes and will cause the destruction of the entire society. Therefore, it is the collective responsibility of the government as well as the society to nurture these future builders, otherwise, they will be a source of chaos for the entire society.
Attiya Munawer
The writer is an activist and environmen-talist. She covers human rights and politico-environmen-tal issues. She tweets @Attiya
Munawer and can be reached at attiabutt121@gmail.com
Three children die of measles in Kashmore
Educating the Future of Pakistan
106
16
29.01.2024
Pakistan is one of the few countries where basic sectors such as food, health and education are rife with destitution and no one is paying attention to it. If we focus solely on education, as per the statistics of five years ago, the number of children out of school was around 22 million, while now it has exceeded 26 million. This situation is a matter of concern for the federal and provincial governments, especially for those political parties who, before coming to power, raised the slogan of making education public, claim to provide free health and education across the country and promised employment to the unemployed educated youth. Still, after coming to power, they do nothing and all the claims are left in the heap.
Every developed country in the world perceives the importance of education. Free education is mandatory in public schools, and it is compulsory to bring children to school, but in Pakistan, no special attention is paid to this; promises and claims are made here, but the reality is quite the opposite; nothing is spent on education in the budget, nor are children brought to school for education. According to a report prepared by the Pakistan Institute of Education, a subsidiary of the Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with UNESCO, 11 million children in Punjab, 7.6 million in Sindh, 3.6 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 3.13 million in Balochistan while 80,000 children in the federal capital Islamabad are........
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