WHEN Gen Charles Napier conquered Sindh in 1843, he sent a single-word message to his bosses in London. It read, “Peccavi”, a Latin word that translates to ‘I have sinned’. This was a pun.

More than 180 years later, we learn that Sindh has been ‘sinned’ against once more. How else would you describe the failure of those who control the destiny of this province to empower its children by educating them? This is no exaggeration. A look at the Annual Status of Education Report [ASER] 2023 is enough to inform the reader about the miserable state of education in the province.

Aser is an independent citizens-led group that has been testing children in Pakistan every year since 2008-09 and its results are credible. In 2023, over 1,53,000 children were tested in 274 districts. The findings are shocking. As has been ASER’spractice, students of Grade III and above were tested by being asked to read a story in Urdu/ Sindhi and a sentence in English, and solve a two-digit division sum of Grade II level. Barely half of the Grade V students tested across the country could give correct answers — 50 per cent, 54pc and 46pc respectively.

Among the provinces, Sindh stood at the bottom rung of the........

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