With all the hullabaloo over the elections now over, it is important to turn focus on real issues facing Pakistan. That Pakistan faces an education emergency, which may have deep social and economic repercussions for the country, deserves attention.
In the absence of a universal education system, tens of millions of children face a bleak future by being excluded from the schooling system. To succeed in today’s highly competitive world, the new political setup in Pakistan needs to gear up its focus on the country’s education crisis.
This sector presents Pakistan one of its most pressing long-term challenges that can potentially threaten security of the state. A report by The Pakistan Education Task Force reveals the gloomy picture that one in 10 of the world’s out-of-school children is a Pakistani. About 50 percent of school children, aged 6-16 years can neither read nor write. While regional countries, such as India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, have made great headway in achieving the millennium development goals on education by 2015, Pakistan’s progress leaves a lot to be desired. According to Kazi Ayaz Maheshar, UNESCO’s provincial coordinator, “female literacy rate in Pakistan is 61 percent, compared to 79 percent for males. By the year 2015, the figure is expected to grow to 72 percent for females and 82 percent for males.”
Subsequent government authorities have also shown a lack of willingness to tackle the crisis on a war footing. The commitment of government authorities toward the cause of education remains encouraging on paper at least. Under the 18th Amendment, education has been highlighted as a basic constitutional right for all children. By removing education’s privilege status, the state has committed to ensuring free and compulsory education to all children aged 5-16 years. Yet, the education sector remains highly neglected and is deprived of funds to universalize education in Pakistan. The country’s annual education expenditure on education is 2.1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is the lowest in the region.
However, overcoming the crisis is not only about dedicating more financial resources toward the education sector. Even though allocation of higher spending on education is certainly desirable, 26 countries poorer than Pakistan have higher school enrollment rates. There is a need to improve the public schooling system and ensuring greater administrative accountability of these facilities.
Even though public school teachers are paid significantly more than their counterparts in low cost private schools, public schools present a dismal picture of corruption, high teacher absenteeism rate and a waste of public resources.
To succeed in a knowledge-based economy, Pakistan needs to radically transform its education sector. With less than 25 percent of children gaining access to secondary education, it is important that the issue gets sufficient attention by Pakistan’s political and media elite.
To redress the weaknesses of the education sector, a national consensus needs to be achieved to understand the magnitude of the crisis. The government may also consider providing a monthly stipend for students from poor families to encourage higher enrollment rates by curbing child labor. By encouraging public-private partnership in education, there is a need to prioritize education at a national level to promote national security. An uneducated future generation is likely to compromise the ideals of a progressive, tolerant and enlightened society.
