Sustaining literacy

September 8 is celebrated every year across the globe as Literacy Day. The theme for 2015 was ‘Literacy and Sustainable Societies’, with a focus on exploring critical links and synergy between literacy and the future Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which will be adopted during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015.
Pakistan is also among the countries where this day is observed every year with some commitments and reflections on the progress made towards improving the education system of the country. However, despite various promises made towards increasing the net enrolment level, literacy rate, education budget and gender parity in education, Pakistan is on the edge of breaking all the promises made in the year 2000 towards fulfilling all EFA goals. Moreover, there is minimal chance for the country to achieve the MDGs as well.
The education system in Pakistan is operating with a lack of resources, political commitment for education, infrastructure and trained staff. Moreover, the poor quality of teacher training and curriculum is consistently hindering any prospects of maintaining a standardised education system. All of these factors have placed Pakistan in the global ranking of countries with the highest number of out-of-school children with the figure estimated to be about 25 million.
Literacy and primary school enrolment rates have also shown very limited improvement during the last five years. The literacy rate (for 10 years and above) stands at 58 percent – 47 percent for women and 70 percent for men. The percentage of net enrolment rate is also very low.
Net enrolment rate in 2013-14 stands only at 53 percent for women and 60 percent for men. These estimates also reflect the high prevalence of gender parity which is more pronounced in rural and remote (particularly in tribal and feudal) areas of the country.
Scarcity of financial resources is another issue that is holding back the proper growth of educational system. We are spending a very small share of our national income on education. According to the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2015, the total expenditure on education has remained around 2 percent of GDP for the past decade, with a high proportion spent on recurrent heads mainly salaries, leaving a small amount for education sector development.
This situation reflects the inability of responsible authorities to fulfil the duty of provision of the basic right of education. There is urgent need to effectively implement Article 25A of the constitution, which binds provincial and federal governments to provide free and compulsory education to all children age 5-16 years. Specific legislation and policies are needed in this regard.
The education budget must be significantly increased to achieve the set target of spending of 7 percent of total GDP on education by 2015. And resources must be spent not only on improving infrastructure development but also on ensuring that teaching quality and standards are improved through better teacher training and provision of learning/teaching material.
Most importantly, immediate steps are required to improve the status of girls’ education in the country. For this purpose, distance issues and lack of institutions for girls, especially in remote areas, must be addressed.
Last but not the least, the education system must be equipped with proper infrastructure, especially at disaster affected or prone areas, at all levels to reduce the increasing risk of children dropping out of school, and to maintain the overall enrolment rates in the schools.
The writer is an Islamabad-based human rights activist.
Email: amina_sarwar@hotmail. com