Our education system is in a quagmire so deep it seems difficult to understand how we can ever step out of it and move towards a brighter future. Education is, of course, the first rung on which we need to step to achieve progress and prosperity but it seems even the ladder is not propped up yet. A recent study by the NGO Strengthening Participatory Organisation notes that Pakistan has one of the most stratified education systems in the world, with about eight different kinds of institutions functioning in the country. These range from government schools to elite private institutes offering ‘O’ and ‘A’ level education. We also have madrassahs, cadet colleges, Urdu and English-medium private schools, schools run under the Aga Khan Board and public and private sector colleges. The SPO study points out that these differences create divides rather than unification in society. We are, of course, all familiar with the manner in which different schools are graded in social terms. Moreover, there is little regulation of either private schools or madrassahs, and this adds to the problems with some 6,000 registered and 4,000 unregistered private schools running in Karachi alone. The SPO survey also noted the dismal standards at government schools, with grade level students unable to construct simple sentences or solve basic maths problems.