According to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2019-20 the literacy rate of the population (ten years and above) is just 60 percent, compared to 58 percent in 2015-16, thus having registered a nominal increase of two percent during the last four years. Sadly, Pakistan is globally ranked as the 140th country in terms of literacy among 156 countries. Countries like Mozambique, Nigeria, Guinea Bissau and Haiti have better literacy rates than us.
It is really shameful that the past governments have never accorded due importance to education and human resources. The public expenditure on education, which remains the lowest in the region, has, in effect, been continually and gradually reduced in recent years – from 2.8 percent of the GDP in 2016-17 to 2.4 percent in 2017-18 to 2.3 percent in 2018-19. At present, an estimated 22.5 million children, aged 5 to 16 years, are not attending the school, that is, they are out of school. It is the world's second highest number of out-of-school children that also represents roughly 43 percent of the total population of this age group in the country. And the government remains insensitive to the grave situation.
Hussain Siddiqui
Islamabad