Education for all

If we were to see how serious a country is about its progress, we should be analyzing the performance of its education sector. Pakistan’s extremely unsatisfactory performance on this front shows how far behind the country is in the world. According to the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, the adult literacy rate in the country is 62.3 per cent. However, some officials contest the figure and think that the actual rate is far below than this – somewhere around 59 per cent. But the number itself does not help solve the education crisis in the country. Pakistan also faces the problem of poor learning outcomes. According to a Tabadlab report published in March, only 23 per cent of late primary-age children in Pakistan can read and understand an age-appropriate text. The country also has the second highest rate of learning poverty in the South Asian region. Given this, it is somewhat comforting to know that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has declared an education emergency in the country. The prime minister talked about this vision at a gathering of federal ministers, parliamentarians, vice-chancellors, diplomats and development partners at the National Conference on Education Emergency held on Wednesday (May 8). The main objective is to enrol 26 million out-of-school children – most of whom are trapped in bonded labour. When he was the chief minister of Punjab, PM Shehbaz Sharif had launched a similar campaign, which resulted in the rescue of 90,000 boys working at brick kilns and their enrolment in schools. But admission itself is not the problem.

The fact that children here are unable to understand the text they are studying is a major issue that needs immediate attention. Over the years, all provincial governments, which after the 18th Amendment are responsible for providing education to their people, have willingly handed over education to the private sector. These schools are run by people who treat education as a business opportunity. To maximize income, low salary packages are offered, which keeps well-educated and highly trained individuals away from these schools. Fresh graduates with no prior experience barely manage to keep up with the requirements of the sector. While students from well-off families can afford after-school tuition, underprivileged children often stay behind. As a result, when they reach the workforce, rich students get several opportunities. And since people from the lower class fail to get good opportunities, they stop considering education as a window to their financial wellbeing and prefer sending their children to informal shops so that they can earn and help their parents cover the monthly expenses.

We expect the PM to draft a plan to improve our students’ learning outcomes. Most education experts think that early education in the mother tongue can help children retain the lessons learned in previous classes. The medium of instruction in a foreign language has turned bright students into parrots, who learn their text verbatim to get good marks. Reforms in the education sector would mean reevaluating our teaching patterns. The country’s future rests on the shoulders of our children. It is important to ensure that all children – regardless of their financial status – receive quality education. An educated nation will lead us to a prosperous and financially strong Pakistan.