Education for all

For a country’s progress and development, education is the most important tool. In most countries, education till secondary level is provided for free. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, not much attention is paid to education. According to the Pakistan Education Statistics launched by the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) around 44 percent children between ages of five and 16 are out of school. In 21 percent of the all primary schools across the country, only one teacher is appointed. Another shocking revelation in the report was that around 21 percent schools have only one room. The report further states that only 30 percent of students remained enrolled from class one till Grade 10 while the rest drop out of the school owing to personal reasons. If children cannot attend school because of social and economic reasons, the country can take steps to make education affordable to these children.

Providing quality education is the responsibility of the government. Article 25-A of the constitution says, “The state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by the law”. It is unfortunate that the government pays little to no attention to the education sector. Only 2.1 percent of the country’s GDP is spent on education. Pakistan also lacks good quality teachers. Competent teachers are required to uplift the education sector of the country. Both the public and private sectors have to contribute to improve the standard of education in the country.

Kiran Fatima (Islamabad)