Rising inflation

The fact that at least 25 million children are out of school in Pakistan shows that the country is facing an educational crisis. Children who come from poorest homes have to drop out of school in search of a job so that they can support their families. In addition, the fee of private schools is quite high. Many parents cannot afford to pay thousands in school fee. In the absence of well-maintained government schools, Pakistan will find it increasingly difficult to tackle the crisis.

In the next budget, the government must allocate a sufficient amount of money to the education sector. All government schools must be repaired and regularly maintained. No leniency should be given to teachers who remain absent from their work for unidentified period. The government should also take action against private schools who are charging exorbitant amount of school fee. The prime minister should personally show interest in resolving these problems and take effective steps to bring much-needed reforms to the country’s education system.

Hatir Sabz

Turbat

*****

I was born in a conservative and uneducated family for whom sending children to school was unconventional. It was quite hard for me to convince my parents to send me to a good school. Many people believed, and rightly so, that education is the only way to change our destiny. But, in our country, the sector is run by businessmen for whom profit-making comes first. As a result, they higher inexperienced teachers at low salary to reduce their businesses’ administration cost. While this may help school owners to reduce their expenses, this has devastating effects on the future of children who struggle to understand basic concepts.

The reason why Pakistan hasn’t developed even after more than 70 years of independence is that its rulers never paid attention to the education sector. No government has worked to bring reforms in government schools or to keep a check on the progress of private schools. It seems that for the authorities concerned, the education sector is nonexistent. The government must take effective steps to bring improvements in the education sector.

Farooq Muhammad

Mardan