It all started with information about an adult literacy centre in one of the villages in central Punjab that was set up and then closed down before even starting work. This was part of a Punjab Literacy Movement Project that was said to have started its operations at the end of 2014. As many as 40 per cent centres have closed down at the beginning of what they call its "first cycle", according to insiders.

This is nothing less than a scam, though officials claim they were closed because of absence of required strength of students and teachers. A logical question would be: was there any feasibility conducted about the need for adult literacy before the project was launched? Next: was it linked with technical skills and was the curriculum made need-based? Still next: did the government launch an awareness campaign before the project so that there were enough customers/students for whom the centres were being set up?

Generally, the state of adult literacy in Pakistan is not better or worse than the state of education. The reason why we have an adult literacy issue to such a huge extent is because the mainstream education failed in the last so many decades. Interestingly, other countries in the region took long strides and raised their literacy rates  by improving their mainstream education as well as implementing efficient adult literacy programmes.

On paper, we too have a lot to show, beginning with the 1950s, but it has been inconsistent. Apart from bringing back the dropped out kids back and imparting skills to adults, this kind of education is a must for illiterate mothers of school-going children. But all of this need political commitment, political ownership of adult literacy programmes, allocation of budgets and utilisation of these budgets.

We need to make the mainstream education extremely effective so that no child stays out of school and in ten years time we have less adults who are illiterate. An effective education would mean one that ensures quality besides the right numbers.