Sir: Bleak news has emerged about the sad state of affairs concerning school going children in Pakistan. Some 25 million children are deprived of an education; that amounts to as much as half the child population in Pakistan languishing below the required basics in literacy such as signing one’s own name. How do we ever expect to excel as a society when we will produce so many millions in the upcoming generation who are unemployable? The future of our country will be nothing but a bleak land with criminals running amuck because they are unable to earn money in any way. Why have successive governments been so quiet on education and development? Why do we continue to suffer the ignorance of those who think books are a folly? It is time we refocus all our priorities into educating the people of this land. SAMAR GHANI Lahore