Daily Times

Sir: No country can progress without an educated population. According to the Constitution of Pakistan it is the responsibility of the state to provide the people of Pakistan with free, quality education. Unfortunately, since the country was founded every government, whether civilian or military has failed to deliver in this regard. Instead the mantle of educating the youth has been taken up by the private sector as well as religious organisations through the madrassah system. The private sector has turned education into a lucrative and profitable business and the madaris produce religious extremists, many of whom are involved in promoting sectarian hate and violence.

According to various reports there are 25 million children in Pakistan who are not attending school. Punjab, which is home to 60 percent of the country’s population seems to be completely uninterested in promoting education despite having received a Rs two billion grant for education from the government of the United Kingdom. Instead, the Punjab government wastes money on useless megaprojects. It needs to be asked why none of the previous governments in Pakistan have not made education a priority when real democracy and rule of law is only possible in an educated country. It is quite obvious that the ruling class of this country does not want the masses to become educated as this would reduce their power and influence. The people must rise up and demand their right to be educated.

S T HUSSAIN

Lahore

Published in Daily Times, October 24^th 2017.