Sir: According to the 2016-2017 Economic Survey of Pakistan, the country’s literacy rate has declined to 58 percent from 60 percent. This means a shockingly large number of children in this country are unable to read or write. It is this problem which eventually causes other issues such as child labour and lack of knowledge about civil rights. An uneducated person does not have the knowledge or awareness to decide what is best for them. The lack of education also has a severe impact on our country’s democratic system. People keep voting for the same parties, which always fail to deliver. In the end it is the country that is damaged. This single problem of lack of education causes numerous other problems that we can never solve unless the root cause is fixed. Developed and other developing countries have a better education system and standard. For instance, Germany provides free of cost education to all its citizens, as it considers access to education a basic human right. Many other countries also provide quality education with affordable fees, without differentiating on the basis of ones’ class, caste or creed. This is the core reason behind their success. In Pakistan, though there are some good policies on education or public instruction, the problem of implementation, maintenance and corruption remains constant, resulting in failure of these policies. This needs to be fixed if we want a progressive, prosperous and peaceful nation. TAHIR RASHEED Karachi Published in Daily Times, May 15th 2018.