Sir: I write to you to seek your support in highlighting the issues that are faced in providing education to the marginalized communities in the country, including women. The aim is to raise questions regarding the role played by the authorities in ignoring this significant part of the population, so that the masses can also learn of this problem and can then demand for better policies and more inclusivity in the future.
Despite various campaigns run by the civil society in Pakistan, education remains one of the least discussed issues ahead of the upcoming general elections. Whether it is ensuring access to schools for the 22.6 million ‘out-of-school’ children in Pakistan (53% of which are girls), or working to improve educational outcomes (i.e. enhanced reading, writing and numeric skills). The political leadership needs to pay urgent attention to the dismal state of Pakistan’s education sector. This supreme issue needs to be highlighted urgently, in order to make education a mainstream political agenda so that the country’s political leadership feels obligated to improve its performance in this regard and provide the country’s overwhelming population of ‘out-of-school’ children with their constitutional right to education.
As elections are only a week away, all political parties are busy with election campaigns and outlining their detailed agendas and commitments. Once again, the promises being made are focused on conventional themes such as infrastructural development and job creation. While these are important in their own right, a country cannot hope to prosper when a significant number of its population is deprived of free and safe quality education. We must collectively demand access to quality education for our children and hold our elected representatives accountable for the commitments they make in this regard. The media can especially play a key and strategic role in sensitizing the voters so that they make informed choices and hold political parties accountable to the tall promises made before the elections. The media can also help educate the voters and urge every Pakistani to question the vision (vis-à-vis education) of the political representatives who come to their areas asking for votes and demand a road map to ensure at least 12 years of education for our children.
AFSHAR IQBAL
Islamabad
Published in Daily Times, July 18th 2018.