Daily Times

Sir: Education is the key to success. It is the source of eliminating gender inequality, strongest instrument to reduce poverty and to create a sustainable planet and foresting the peace, to prevent needless illness and deaths and it is an important tool for human development and empowerment. In a knowledgeable economy, education is said to be a new currency by which nations can maintain their global prosperity and economic competitiveness. If we can say that “Education the most powerful and strongest weapon for changing the world” so it’s not sound wrong.

Unfortunately, Pakistan is amongst those countries that are not only suffering from economic problems but also there is a mild diversity in case of education. Lack of education is the core cause of backwardness of Pakistan. Poverty has led many parents to discourage their children from going to school. Ghost schools, educational infrastructure, multiplicity of education system, lack of technologies, gender inequality bad governance and poorly teaching staff are major cause of the educational crisis in Pakistan. According to Pakistan Economic Survey 2017-18, the current literacy rate for entire Pakistan is 58 percent which is very low as compared to other countries.

In Pakistan, there is an unjust education system. There is a stark disparity between the literacy rates of male and female. According to Pakistan Survey 2017-18 the national literacy rate for male is 70 percent while for female is 46 percent. Provinces also repeated the same gender disparity in Pakistan. In Punjab the rate of literacy for male was 71 percent and for female was 55 percent. In Balochistan the literacy rate for male contributing to 61 percent whereas for female it is 25 percent. In KP male contributes 71 percent and female 35 percent, whereas in Sindh, the literacy rate in male was 71 percent and in female was 55 percent. Research concludes that increase in women literacy rate to boost their wages and that returns to education for women are frequently larger than that of men, increase in female education enhances and improves human development outcomes. Lower female literacy rate had a bad and negative impact on economic growth. In developing countries, female education not only reduces fertility infant mortality but also increases children education.

The education system in Pakistan highly unjust and creates a sense of inequality. High standard education institutions are providing standard and good quality education but are very expensive and not affordable for a common man while the situations of public sector schools are very worst.

The government of Pakistan should really need to step up its game with regard to the education system in Pakistan. Making policies and initiatives are not enough until it is implemented. 1000’s of recommendations on improving educational system are made but only 20-25 percent of these were implemented. The improvements in the education system of Pakistan cannot be done by government alone, but the public-private participation and a mix of formal as well as non-formal education can pull out the county’s population from illiteracy to literacy. Moreover, to make the youth of the country a fruitful asset, attention should also be paid to technical and vocational training.

RABIA MUDASSIR

Karachi

Published in Daily Times, November 28^th 2018.