Daily Times

Amidst the problems that Pakistan is beleaguered by, the most inimical to the country’s progress is the decline of education. It sounds such an antiquated topic to discuss yet bears an important aspect. Intellectual minds always question the mismanagements and disorders but who is responsible for shortcomings? Since the very beginning of Pakistan, many have wondered what has Pakistan achieved? And what not? Is the current government still unable to standardise the education system? Can the government not provide quality education under article 25 of its constitution? Instead of blaming each other and mudslinging one’s regime, it would be a spoon in the mouth to regain our lost grace and status.

Letting fires progress and taking strict action against the perpetrators of the biggest crimes and minor misdemeanours can result in the sheer destruction of political image and international reputation. Does that sound normal? Our politicians are busy making personal remarks? To be very candid, why should one support any political party, which cannot maintain humans’ third eye’s infrastructure?

Peering at the historical perspective, after the war of independence, the condition of Muslims in the subcontinent was pitiful. They were considered dogs and killed whenever the enmity escalated. During the Aligarh movement, slogans were chanted for the up-gradation of education. Our Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said, “Seek knowledge though you may have to travel China.”

These words not only express the importance of education but also enunciate the realm of difficulties, eras of troubles and hurdles in the path to education.

According to Article 25 of Pakistan’s constitution, it is the government’s onus for the provision of quality and compulsory education to everyone without discrimination. In a report by UNICEF, almost 22.8 million children aged five to 16 were found to be out-of-school. Pakistan has the second-largest number of Out-Of-School-Children (OOSC). It may be due to the perfunctory attitude of the past elite governments, but I still envisage goodness in the education sector in impending years.

According to Article 25 of Pakistan’s constitution, it is the government’s onus for the provision of quality and compulsory education to everyone without discrimination

Pakistan’s expenditure was 2.4 per cent of the GDP in the fiscal year 2018-19 when it should have necessarily been five per cent of the total GDP of Pakistan whereas the UK and the US expend 5.6 and 4.9 per cent of their total GDP respectively. Instead of tergiversating, thus, we should focus on the proverb, “Pen is mightier than the sword.”

Antiquated ways of teaching, dilapidated buildings, lack of training of teachers, non-availability of basic needs, such as toilets and drinking water, and the provision of appropriate curricula are the cries of the day. The situation is the same across the country.

One particular region with lamentable conditions is Tharparkar in Sindh, where students have to study under the sunlight. Hyderabad has not gotten out of hot water and is replete with the copy culture as far as I have heard. Lahore and Kasur still boast of old teaching methods in some institutes. I found this when I conducted a survey in the two cities. The education system in Balochistan remains high and dry. Most people can neither read nor write lingua franca. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the same.

Candidly speaking, in the schools of Naushahro Feroze in Sindh, which is my native town, even English-language teachers cannot even speak English. Science teachers use key books to copy answers and then deliver these to students who, in turn, cram these answers.

The curriculum in most private schools is either of Oxford or Cambridge board all over Pakistan. I once saw a topic of PhD research in Grade 5 book. Instead of these books, why can we not publish ones, which are updated and standardised sequentially? Books that ought to suit students’ way of learning since the very beginning of their educational career.

In a nutshell, neither Sindh is outside Pakistan nor does Pakistan does have Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We are all Pakistanis and have to think with a broad mind to manage the affairs of entire Pakistan by allocating the required matters to provinces in an equitous manner. Last but not least, the current government must ensure the right to education to all of Pakistan and understand the words of Quaid-e-Azam, “Education is the matter of life and death to the nation.”

The writer is a member of the central body, Human Rights Development Organization Sindh