Daily Times

Covid-19 has clearly resurfaced many of our structural imbalances. Few have equally highlighted the need for an ‘economic vaccine’ in this time aside from the much needed vaccine for the mitigation of the virus. Sadly, our academic situation has been hallmarked with a deep economic scar at this time of the pandemic, which doesn’t leave much hope – at a time when it was much needed. When, already, our weakened synergies between yearly commitments, budgetary allocations and socio-economic scenarios for the case of education had been haunting us for decades. Yet again during this pandemic, the eerie silence regarding the absenteeism of education for children living in remote areas, who unfortunately lack the necessary means to attain online education says a lot about our commitment to increase the skill level of our population.

Pakistan’s commitment to education for its citizens can be gauged from goal number four of Sustainable Development Goals – ‘Quality Education’. Amidst the power struggle, vested interests, scarcity of resources and now a pandemic – the future of many children is in jeopardy. In Pakistan, primary education from grades 1-5, has seen an overall increase in enrolment over the years. Similarly, the number of primary mainstream institutions and primary teachers have both witnessed an increase in the past three years. Primary schooling is a phase which can be classified as nurturing the mind for future education – thus a building block on which many potential innovations can be based upon.

Recent report from the World Bank, after adjusting for out-of-school children, 75 percent of primary-age children in Pakistan are not proficient in reading. All this indicates the learning poverty prevalent in our system

For the case of primary education, by analyzing indicator 4.1.1 which deals with the proportion of children achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading and mathematics – we have some appalling results. Using the Annual Status of Education Report (2019) we see that for grade 5, the national (rural) outcomes give a positive outlook ‘over the years’. Children who could read a story in Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto went from 46.4 percent in 2014 to 59.1 percent in 2019. Children who read english sentences went up from 42.3 percent to 55.4 percent in 2014 and 2019 respectively. A similar trend followed for arithmetic skills, where the number of children who could solve a simple 2 digit division, increased from 40.4 percent to 56.9 percent. Slightly better results were seen for urban areas where the numbers become 69.5, 66.5 and 65.9 percent respectively in 2019.

However, considering that 65 percent of our population lives in rural areas and 30.76 percent of the population belongs to the age group 0-14 years – this suggests that critical literacy benchmarks have a long way to go. Another striking statistic shows that 9.4 class-wise percent of children cannot read at all. According to another recent report from the World Bank, after adjusting for out-of-school children, 75 percent of primary-age children in Pakistan are not proficient in reading. All this indicates the learning poverty prevalent in our system. These numbers clearly pinpoint at another crisis in the making for the coming future.

Traditionally, neoclassical theory pirouettes around welfare maximization but sustainable development revolves around the principles of equity. Thus, it entails equal opportunities for everyone, including the future generations. This brings us to indicator 4.a.1, which deals with ‘the proportion of schools having access to electricity, internet, computers, infrastructure and materials for students with disabilities, access to basic drinking water, sanitation and handwashing facilities’. Regrettably, the majority of the Pakistani schools do not fare well on the former criteria mentioned for schools.

Our dilapidated school qualities include an absence of drinking water and electricity; let alone access to requirements for information technology education. Furthermore, we have a proliferation of ‘ghost’ schools and teachers. In such cases, both students and teachers are absent, and funds are still allocated – clearly siphoning off the already depleted resources allocated in the budget. Pakistan’s educational situation, especially access to facilities is under hot waters, as is evident from the following statistics on government schools from the ASER report of 2019. Only 61.4 percent of these schools have access to usable drinking water. The percentage of schools with separate toilets for girls is 24.4 percent. Boundary wall is present in only 74.7 percent, 56.2 percent have electricity connection and just a meager 5.2 percent have an internet connection. Only 50.6 percent of these schools have usable furniture. In comparison, private schools fare a little better in these statistics.

The writers are freelancer