When it comes to education, the role of the government is sadly relegated to well-intentioned, but simplistically ineffective ideals. And nowhere else is the abominable apartheid more wracking than in Balochistan with its overwhelming 70 per cent of children out of school. The situation is even direr for girls (around 78 per cent). Now, in a province already languishing hard under the tight grasp of educational backwardness, one would at least expect the charge d’affairs continuum to remain unbroken. Sadly, Wednesday’s resignation of Balochistan Education Minister, Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind, has shredded apart that last vestige of hope about things turning a corner. It would be futile to dabble into the whys and wherefores of this parting of his ways for the sake of discussion. Yes, the chief minister office should be made accountable for the series of allegations against it. After all, Sardar Rind is the second minister in Jam Kamal Khan’s cabinet to stand down within a month. This charade of politics, however, bears no significance to the ever-deteriorating state of education in Pakistan’s largest province. Everyone seems eager to celebrate Balochistan opening its doors to the world after CPEC projects take off. The carpeted Makran Coastal Highway, 120-bed Quetta Cardiac Hospital and the much-touted masterplan of a new Dubai at Gwadar are glossy attractions for the next elections. But what about the over 8000 schools missing the basic facility of restrooms? Despite repeated announcements to provide Baloch students with basic facilities, as many as 11,795 are still without drinking water facility, 7,9998 without boundary walls and 12,2258 without power supply. In a staggering 1942 schools, children study under open skies come rain or shine. More cracks appear in the picture the deeper we go inside the interior. The real tragedy, however, lies in the fact that alarms bells have been falling on deaf ears for decades now. Everyone is aware of Balochistan’s chequered spiel of sorrow and dejection. Too much has already been sighed about the role of education in countering radicalisation movements. Given the high degree of deprivation that prevails all across this unfortunate land, education holds the only viable beacon. It was largely due to us failing to address their grievances that people in Balochistan have been increasingly welcome of out-of-state interventions. Only this month, local authorities had sealed six Iran-funded schools in Quetta, the provincial hot seat. When a child is forced to travel an overwhelming 30 kilometres to reach a primary school, wouldn’t his parents happily send him off to a nearby option? So what if that institute teaches nothing about Pakistan, that child’s own country! The dismal details of the ill-fated higher education sector are an unbelievable catastrophe. While the number of colleges is outrageously low, the ones that do exist operate at the lowest possible level. A double tragedy, indeed! Yes, recent years have seen an uphaul of universities by HEC-Pakistan, but we are still miles away from the development seen in urban centres. When inept instructors and ghost teachers–sometimes, ghost schools–become highlights of a crucial sector, how can the state ensure the implementation of Article 25-A (free education to all children)? The need to categorically improve education’s quality and access cannot be stressed enough. For one can be worked upon with infrastructural development but the other correlates with factors like enrolment, survival and gender parity. Let’s just hope the next survey on learning scores does not find Balochistan’s districts withering away at the bottom! *