KARACHI: On the occasion of International Literacy Day on Monday, many politicians including Senior Minister of Education Nisar Ahmed Khuhro would be attending several ceremonies as their predecessors have been doing over the years. They shake hands, get their pictures taken and make moving speeches on how they mean to change the state of education here. Still, it seems that the politicians here are too busy with their egos to attend to literacy.

This year on the eve of the day, the senior minister issued a statement about it being our responsibility, according to Article 25-A, to provide education free for all. `Sindh education department is considering to give the incentive package of 20 marl(s for those SSC, HSC and BA passed students who will voluntarily prepare to impart education to the uneducated children of Sindh so that some 500,000 uneducated children are able to get education which will be helpful in reducing the illiteracy in the province,` he said.

`It has been decided to establish 1,500 consolidation campus schools in Sindh to improve education. In this regard identification of 700 consolidation campus schools have been made in the different districts of Sindh inthe Erst phase.The head teachersfor such consolidation school campuses will be recruited for three years on contract basis through the National Testing Service [NTS].

`Education is key to the nation`s development and teachers have an important role to build the future of the nation, therefore they should come forward to play their part in increasing the standard of education in Sindh.

The teachers should perform their duties with honesty and sincerity otherwise I will start a target operation in education against them,` he added.

Mr Khuhro, since taking over as the education minister, has made it clear on various occasions that no compromise will be made on merit, transparency and the quality of education and all teachers will be appointed through the NTS. Besides, he has also often said that all nonfunctional schools will be opened for which he is willing to visit each village of Sindh. The senior minister has also claimed that 1,800 out of 5,000 non-functional schools in Sindh have already been made functional and the remaining will start functioning soon. Of course all the previous governments are blamed for shortcomings in education till now. But in Sindh the PPP government cannot get away with that excuse as the previous government was also theirs.

According to data provided by thePakistan Bureau of Statisticsfor 2012 and 2013, the net enrolment rate in Sindh`s primary schools was 52pc of which 56pc were boys and 48pc girls.

This means that more than half of all children who should begin school fail to do so. And in middle school, the enrolment rate in the province dropped to 19pc of which 20pc were boys and 18pc girls. In high school there was a further drop with only 12pc attending of which 13pc were girls and 11pc boys. It shows the shocking state of education where a majority of the children who enrol in schools fail to complete their schooling.

When compared to the literacy rate of the entire country, male literacy in Pakistan stands at 71pc but female literacy is shockingly low, at just 48pc.

Besides, talking of hiring teachers on merit and getting closed schools functional, this gender disparity, too, needs to be addressed on an emergency footing.

Equally distressing are the figures for literacy among young people aged 15-24. `Pakistan`s fabled demographic dividend will amount to very little if public policy doesn`t urgently begin to address the massive gap in quality education for our children,` said Mosharraf Zaidi, campaign director for Alif Ailaan. `No amount of income support programmes, or youth loans can cover up the desperate lack of conHdence and capacity in our young people. Pakistan owes its children and youth a better deal than this.

While the country goes through a political crisis of transition, education once again takes a backseat, falling low on the list of political priorities.

Currently, Pakistan`s literacy rate stands at 60 per cent. However, according to the definition of literacy used in Pakistan, a person who can merely sign their name is considered to beliterate. As such, official literacy rates do not provide an accurate measure of reading and writing ability among the population.

`Literacy is the ability to read and write, and the way it is measured in Pakistan is very, very limited,` said Mr Zaidi,. `Even there, we have one of the world`s lowest literacy rates. Year after year we lament this fact. Yet our progress has been painfully slow. We are shamelessly allowing illiteracy to continue in this country.

Where is the protest against this abomination?` While it is criticallyimportant to ensure that no child here is out of school, it is equally important to improve the quality of education on offer in our schools. Without more effective teachers and better learning outcomes, we will continue to produce `literate` individuals lacking the basic skills necessary to be productive citizens.

Despite commitments from all major political parties to fix Pakistan`s broken education system, there is a long way to go before the country is able to provide quality education for all.