THE findings of the Annual Status of Education Report, 2013 are not very encouraging, showing a continuously high trend of underachievement in Pakistan`s schools, particularly in Sindh. There are several depressing statistics, such as the fact that 57pc of grade five students cannot read a grade two English sentence, or that half of such students cannot read a grade two story in Urdu, Sindhi or Pashto. The survey, which covered 138 rural districts and 13 urban centres, found that Punjab has the best educational indicators, while Sindh is at the bottom. The study shows that there are more out-of-school children in the rural areas while children studying in private institutions performed relatively better than their peers in state schools. If our children continue to show such poor levels of literacy and numeracy, it is difficult to imagine how we will survive in the 21st century.

A large amount of funds and numerous interventions have gone into trying to fix the education sector. So why do we continue to perform so dismally? Many educationists cite corruption as the number one reason for the failure of the education system,particularly in the public sector. For example, teachers in many state schools can`t or don`t teach while teacher absenteeism is also high. Yet these same individuals continue to draw monthly salaries without fail. There are also serious questions about the teachers` abilities, especially in Sindh, as `educators` are inducted under political quotas with no effort to judge their capabilities. Unqualified individuals will only produce barely literate students. The infrastructure of schools, or lack thereof, is also a key factor in keeping children away. Can youngsters really be expected to regularly attend school and learn anything when school buildings are bereft of basic facilities such as drinking water and toilets? Ever since devolution the provinces have had greater control over education, yet in most respects they have failed to deliver. To turn the situation around, teachers must be recruited on merit and updated with the requisite skills while there also needs to be strict accountability of all stakeholders in the education sector.

The sector is a time bomb that will explode soon if left unattended.