THE state of education in Pakistan is very poor. This has led to our sluggish growth and poor social and economic indicators.
About 25m children are said to be out of school most of them girls in the country. Besides this, there are fewer schools than are required. Moreover,those schools are in bad shape.
Much work is needed to improve thequality of education in Pakistan. It is, unfortunate to note that promoting quality education is not the priority of our rulers.
The space created by the government inefficiency or its lack of willingness to improve the situation is being exploited by the private sector. Investing in education has become a lucrative business. We are surrounded by countless private schools; but only a few of them are equipped with the necessary incentives required to impart the knowledge that is in sync with the present-day needs.
A majority of them are just inclined to mint money. Those schools that can make any difference,charge soheavyfees that ordinary citizens cannot even thinl( of getting their children admitted to them.
The issue of education cannot be resolved unless an effort is made to turn around the public-sector education.
Comparatively, Balochistan and Sindh are particularly lagging behind in terms of education.
Problems such as teacher absenteeism, ghost schools and the out-of-school children can only be addressed through comprehensive reforms. Unless this happens, the education system in the country will remain handicapped. And the rampant illiteracy will obviously have harmful effects on the overall social, economic and political environment of the country.
