Shahbaz Sharif’s commitment to increase the enrolment rates of schools in the Punjab certainly sounds commendable but it is missing a few important pieces. Perhaps it was fitting that he compared the enrolment campaign to the construction of the metro bus service, because it exposes the limitation of how this government approaches complex issues: it deals in hardware solely. What about the big important questions that the government is not asking? Sure, they may successfully build thousands of new schools in the Punjab to accommodate the surge of enrolling students, but what incentives are they giving to these children to enroll in the first place? What incentives will their families get to sacrifice their young bread winners to the altar of the classroom? How will the government ensure that families think it equally important to send their girls to schools? Where will the teachers come from to populate those thousands of new schools? What measures will be taken against teacher absenteeism? What about the drop-out rate? How will these students be retained in schools a month or a year after they fill out the enrolment form? Merely adding 4 million to the number of registered students is a bad estimate of literacy anywhere.
The enrolment campaign seems to be just that: a campaign to gather as many children of school going age as possible, and having them sign enrolment forms. Nothing deeper than this. The lack of basic school equipment has not been addressed. Transport to and from school in rural areas has not been addressed. De-motivation has not been touched. People in poorer areas increasingly do not see education as beneficial in the short run, and hence are unprepared to suffer the costs in the long term. With girls, this is particularly worrying, as they are married off young, and education is seen to add little value to their lives thereon. These people calculate that the advantages of just getting by are enough to disperse the dream of a school or college degree. The solution demands more than just hardware; these are deeper waters the government has trouble wading through.