It is an ineffable pity that as many as 25 million children are out of school in Pakistan while seven million others have yet to receive some form of primary schooling. This is the second highest rate in the world. Children who should have been in schools are deprived of preliminary education in Pakistan. The plausible justification given for this by some quarters is that Pakistan is a developing country and due to grinding poverty, parents cannot send their children to schools. This reasoning is ludicrous and laughable as more than 26 countries poorer than ours are educating their children with great dedication and devotion.

“Education” is the basic need of a person, using which they can achieve their goals in the modern world. Due to a lack of common education, in Pakistan, we are facing many difficulties in achieving our goals. People develop their personality with education, which is why the upper class can buy a better quality of education than the poorer classes. Poor parents send their children to government schools because they cannot afford private school fees – and we all know the condition of government schools and colleges in Pakistan. Most of the teachers at government institutions are not conducting proper classes and performing their responsibilities with honesty. The main reason behind this is our educational system. Pakistan allocates province-wise funds for education, but they are rarely spent on schools and colleges.

Is there, then, a chance that the government will reach its millennium education development goals by 2015?

On the other hand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India and some other Asian countries are all on their way to achieving the same goal, already. India’s educational improvement rates are 10 times better than Pakistan. Bangladesh’s are twice that of Pakistan. There are 26 countries poorer than Pakistan who send their children to school, but Pakistani government is “too poor” to grant this basic right to its citizens.

Children need a good quality of education at initial levels. No country can thrive in the world without educating its citizens. In many areas of Pakistan like in Punjab, the education system is better than other provinces because Punjab government gives importance to education. They give scholarships and cash prizes to position holders. But other provincial governments are not taking interest in providing good and quality education to the province’s children. 

I don’t know where we are utilizing our education budget when most of the schools are without walls, roofs, furniture, and the National flag, including those in urban as well as rural areas schools, some of which have a high number of enrolments but a shortage of space.

What do we need? We need to provide quality education to our children in a nice study environment. There should be uniform curriculum in all schools of Pakistan, be they private or government. The access to education must be easy for students, and should be provided by well-qualified teachers.

Children are the future of Pakistan, so it should be the government’s primary goal to provide quality education to all of them. To ensure a bright future for the country, we need to make sure its children’s future is bright.