Pakistani governments periodically go through the motions of budgeting for the education sector in a way akin to throwing peanuts to elephants, indicating the decision makers’ degree of alienation from ground realities. At all levels, the education system has been facing long standing problems in quality, access and equal opportunities.
Regardless of recent initiatives in areas like the rapid private schooling and higher education opportunities, the situation continues to remain vexing. Pakistan is far from meeting its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of providing universal primary education by 2015. The figures speak for themselves:
One child out of every ten children not attending school globally lives in Pakistan; 50% of school children (aged 6-16 years) in Pakistan can neither read nor write; just 23% of Pakistani children under the age of 16 attend secondary school; almost every third Pakistani receives less than two years of education in totality.
10.5 million children, a significant 17% of Pakistan’s child population according to UNICEF, are forced to work in menial jobs to support family income (most of them live on the streets and are unable to integrate into mainstream society; primary school enrolment rate has gone up by only 1% in 2012-13 over 2011-12; more than 85% school-going aged children in Pakistan have access only to government schools characterised by poor infrastructure, absentee teachers, stale curriculum and little or no creativity; gender disparity for primary education stands at 0.9, the lowest in South Asia.
The budget allocation of 2% of GDP towards education is the lowest amongst SAARC countries. Girls have to fight a constant battle to convince their parents that their education too, is vital.
Pakistan’s sorry history of governance along with arbitrary infliction of military rule and associated suppression of democratic rights over a greater part of the last six decades has damaged the very fabric of society. Toppling elected governments and axing development projects launched by the same, amounts to massive injustice to the public. Interim civilian governments, with rare exceptions, have been also typically weak, vacillating and insecure. In the limited time and the apparent autonomy they enjoyed, their focus has been mainly on rent extraction and personal gain.
At present, changing trends in the political spectrum and the restoration of democratic rights have enabled people to demand more from their representatives. The political powers are now more receptive to the demands of the people and in recognising their rights. That at least, is a good sign. The eighteenth constitutional amendment entitled the people of Pakistan to free and compulsory education for all children between the ages of five and sixteen, but millions of children are still out of school and the education system remains alarmingly indigent.
On the other hand, the madrassas (Islamic seminary schools) have a large clientele in Pakistan but there is no regulatory mechanism in the country to give direction and oversee their performance or their students. These seminaries are proliferating alarmingly on purely sectarian lines. Many such madrassas are breeding grounds for religious and sectarian hatred and the ongoing bloodshed between different sects in the nation. In certain parts of the country, militancy and natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes have aggravated the dismal state of education and destroyed infrastructure. Education for the girl child is under serious threat from the Taliban and other insidious militants who terrorise parents to keep their daughters at home.
There is no dearth of eminent educationists in Pakistan. Many sincere NGOs are also working in the field. The government should utilise their services over and above increasing the education budget allocation; it must also draw up a time bound action plan. The private sector needs to be roped in to provide quality education beyond what it presently does, which could even be a decent commercial investment. Reforming existing schools is the best business proposition for an education provider because scarce infrastructure (land, building, fixtures and basic furniture) is already present to an extent.
A successful reform of government schools would have a much bigger impact than running a chain of even a hundred private schools in the long run. Ultimately, it boils down to a question of priorities. Both health and education should be put on the top of the list of priorities by the government, if it has to deliver on its promises. And we the people should keep the pressure up, so there is no let up on this score.

The writer is a freelance columnist.

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@JanjuaHaroon