Literacy rate is very low in Pakistan as compared to other countries. Pakistan’s literacy rate has declined from 60 percent to 58 percent, as revealed by the economic survey of Pakistan. Multiple factors act as the reasons behind this, for instance, lack of government funds to educational institutions. In 2017-18, the budget that government has allocated for education is Rs.902.7 billion. This is rather low for a country like Pakistan.

Other than this, the low income level of Pakistan is also another factor. Another contributing factor is the landlord culture and feudal system that is a major part in our society. In addition, the other major reason is the curriculum, being taught in Pakistan’s educational institutes. It is not innovative according to our necessities and when students go abroad for higher education, they have to repeat the same course according to that country’s system of education. This is due to Pakistan’s low standard of education, which may prove harmful for their future. According to the education policies, there have been concerns regarding the need to reform education. But alas! There has not been any implementation regarding them.

Especially in northern Pakistan, we have very few schools and colleges – and the existing ones are in poor condition. As a consequence, students have to move out to big cities like Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. If they become deprived of getting admitted to a government institutes, due to a speedy increment in merits, they have to pay huge amounts in order to get admission in private ones.

Hence there is a need to increase the number of government institutions, giving a standardized atmosphere of education so that students do not have to go towardsprivate institutes. If a major amount of budget is gets spent on education, then the literacy level of Pakistan will get elevated, very soon.

RIZWAN KHAWAJA,

Lahore, January 18.