One can find the force of the great many people who queue at the door of the hospitals; still determined to be treated by the doctors but in vain. As well the buildings collapse at the hands of engineers and accountants who evade giving people money.
However, Balochistan's quality education system still remains a dream to come true. The issues pertaining to middle and high schools are obvious. We do not have enough schools at this level. The public-sector pyramid is narrow at the top: 963 schools out of over 13,000 schools in the province are yet to be made functional.
Main cause behind non-functioning schools
The Education Secretary of Balochistan, Shan ul-Haq has termed the lack of buildings and teachers as the main causes behind non-functioning schools. We belong to a society where children are of no value. They still remain deprived of a fundamental facility of life i.e. quality education.
Number of out-of-school children reduced but it is still too high
Although the number of children out-of-school has reduced from last year’s figure of 24 million to 22.6 million, statistics of 2015 to 2018 still paint a gloomy picture, calling for the imposition of real education emergency. As many as 44% percent children between the ages of five and 16 are still out of school. The main reason of this abysmal problem is poverty and dilapidation of schools. Lack of proper infrastructure, unhygienic drinking water, toilets and boundary walls are the main drive behind the non-enrollment of a very massive sum of students.
Unfortunately, Balochistan tops the list of out of school children in the country with 66percent out of school children followed by Sindh with 51%.
Girls’ education in Balochistan
Girls are even worse off. The girls’ education is totally ruined and there is no particular educational culture and opportunities for the rural areas of the province. The absence of well-defined education, lack of schools, lack of libraries and lack of funds are the major reasons of the backwardness. Rural areas are being neglected by the government and the people of rural areas are suffering from many issues. In the rural areas primary schools are present but girls' high schools have not been established yet, due to which girls are deprived of higher education and in Balochistan there are more than 13000 schools but, it is strange that among them only 2500 schools are for girls. In Balochistan mostly girls are out of school and sewing clothes.
Pakistan Education Atlas 2016
Recently, a report shown by Pakistan Education Atlas 2016 states that 36,408 primary schools are being run by one teacher and it is gruesome that Balochistan tops this list to have 54% percent of its schools with just one teacher.
Most out-of-school children in the world after Nigeria
Unfortunately, Pakistan is second only to Nigeria in terms of most number of out-of-school children. As Balochistan and Sindh face several educational and healthcare problems, both provinces of Pakistan are neglected by the provincial and federal governments. Apart from this, a recent survey by Aser revealed that in Balochistan more than 60percent of grade fifth students cannot read English books of grade 2. It is a very serious matter for us to ponder on.
The ghost schools
There are hundreds of ghost schools in the province and no one seems to paying heed to the loss of the youth. Moreover, the ghost teachers are spoiling the lives of youth. The children who are studying at the government schools in Tump areas are deprived of fundamental opportunities and basic needs like building walls, chairs, punctual teachers, toilets, drinking water, electricity, school course books and so on. It really makes the people unsatisfied to know that the teachers are receiving their payments monthly without attending the classes and the negligence of the government is disturbing at multiple levels.
Nepotism running riot across education system
In Balochistan mostly the teachers are appointed on recommendations and references rather than qualification. This all has led to the disastrous situation we find in ourselves today. With regard to governmental development, it is the worst of all provinces because our government is not even paying attention.
CPEC – a game changer?
The tall claims by the politicians about China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to emerge as a game changer for the people of Balochistan are literally shocking when we look at the kind of development we have in this province. Child labour is increasing instead of decreasing, schools are being demolished instead of being rebuilt, students are cheating instead of learning and the illiteracy rate is growing rapidly.