71 Years On: Still No Solution To Pakistan's Educational Crisis

71 Years On: Still No Solution To Pakistan's Educational Crisis
Since its creation, Pakistan has mainly been unable to solve its education crisis.

It is 2019 and there are still millions of kids who don't have access to basic education. Education is the basic and foremost right but is considered a privilege in this our country.

Article 25 A ‘Right to Education’ of our Constitution says that “the state shall provide free and compulsory education to all of the children of the age 5-16 in a manner as may be determined by law”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cop1bgE-248

At least 25.02 million kids aged between 5-16 are out of school, says a report titled, ‘Broken promises, these 25.02 million kids are being deprived of their constitutional right’.

Factually, Pakistan spends only 2.8 of its GDP on education, which is far below the recommended 4 to 6 percent. Many of the schools in the country lack facilities like furniture, toilets, and most importantly teachers.

The state of education in these so-called free governmental schools is so poor that many parents see no point in sending their kids there. Due to the poor education standards of governmental schools, private schooling has become a lucrative business. In private schools, parents are being charged thousands for education which they should be getting for free.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beBBQmyYLTw

Furthermore, the number of girls out of school is more than boys, as the reasons are again sometimes cultural and social norms; girls drop out either to work or to marry or the schools are too far. They are also afraid of being harassed on the way.

Among all provinces, Balochistan has the highest number of out of school kids because the province has the lowest number of teachers and schools.

Teachers are recruited on the basis of pure nepotism who are paid for doing absolutely nothing.

Education is our right, it has been stated free and compulsory by the constitution, and we, the citizens, deserve to be provided our due rights.

The government should increase the expenditure on public education. Education quality for both private and government schools should be improved and there should be equal education access to both boys and girls.

The author is a high school student from Turbat currently on a exchange year in United States and loves to write about issues generally ignored.