Achi news desk-
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Education is a catalyst for human change. It has the potential to transform a barbaric savage into a modern man. Education not only builds a nation but also prepares it for overall development. A nation without education can never aspire to prosper. The prosperity of a nation is directly proportional to its education system. If one collapses, the other will automatically crumble. Such is the nature and relationship between them. Thus, it is the basis for the progress of any nation.
As Bertrand Russell rightly said, “The main aim of education should be to make people think and make up their minds.” Thus, education empowers the individual with knowledge and skills due to a change in thinking and aiming for fame. It is the fact that it is worth mentioning that Singapore as well as China spends most of its gross domestic product (GDP) on modern research, robotics, quantum mechanics, artificial intelligence and emotional intelligence in order to make the population creative, critical, innovative and a real life problem. solving
This is why their country is socially cohesive, economically sound, politically stable and culturally diverse. Unlike these countries, the situation in Pakistan is something else, where students indulge in studying abroad because of weak communication skills and lack of knowledge about modern technology. It is encouraging to note that the education system in Pakistan has been rotten to the core since its inception. Moreover, the out-of-school dilemma is still unloved.
According to the latest report, 22.8 million children are out of school in Pakistan. This is the second highest figure after Nigeria in the world. Similarly, the UNESCO report says that Pakistan’s literacy rate is 62% which is one of the lowest rates in the world and ranks 160th among the countries of the world. This paints a bleak and dismal picture of Pakistan’s education and literacy rate.
Furthermore, a study conducted by the Aga Khan University across Pakistan showed that the average score of our students in science and mathematics was a failing grade. Only 5 units of the children in the 8th grade could answer a simple arithmetic question and only 10 units could answer a basic scientific question. Moreover, most children in the 5th grade read and do sums at the level of students in the 1st grade. That is, these children, after five years in school, are numberless and functionally illiterate. Hence, if we tell the truth, we get nothing from the money we spend on education.
Moreover, in 2020, our net enrollment rate in primary schools was only 64 percent – down from 67 units in 2015. Punjab and Balochistan maintained their ratios at 70pc and 56pc respectively. However, Sindh’s net enrollment actually fell from 61pc to 55pc and KP’s ratio (even excluding the former tribal agencies) fell from 71pc to 66pc. Half of all school-age children are not in school. Sadly, 75 years after independence, nearly four out of 10 Pakistanis remain illiterate, consigned to a life of hardship and poverty.
Proponents argue that there are other crucial factors hampering Pakistan’s educational growth. Myopic educational policies, an unparalleled educational system coupled with the commercialization of education, growing incompetent faculty, frequent absenteeism and a growing culture of corporal punishment are the most prominent in this context. As a result, the country is socially disintegrated, politically unstable and economically boxed. Hence, it can be said that illiteracy and bad education are the mother of all evils.
The story of an abysmal education system does not end here; It goes far ahead.
The lack of research and critical thinking, the lack of a variety of basic facilities, shaky infrastructure, the lack of budgetary allocation for the school and a high dropout rate of students from the school make this story more frustrating and terrifying. Apart from this, lack of education has unleashed manifestations for Pakistan in the form of increasing child labor due to increasing crime rate, wide subjugation of women, accelerating extremism, terrorism and fundamentalism in the country.
In order to turn back the evil tide of the abysmal education system, some remedial steps are very much needed to overhaul the education system in the true letter and spirit. If proper measures are taken into consideration, Pakistan’s education system can rise like a phoenix from ashes.
Developing the culture of responsibility, building schools and colleges in remote areas of the country, introducing a biometric system from lower to higher levels, allocating an adequate budget for educational purposes, upgrading an outdated curriculum and canceling the commercialization of an institution that minted money despite providing quality education. Just open the window of progress and prosperity for Pakistan.
